From here, the investigations become nonstop obstacles in Tucker's progress. He discovers from Abe Karatz that rooms have been wired and forty "G-men" are following him around the clock. In his frustration, Tucker asks, "What did I do wrong?" Abe responds, "It's what you did right. You made that car too good. They can't afford to have competition like that. It'll cost them millions, maybe billions."

          A court case seemed inevitable, and the time had come. Tucker finds himself charged with twenty-five counts of using the mails to defraud, five counts of Securities and Exchange violations, and one count of conspiracy to defraud. But although Tucker loses his plant and his company, he saves himself by delivering an exceptionally heroic and profound speech in defense of the American free enterprise system. This speech is truly capitalism at its best.

          All in all, Tucker's story is that of a man who might have revolutionized the automobile industry had the established Big Three corporations lived up to the challenge. Instead, Tucker becomes a victim of their fear and self-interest. In a system whose rules can be summed up in a phrase – let the better man win – it seems a harsh injustice that the better man did not.

          Despite how much we admire Tucker, we also cannot forget that he does not always play the game as cleanly as one might expect from the "honest" businessman persona that he likes to portray. In a way, he takes advantage of the public's trust by publishing a boastful advertisement promising many things that he cannot deliver. He also misleads stockholders by making them believe that his prototype is ready for presentation, when the truth is that it barely exists. No matter how good his intentions, these are risky moves that may have helped propagate his problems. If he were a little less naïve and a little more seasoned in the psychology of the established corporations' motives, one wonders if Tucker may have been more successful. However, no matter the reason, or reasons, behind Tucker's failure, there is certainly no excuse for the behavior of the Big Three and the SEC.

          According to Gregory Rehmke in his article "Preston Tucker: A Generation Too Late," "firms can only head off new competition by producing quality products efficiently, and keeping prices down. Had the Tucker Corporation survived, the Big Three automakers would probably have, decades earlier, adopted many of the Tucker '48's new technological and safety features."

          Tucker instinctively knows that his introduction of seatbelts implies to the buying public that cars without them are unsafe. He emphasizes this selling point at a lunch with the War Assets Administration, where he shows slides of accidents and people who were injured. Tuckers intrinsic understanding of what "sells" the American public is his most valuable asset, and it's also what makes the Big Three so afraid of him. If they are to survive this "Torpedo," then they either have to "produce quality products efficiently…keeping prices down" or resort to unethical activities that will snuff out their competition. Unfortunately, their choice says a lot about their capabilities.

          There are many things about Preston Tucker that are contagious, but the most "catchy" is his sky's-the-limit attitude. He's a true dreamer, a man with extreme vision. But more than that, he's a man who can make a stranger believe. Karatz caught the bug, and so did Jimmy and Alex, and a huge percentage of the American public. Tucker also has the stamina and follow-through to turn his dream into something real – in fact, something extraordinary. It seems a crime that something this good might possibly fail, especially by the machinations of others who have been the beneficiaries of this same free enterprise system.

          True free enterprise is very akin to natural selection: only the fittest survive. Businesses that efficiently produce quality products for the most affordable cost will endure. However, unlike the amoral nature of Darwinian principles, the institution of free enterprise is inherently moral. Under the system, everyone gets a fair chance. Equal opportunity for all means equal chance to succeed or fail. It is when this freedom is intentionally violated that the system breaks down and injustice is done. Tucker is an unfortunate victim of this breakdown.

          In Tucker's own words,

          Nothing can stymie Tucker's idealism and his faith in the system he has been so proud of his entire life. His feelings are reminiscent of those expressed by Ayn Rand's Objectivist heroine, Dagny Taggart. In Rand's famous novel, Atlas Shrugged, Dagny says, "The sight of an achievement was the greatest gift a human being can offer to others." Tucker echoes this same sentiment. To him, it doesn't matter what he lost while playing the game, because his achievement is the ultimate victory: he faced all odds and built the car. At the end of his court hearing, he literally has nothing left but his freedom. But his freedom is all he needs: on his way home he begins to outline a new idea to improve refrigeration. Tucker's resilience is a silent shot at those who call him a failure, and his reprisal is his unfaltering faith in the belief that "it's the idea that counts, and the dream."