Gangster cars of the late 20's

[Guest]

Would anybody know the types of cars that<BR>would have been used by gangsters such as<BR>Al Capone in Chicago in the late 1920's?<P>I have an image of huge 6-7 seater sedans<BR>full of crims with submachine guns!<P>Also, what cars did the police use? They<BR>would have used "plain" cars for obvious<BR>reasons.

[ply33]

I have seen pictures of a V-16 Cadillac phaeton (touring car) that was reputed to have been owned by Al Capone.<P>Open cars were more popular in the early 20s than closed cars. That reversed by the end of the decade. I suspect that gangsters (and police) of the era had the same or similar preferences (open vs. closed body type) as the general public.<P>------------------<BR><A HREF="http://www.ply33.com" TARGET=_blank>Plymouth: The First Decade</A><BR><p>[This message has been edited by TodFitch (edited 12-04-2000).]

[Guest]

Al Capone did have a V-16 Cadillac, it was blue and black, but I don't remember the year, it was a 4 door sedan, hard top, I saw it in an auto museum in VA a No. of years ago, it had bullet proof glass and 1/4'' steel plates in the body. Also one of my great uncles told me, that back in the 20' & 30' all the big gangsters in NY had hard tops, so no one could shoot then from the roof tops.

[Guest]

If Al Capone owned all of the cars attributed to him around the country, he would never have gone to jail. He would have spent all his time buying cars, leaving no time for illegal activities. ~hvs

[Dave@Moon]

According to author Tad Burness, most gangsters preferred Lincolns to Cadillacs, Packards, etc. Especially in the mid-1920's they enjoyed a performance advantage over the rest of the major manufacturers in the luxury field (pre-Duesenberg). The first car book I ever bought was his <I> Auto Album, </I> a compilation of his single pane antique car comic. His illustration of a 1928 Lincoln was of a Lincoln police car chasing gangsters. <p>[This message has been edited by Dave@Moon (edited 12-04-2000).]

[Guest Graham Clayton]

Al Capone did have a V-16 Cadillac' date=' it was blue and black, but I don't remember the year, it was a 4 door sedan, hard top, I saw it in an auto museum in VA a No. of years ago, it had bullet proof glass and 1/4'' steel plates in the body. Also one of my great uncles told me, that back in the 20' & 30' all the big gangsters in NY had hard tops, so no one could shoot then from the roof tops.[/quote']

The Cadillac was a '28 Town Sedan:

Weighing over 9,000 lbs, and with only 90 bhp, I don't see how Capone could have outrun the police!

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Did the cops use Buicks?

Here's a game board from my collection that I felt would be a good addition to this thread.

I bought this on eBay about ten years ago for the automobile graphics, and it's likeness to a 1936 Buick.

Finding this game with this cover is rare. Parker Brothers ran the cover for a short time before changing it to another design.

It's from the mid 1930's and depicts quite nicely what "The Cops" used in pursuit.

Edited October 6, 2012 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Capone did have a custom built Cadillac. Even then Cadillacs were a favorite of gangsters and characters from the wrong side of the tracks who hit it big. The upper crust favored Packards, the really rich owned Pierce Arrows.

Ford bought Lincoln in the early twenties and tried to sell Lincolns through Ford dealerships. This worked about as well as selling Rolls Royces in Kia dealerships (not very well). There were a lot of Ford dealers who just wanted to get rid of their Lincolns and go back to selling Fords, some sharpies went around buying them cheap and reselling them. A lot of them wound up in the hands of bootleggers and hoodlums.

Lincoln also supplied cars to the police around Detroit. The police models got front wheel brakes a year before the regular line.

The Hudson Super Six and Studebaker Big Six (sometimes called the Whiskey Six) were favorites of the working bootlegger. They were big and could carry a load, and were 2 of the fastest cars on the road, but were not unusual or fancy enough to draw attention.

Another favorite for transporting liquor was the REO Speedwagon truck, it had pneumatic tires and a top speed of 50 MPH, twice as fast as the typical 20s truck with solid tires.

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

It has been quoted that John Dillinger preferred Buicks for his get aways.

Here's another game board depicting "Gangsters" and "Cops". I bought this game about two years ago. I made the purchase because of the automobile graphics and its likeness to Buicks.

This game is much rarer than the one I posted above. (See post #7) Made in 1938 by Parker Brothers it capitalized on the popularity of G-Man Melvin Purvis.

Another great graphic of pursuit.

Edited October 6, 2012 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Guest bjones@redhillsmedia.com]

wasn't it Dillinger that preferred the Ford Model B because it had the flat head v8 in it?

[CarlLaFong]

wasn't it Dillinger that preferred the Ford Model B because it had the flat head v8 in it?

Model Bs were four cylinders

[keiser31]

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker preferred Ford V8s. Clyde wrote to old Henry with praise for his cars.

[50jetback]

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker preferred Ford V8s. Clyde wrote to old Henry with praise for his cars.

The actual letter written to Ford by Clyde Champion Barrow is displayed in the Henry Ford Museum. It has an office received date stamp of 1934 I think and in part reads " I have used Fords exclusively when I could get away with one " and goes on to say his business isn't strictly legal but wanted to tell Ford what a fine car he had with the V8.

The Imperial Palace in Las Vagas had a 1930 V16 Cadillac Limousine which it claimed to have belonged to Al Capone - probably still in the museum.

img-121007180257.pdf

img-121007180538.pdf

Edited October 7, 2012 by 50jetback (see edit history)

[jeff_a]

There is a yellow 1925 Packard Single Six Phaeton still around reported to have been an Al Capone car.

[keiser31]

My dad always told me that the "Purple Gang" of Detroit used Packards and the cops chased them with Lincolns.

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

With the cost of gas and the push to go green, here's the car Al Capone would use today. Photo from the web. :eek:

[Rusty_OToole]

Ford V8 of the thirties was the fastest low priced car (except for the Hudson Terraplane Eight). The Ford was a favorite of Dillinger, Barrow, and other fast moving bandits. Although Alvin "Kreepy" Karpis, Public Enemy #1 at the time, was captured in a 36 Plymouth.

[Restorer32]

Back in the '70s we advertised for a set of bumpers for our '28 Cadillac. I received a long letter from a retired Chicago policeman who said their department drove Cadillacs as squad cars, at least in 1928. He had been given a "used up" '28 Cadillac by the department and had slowly parted it out over the years. He gave us the bumpers at no charge. We only paid for the shipping.

[Guest Casper Friedrich]

In Kenneth Allsop's book The Bootleggers there is two pictures of Al Capone's '28 Caddy Town Sedan. Interesting is that in the late 1950s it was registered in Ontario, Canada.

[poci1957]

I had seen photos of Lincoln police cars in Detroit, apparently Chicago used at least one, see attached for a 1929 Lincoln said to be Chicago PD. As ply33 pointed out, note that it is an open touring car which would have been lighter and cheaper than a sedan, and possibly seen as having faster entry and exit for officers. Todd C

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

This is very gangster. I posted in another thread, but I thought it would go well here.

From HAMB

Edited April 25, 2013 by xp-300 (see edit history)

[Pomeroy41144]

According to a books written about John Dillinger, "Dillinger, Dead or Alive" and "The Dillinger Dossier", Dillinger prefered Hudson Terraplane automobiles.

What do gangsters drive now? Cadillac , Lincoln. If you were an organized crime gangster of the era (as opposed to an interstate robbers like the Barrows), what would you drive? Nice, powerful, luxurious car. Just like today. Back then they could get a Packard or a Buick too.