Tyco Pro Museum

Jose Rodriguez Artwork...stories about each follow below...

Question: ..."on the lower left corner of each one there is a series of numbers such as 40-45-0 or 40-40/25-20...what are these?"

Answer: "Jose` was a commercial graphics designer and, although he never said directly, he had developed a coding for each job. I think this was for invoicing purposes, but the real reason has now been lost."

Question: "Please see pics of the 1940 Ford Coupe "proto" I have...does this ring a bell? The body appears to have hand applied "details" such as the headlights and grill and the exhaust pipes are metal and hand applied."

(more photos...click here...)

Answer: "Regarding the '40 Ford "Proto" it may be one of the two that I built, you can check if the chromed windows are made with Mylar Chrome tape - as that was how I made them. (ed. note, they are). The paint finish doesn't look like one of mine (all protos had nearly flawless, high gloss finishes - but maybe with time there has been some shrinkage to the paint. The Flames on the protos were not hand applied, but airbrushed paint. The exhaust pipes on my protos look like my handiwork and would have been made from plated K&S tubing. A lot of work, as I needed four sets (two samples each of the '4o Ford and the Ultimate Police car."

(from a later correspondence...)
"PS: The '40 Ford prototype is one of the two that I made. This was the one used for photography - note the tape residue on the bottom, also that the exhaust system is attached to the chassis, not the body. I never thought I would see one of these samples again!"

Question: "How about some insight on the possible '75 Van? You mentioned it was meant to possibly open and include a cycle?"

Answer: "The vans were to be two separate vehicles, one being the then popular custom van, but with the opening real door and the indicated interior. The other being a race theme van (my favorite) with the removable pit bike, and slide-out tool box."

Question: "Any licensing issues with the Petty car?"

Answer: "Petty car - we had a licensing agreement with NASCAR to produce a set with the Petty car and Allison car. This was done just as I was leaving Tyco."

Question: "Anything you can add about the V-12 Drag Truck?"

Answer: "This was something that I intended to use as a sequel to the pre-TycoPro Red Wheelie Truck (An early Tyco knockoff of the famous Dodge Red Wagon). I thought it would be outrageous, but it was voted down. The idea was to insinuate it was powered by the 1710 cid Allison aircraft V12 engine, as was being used in the land speed record cars."