Neat , if true .

[emmagee1917]

Sent to me by a friend :

 

 

HERE IS A BIT OF HISTORY I BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW...

Hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941,

the Secret Service found themselves in a bind.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was to give his Day of Infamy speech to

Congress

on Monday

, and although the trip from the White House to Capitol Hill was short, agents weren't sure how

to transport him safely.

At the time, Federal Law prohibited buying any cars that cost more than $750, so they would

have to get clearance from Congress to do that, and nobody had time for that.

One of the Secret Service members,

however, discovered that the US Treasury had seized the bulletproof car that mobster Al Capone owned when he

was sent to jail in 1931.

They cleaned it, made sure it was running perfectly and had it ready for the President the

next day.

Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac V-8 "Al Capone" Town Sedan

became the President's Limo in December 1941.

Mechanics are said to have cleaned and checked each feature of the Caddy well into the night of

December 7th

,

to make sure that it would run properly the next day for the Commander in Chief.

And run properly it did. It had

been painted black and green to look identical to Chicago 's police cars at the time.

To top it off, the gangster's

1928 Cadillac Town Sedan had 3,000 pounds of armor and inch-thick bulletproof windows

It also had a specially installed siren and flashing lights hidden behind the grille, along with a police scanner radio.

Footnote: The car sold at auction in 2012 for $341,000.00.

 

[shadycon]

Got to love these little bits of history!!

[OCM]

This story has been around for a number of years. I think I've heard it is an Urban Legend. I've emailed Mario about it, see what he says, he's a member of this board.

I hope it's true, a great story -

 

OCM

[ron_brock]

I recently read and article on Presidential cars and they made the same claim.

 

Ron

[Caponeophile]

After researching it for a number of years I can find no concrete proof. Seems to be the invention of a Secret Service Agent who was writing a book in the 40's and 50's and needed some embellishing to sell it.

 

See my webpage on it

 

http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id196.htm

 

 

Pay particular attention to the photo and date of the Presidential motorcade leaving the White House for Congress to give Roosevelt's famous speech. Doesn't look like the Capone 1928 Caddy as mentioned in the story.

 

Capone never owned a convertible armored vehicle. Wouldn't make sense as far as protection. A rival could machine gun the top like swiss cheese and worse if it were open could pop a shot off from a rooftop or throw a grenade in it.

 

If the Government was really hard up at the time I would think they would just use an armored vehicle from the army and not put the President in a known convicted criminal's car.

 

Mario Gomes

www.myalcaponemuseum.com

[OCM]

Thanks, Pal. I guess that settles that, at least to us on this forum. I'm sure the Legend will continue.