Zoot

http://mbspy.bacosys.be/achs.htm

This article discusses an upcoming active cornering headlight system; a system that swivels the bi-xenon headlamps in the direction the car turns. So when you turn the wheel around a corner, the headlights follow. Sounds cool, huh? Well, didn't we see this novel idea before? Yes, we did. Back in 1948 Preston Tucker had this idea (he prob. had it before then) and put it on his Tucker Torpedo (a wonderful car...my favorite classic actually). Preston Tucker was one of the most recognized figures of the late 1940s, as controversial and enigmatic as his namesake automobile. His car was hailed as "the first completely new car in fifty years." Many of you probably haven't seen this car, so for your info., it was a car ahead of its time. The car had three headlights, the center one turned with the steering wheel (sound familiar?) as the other two beamed straight on. The car's safety features included seatbelts (not common back then), pop out windshield (in case of an accident), all-around disk brakes, and a padded dashboard. Only 51 were built, as a legal scandal haulted production of the car. Too bad.

Scooter

Tucker, a man and his dream

Zoot

haha, Jeff Bridges. I have that movie!

Edub-TL

Actualy.. the new Infiniti Q45 alrady had this..

Zoot

hmm, both my Q45 brochure and their website fail to mention this. Could that be because the Q45 does not have this?

JasonT

Yeah I heard MB built this "special" concept car to show off all this technolgy. I remember they said some will filter down to their cars. The headlights are 1, the smart cruise is another(senses when a car is too close, & slows down by itself) 4 wheel steering was 1, & drive by wire too.

Edub-TL

Must have been something else I was reading.. sorry.. thought it was the Q..

Proaly the MB you mentioned..

SiGGy

Whats also interesting, if i remember correctly. Tucker had also invented a disc brake system, and a air bag system back then also!

Wonder if any of that info is on the net.

crazy Mercedes is going to do that too!

Tucker was the 1st car in the US with seatbelts too I believe.

Although I don't believe a lot of his ideas actually made it into the car...

moomaster_99

No...i think it was the Q45....why would it be in our mind....its somewhere...i think the difference...is that it is active or something.

rise

i think you can get them aftermarket, "smart lites", and i swear someone on this forum had it in their sig.

Kahn Man

Wow... I never thought I'd live to see Acura guys talking about Tuckers. This is my first love but I never brought it up because I didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about. I am actually on the Board of Directors of the Tucker Automobile Club of America, and owned one for a brief period of time. Unfortunately my collection consists of several hundred pieces of memorabilia only now - no car.

Acura3.0CLP, if you ever want to talk Tucker, let me know!!!


FYI, Tucker never did install seatbelts from the factory. As eluded to in the much "Hollywoodized" movie, it was thought that seatbelts implied the car was unsafe.

Disc brakes were also worked on with an aircraft company but were never installed on any cars. I have seen the prototypes and they are very interesting and different than discs today.

Tucker never worked with airbags.

Davediego

what happens when you have a right turn? Funny how all the pics in that article left turns, would this "new" technology blind drivers coming the other way on a left turn?

Zoot

Not true..


wow, Kahn Man, that's amazing. I thought I was the only Tucker fan here. My love started when a friend of mine gave me a stock certificate from tucker. I now know the stock cert. isn't worth much, but it is framed on a very expensive frame with a picture and description. When I first got the gift, I didn't care much for this unknown car. then I did some research and fell in love. i own many tucker posters/pamphlets, models, and the movie too. Every so often I do a search on ebay for memorabilia. I have only seen 3 (the one in Las Vegas, #16 in the Henry ford museum and the one in the Smithsonian.

This thread makes me wanna watch the movie...

NOVAwhiteTypeS

I think bmw was gonna put this on the new x5 in europe

soopa

The Q45 does not have this.


the car in recent memory that has this feature is the Mercedes SLR super-coupe.

that concept was shown with this feature and has them in production.

many of the technologies first showcased on that car have been making it to market. go mercedes!

SiGGy

It was never implemented into the vehicle but he had it as an idea.

Same with disc brakes, I know a bunch of them produced were 4 wheel drum.

However air bags were never even attemtped. But he did think of the idea.

AcuraTLSFan

Yea...this idea was out long time ago....Popular Science did an article on this "Headlight Turning Idea" about a year ago

TypeSAddict

me, but I AM STILL FUCKING WAITING ON THEM. The federal grant got delayed and they will not be making their debut until SEMA. If anyone else is interested, go to www.smartlites.com . Estimated cost is +/- $200.