58. Preston Tucker, a famous American industrialist and automobile visionary, planned to build an eccentric light sports car in a tropical country.
What was this sports car going to be called?
From Quiz Abandoned Automobile Projects
Answer:
Carioca
Preston Thomas Tucker was literally hunted by the Detroit mob back in the day, since his revolutionary Torpedo was rather better than anything produced by Detroit automakers of the time. Facing severe accusations, he went bankrupt and found himself hopeless. Diagnosed with lung cancer, he went to Brazil in order to visit the American Doctor William Koch (who had been accused of charlatanism in the U.S. due to his promises of cancer treatment without medication and radiotherapy), where he found perfect grounds to start his revolutionary brand all over again.
Trying to resuscitate his dream in Brazil (which didn't have a proper auto industry at the time), there wasn't much of a problem finding investors.
However, Preston's health wasn't helped by the lack of effective treatment he was receiving, and he went back to the U.S. only to die of pneumonia caused by the lung cancer.
The Carioca, his ambitious project, was a sports car designed to use most of the parts used on his model 48 (the Torpedo). The car was so called in a tribute to the city of Rio de Janeiro, where he opened his office in Brazil.