Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company T-Shirt

Before the Tucker ’48 and the factory in Chicago, there was the Ypsilanti Machine & Tool Company. Preston Tucker registered the name in the early 1940s, and during World War II the family’s machine shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan turned out machine parts and tool and die work. A Chicago newspaper in 1948 called the small two-story factory at 103 North Grove Street the “mother plant” of the whole Tucker enterprise, the place where Preston and his associates first talked about his dream car.

The shop also helped give the Tucker its engine. Late in 1947, with the original 589 engine falling short, air-cooled Franklin engines were sent to Ypsilanti to be converted to water cooling. Developed further by Aircooled Motors, that conversion became the 335 engine in the production Tucker. Long after the Chicago plant closed, Preston was still signing letters on the company’s letterhead, as late as 1956, the last year of his life.

This shirt is our tribute to that shop. The left chest carries the company name, and the back features the Tucker engine with “Preston T. Tucker, Proprietor” below it.

The design is screen printed in off-white and red on a two-sided black crew neck t-shirt.

Available in sizes S-3X with a small surcharge for larger sizes.