1902 – Ohio Automobile Company Becomes Packard Motor Car Company
October 13, 1902, found the small Ohio Automobile Company shedding its old corporate wrapper and re-emerging with the name that would become synonymous with American luxury: the Packard Motor Car Company. The switch came after an investor reorganization and just before the firm’s move to Detroit in 1903, effectively putting the Packard name at the center of the early U.S. luxury-car scene. That formal renaming concentrated the company’s identity around James Ward Packard and his brother’s engineering-driven cars, setting the stage for Packard’s later reputation for quality, refinement, and technical innovation in the decades that followed.
1933 – Final Original-Era Invicta Leaves the Factory
On Friday, 13 October 1933, the last of Invicta’s original-era production rolled out of the company’s factory — a quiet but definitive end to a line famed for big-displacement, technically ambitious sporting cars. While a handful of vehicles would later be assembled at the Chelsea service depot between 1934 and 1936, this October departure marked the end of Invicta’s first chapter: the pre-war models that combined American-sized engines with British coachwork and a reputation for effortless speed and luxury. Collectors and historians point to that final factory car as the close of the marque’s most influential run.
1957 – The Edsel Show Broadcast Live on CBS
Ford took its new marque to prime time on October 13, 1957, when The Edsel Show — a live, hour-long CBS special — aired with Bing Crosby headlining and guests Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Louis Armstrong. Intended as a glamorous introduction to the Edsel line, the program even pre-empted The Ed Sullivan Show that night, underscoring how much the automaker invested in television to reach buyers. The splashy broadcast showcased the car amid top-tier entertainment talent, a marketing gambit that remains one of the most memorable intersections of mid-century television and automobile promotion.
1963 – Designer Chip Foose Is Born
Douglas Sam “Chip” Foose was born on October 13, 1963, in Santa Barbara, California, and would grow into one of America’s most visible car designers and customizers. Best known for Foose Design and the television series Overhaulin’, his work melds hand-crafted coachbuilding touches with hot-rodding tradition: sleek body reshapes, polished metalwork, and restrained, contemporary interiors. Across magazine covers and TV segments Foose popularized the notion that high-quality, show-ready customization could also be thoughtful automotive design, making him a defining public face of late-20th and early-21st century American custom culture.
1993 – One-Millionth U.S.-Made Camry Produced at Georgetown Plant
October 13, 1993, was a milestone at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky: the plant celebrated rolling its one‑millionth Camry off the assembly line. Built in the U.S. for the North American market, that millionth Camry symbolized the plant’s rapid rise since opening, with production systems and workforce scaled to meet growing demand for the model. Toyota’s press release and local timelines note the precise date, underscoring the Georgetown plant’s role in establishing the Camry as a mainstay of American family-car production during the 1980s and 1990s.
