Helping Build the Cars of Tomorrow

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We’ve recently been scouring Amazon for new booksimages to read this summer. One in particular caught our eye for more reasons than one: Steve Lehto’s new release “Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow” (Chicago Review, 2016). This biography takes a look into the life of Preston Tucker, an automotive juggernaut in the early 20th century whose infamous Tucker ’48 vehicle lost its traction and popularity as fast as it gained it. Lehto’s book has been making headlines and bringing Tucker’s legacy back into the limelight.

Of course, that legacy has been anything but unnoticed by all of us here at Dassault Systèmes where we are an integral part of some disruptive automobiles of the 21st century, such as Tesla and Faraday Future. But we aren’t just helping to build those autos. SOLIDWORKS and SIMULIA are being used to build a full-size model of Tucker’s never-produced 1946 Torpedo. Tucker only got as far as hand-drawings and a plaster-of-Paris model before he went out of business. A six-part blog series by Mike Sabocheck chronicles the efforts to rebuild this iconic automotive idea.

If you’re looking for an immersive and intellectual read, Lehto’s book is a choice whether you’re an automotive enthusiast or not. The Chicago Review claims it is “not just a book for automobile buffs; there’s enough insight and intrigue to appeal to a wider audience.”

The book is available wherever books or sold; get it on Amazon here.

Ariel Sussman

Digital Marketing Intern at Dassault Systemes
Ariel is a currently a junior at the University of Connecticut majoring in journalism and communications. You can find her writing passion pieces on any and all subjects, watching episodes of Friends while snuggling with her Portuguese Water Dog Shadow, and drinking Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. She hopes to one day have stamps in her passport from all human-inhabited continents.