John Richard Tucker loved to tell stories about his family's glory days in the automobile industry - although his own passions centered on boats, not cars.

But like his famed father, the Tucker automobile entrepreneur, John Richard Tucker had a gift for salesmanship.

Tucker, who lived in Ypsilanti for about 20 years and whose family still has roots in the community, died Sunday in California at the age of 78.

He was the youngest son of Preston Thomas Tucker, who designed the legendary 1948 Tucker Torpedo in his home and workshop on Park Street in Ypsilanti. Only 51 of the cars were ever built before a lack of money and a federal probe for fraud - which was eventually dropped in his favor - forced Tucker out of business.

John Tucker was too young to join the family's automobile business, but he was the principal consultant on the 1988 Hollywood film about his father, "Tucker: The Man and His Dream," directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

"He was a salesman, just like his father," said his son, John Tucker Jr. of Ann Arbor. "He could talk about anything."

During John Tucker's childhood, his family moved several times before settling in Ypsilanti in 1939. His father operated the Ypsilanti Tool & Die Co., which made products for the war effort during World War II.

In 1947, Preston Tucker moved the family to Chicago to manufacture the Tucker automobile.

While in Chicago, John Tucker met his first wife, Mary, a well-known socialite. Just teenagers, the two eloped and were married in the middle of the night in Wisconsin. But their secret didn't keep for long.

"By the time they got back, the news was all over Chicago," said John Tucker Jr.
After their automobile fortunes were scuttled, family members returned to Ypsilanti, where John Tucker stayed until 1959.

He left to become vice president of General Employment Corp. in Chicago and then Los Angeles. He later owned and operated Jane Allen Professional Agency in Long Beach.

In the late 1990s, John Tucker Jr. opened Tucker's Cafe/Espresso and ran it for several years in Ypsilanti's Depot Town. Old friends and girlfriends of his father stopped by to tell a new tale of his father's days in Ypsilanti.

"You never knew what was going to happen next, it was such a colorful family," said John Tucker Jr. "He was a fun-loving guy his whole life."

In addition to his son, John Tucker is survived by two sisters and his children: Cynthia Fordon of Martinez, Calif.; Melissa Bailey of Washington, Mich.; and T. Talbot Tucker of Hawaii. Donations in memory of Tucker can be made to the Tucker Automobile Club of America at www.tuckerclub.org.