Celebrity cars can be quite expensive. The American company Celebrity Cars Las Vegas put up for sale a Cadillac that once belonged to the legendary mafia Al Capone.
The 1928 Cadillac V8 341-A Town Sedan is reportedly one of the first ever armored vehicles. According to legend, Al Capone personally paid for the work of installing armor on the body of a car at a local auto parts store. Asbestos-lined steel plates weighing about 1360 kg were mounted on the limousine. Also, a well-known gangster made sure that the car received bulletproof glass 2.5 cm thick.
Some improvements were aimed at pumping not only defense, but also attacks. In particular, the rear window can be folded down to fire at pursuers with a Thompson machine gun. The opening rear side windows serve the same purpose.
The tricks don't end there. The car was painted to match the local police cars. Also on board were a siren and flashing lights. As a result, gangsters could easily impersonate law enforcement officers. And in order to know all the moves of their main opponents in advance, a police radio station was installed on board.
Of course, in order to successfully evade pursuits, additional power was required, especially given the increased weight. The proprietary 5.6-liter V8 was boosted, so that the top speed increased to 177 km/h.
Cadillac was confiscated from a gangster in 1931 in favor of the US government. In December 1941, after the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor, an armored sedan was used by the US Presidential Guard to deliver Franklin Roosevelt to the White House.
The car was restored in the 1950s. During this operation, part of the armor and some additional units were removed from him. But bulletproof glass remained in place.
For a unique copy, which, according to legend, both the main gangster of the 30s and the President of the United States managed to ride, they ask for $1 million.
Al Capone (1899-1947) was an Italian-born American gangster active in the 1920s and 1930s in the Chicago area. In July 1931, Capone appeared in federal court and in May 1932 was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the Atlanta Correctional Institution for tax evasion of $388,000. In 1939 he was released. In 1946, his doctor and psychiatrist conducted an examination and concluded that Capone now has the psyche and mind, like a 12-year-old child. In January 1947, he died after suffering a stroke.
Al Capone's bulletproof Cadillac is up for sale for $1 million
