1903 – Preston Tucker is Born
On this day in 1903 American car designer, engineer, inventor and car company founder Preston Tucker was born in Capac, Michigan. While best known for the Tucker 48, his legacy in the auto industry has a far greater reach. Tucker got his start in the car business as an office boy for Cadillac before joining the local police force at age 19. As a copper he had his first opportunity to drive high powered police cars and motorcycles, sprouting an interest in automobile development. His mother had him removed from the force after pointing out he was below the agency’s age limit to be an officer. He then took a job managing a gas station and working on the Ford assembly line. His gas station would later become a small Studebaker dealership before again joining the police force. During his last spell as an officer of the law, his station banned from driving police cars because he used a torch to cut a hole in the dashboard of his car to let engine heat into the cab during winter. His stint with a badge ended shortly thereafter. (Continued…)
1945 – Henry Ford II Named President of Ford Motor Company
When Henry Ford relinquished the presidency on September 21, 1945, his grandson Henry Ford II stepped into the role, beginning the executive tenure that would steer Ford Motor Company through the postwar era. At 28, Henry II inherited a sprawling industrial enterprise that had to transition from wartime production back to consumer automobiles; the company timelines and contemporary newspapers record the appointment on that date. His ascension symbolized a generational handoff in a company where family identity and industrial scale were deeply entwined, and it set the stage for the corporate and product reforms he would pursue in the years immediately following the appointment.
1959 – First Plymouth Valiant Rolls Off Hamtramck Line
A compact newcomer for the 1960 model year, the Plymouth Valiant first came to life on the Hamtramck assembly line on September 21, 1959, when the initial production example rolled off the plant floor. Chrysler positioned the Valiant as a fresh, smaller alternative to full-size models; that first Hamtramck-built car represented the start of showroom deliveries and the company’s move into the compact segment. The milestone at Hamtramck was a concrete beginning for a model that would be badge-engineered and marketed across Chrysler’s brands during the 1960s, anchored by the production techniques and assembly that began on that September day.
2006 – Final Car Leaves Wixom: End of First Ford GT Run
The first modern production run of the Ford GT reached its finish line on September 21, 2006, when the last of the 2005–2006 cars rolled out of Ford’s Wixom facility—recorded as vehicle No. 4,038 in independent accounts and reflected in NHTSA production listings. Styled as a contemporary homage to the 1960s GT40, the road-going Ford GT combined a mid-mounted V8, aluminum structure, and race-bred aerodynamics; the Wixom shutdown that day closed the initial, limited-production chapter before the model later reappeared in subsequent decades. For collectors and enthusiasts, the final Wixom car marked the end of the first era of Ford’s halo supercar program.
2020 – Jordan and Hamlin Announce New NASCAR Team with Bubba Wallace
On September 21, 2020 Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver-team owner Denny Hamlin announced they had formed a new NASCAR Cup Series team and named Bubba Wallace to drive the single-car entry for 2021. The public announcement specified that the owners had acquired a charter and would field Wallace as their driver, creating a high-profile ownership pairing from basketball and stock-car racing. The partnership immediately drew attention for its celebrity co-ownership and for giving Wallace—already a prominent figure in the series—a new competitive platform under the newly formed operation.
