National Museum of American History

A Tucker 48 automobile is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, as seen during our July 2023 visit. One of the distinctive features of a Tucker 48 is its third headlight in the center of the car. That headlight would turn when the front wheels turned, illuminating the road in the direction of travel. There were only 51 Tucker autos ever produced, all in 1947 and 1948, before the Tucker Corporation was forced into bankruptcy due to negative publicity.

The steam locomotive Jupiter of the Santa Cruz Railroad is on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. As we were wandering through the museum, Laura and I both saw the Jupiter at the same time. Laura said, “Did you know they have a train in here?” I did not, because if I had known, we would have gone to find it earlier in our visit.