“I don’t know where you’d find one,” Cook says. “And if I did, I wouldn’t tell you, because I’d go buy it for myself.”
Collector’s Market
The scarcity, in part, has fueled demand. Cook says values for vintage Tucker Sno-Cats have tripled in the past five years, with prices ranging from $10,000 for a rust-frozen heap to well above $100,000 for a fully restored rig. The most-coveted models include the so-called “rock ‘n’ roll” machines that crossed the Antarctic.
Tucker is cashing in on its history as well. Three years ago the company started a service reselling and refurbishing old machines. Headed by Jeff McNeil, the founder’s great-grandson, it has become one of the company’s most profitable lines of business.
Meanwhile, two secretive collectors have cornered the market. The Tucker fraternity won’t divulge their names but suspect the men have amassed more than 200 vintage Tuckers.
“They are more precious to them than cars,” McNeil says. “They are fanatics.”
Refurbishing a Tucker is easier than one might think. The engines were sourced from various places over the years, but Tucker favored Chrysler’s flat-head six-cylinder, which is still easy to find. Larger Tuckers were bolted to big, eight-cylinder Dodge hemis, another engine produced en masse. Cabins were similarly simple, aluminum pods that approximate the fuselage of a World War II bomber. Would-be buyers, however, should look carefully at the tracks and pontoons. The fiberglass tends to crack, and replacing a full set of rollers can cost $12,000.
“They are the Cadillacs of the industry,” McNeil says. “But you still have to keep in mind, they are essentially tractors.”
When McNeil isn’t working in the shop, he spends much of his time on Google Earth, hunting satellite footage for vehicles his ancestors made decades ago. “Sometimes you can see them sitting in yards, abandoned,” he says. “Then you just start calling people to see if they are interested in selling them.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.