“not to mention the politicians pushing SEC for a trial”
I suspect it was a really big check from the domestic automakers.
Yup. Yes, the Tucker48 was so highly innovative, it threatened the market of the Big 3. Besides the innovations the 51 cars incorporated, he had other ideas that he just couldn't afford at the time like disc brakes, seatbelts, collapsible steering column, and others. Tucker was as much into safety of passengers as he was into performance and handling with 4 wheel independent suspension. None of the top 3 were even thinking of that kind of suspension. It took the big 3 years just to pad their dashboards. The man was a Tesla of automobile engineering.