Al Capone's Armored 1928 Cadillac was Used by President Roosevelt After the Pearl Harbor Attack

This interesting and historic fact did not become publicly known till many years after World War II ended. And even at that it is one of those little sidebars of history most people are not aware of today. I came across it, quite by accident, while researching material for one of my World War II books.

On Monday morning, December 8, 1942, the day after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military installations in Hawaii, nearly every radio in America was tuned in waiting to hear the news that President Roosevelt would address the Congress and ask they declare that we were at war with Japan.

According to former Secret Service Agent Mike Reilly, the Secret Service had determined the previous night, that a bulletproof car was needed immediately to protect President Roosevelt from possible assassins sympathetic to Japan or Germany.

But federal law prohibited purchasing any automobile that cost more than $750. An armored, bulletproof car would certainly cost more than that. Yet there was no time to wait for legislation authorizing such a vehicle, nor the time required to build one, and one was needed instantly. FDR would need it Monday morning.

However, Reilly, who was head of the 70-man White House detail, discovered that after Chicago gangster Al Capone, was convicted of income tax evasion in 1931 (he was sent to Alcatraz in August, 1934) the U.S. Treasury Department had seized the crime boss's bulletproof 1928 341A Cadillac Town Sedan. It had a whopping curb weight of 9,000 pounds.

Capone's Cadillac was green with black fenders, making it look identical to the 85 Cadillac's that were supplied to Chicago police and city officials. However, it had 3,000 pounds of bullet-proof armor beneath the standard body. Its windshield and windows were made of recently developed inch thick bullet proof glass. The car also had flashing red lights behind the grille and a real police siren. It is also believed to have been the first private car with a police band receiver.

A team of government employees and mechanics worked well into the night of December 7 cleaning and preparing the car, checking everything to make sure it would run and perform as intended to be ready for use by FDR the following day.

On December 8, 1941, when Roosevelt left the White House and went to the Capitol to ask Congress to declare a state of war existed with Japan, he made the trip in Capone's refurbished Cadillac.

Excellent information about the FDR-Capone car can be found in two books available online: Pearl Harbor Amazing Facts! (ISBN 0971056005) and Reilly of The White House (ISBN 978-0781286237).

FDR continued to use the car until the Ford Motor Co. could convert and deliver a 1939 Lincoln V12 armored convertible limousine (quickly dubbed the "Sunshine Special") for Presidential use. They got around the cost restriction by leasing it to the government for $500 annually. This car was used by both FDR and President Harry Truman until 1950. It now reposed in the Ford Museum in Michigan.

Capone and his criminal empire owned several automobiles, purchased from Cadillac dealerships in the name of a "Mr. Brown." The refitting, armor plating, and green and black paint schemes were done afterward. The 1928 Cadillac the Treasury Department confiscated is believed to have been one of two, perhaps three, such identical vehicles which were all used by Capone.

Shortly after Capone was convicted of Federal Income Tax evasion in October, 1931, the government seized as many of his assets as they could. One of the items confiscated was a bullet-proof 1928 Cadillac. A second, identical car escaped seizure and was privately sold.

Documentation with the 1928 Capone Cadillac sold by RM Auctions, Inc., in 2006 notes that in 1932, that Capone car had been sold for display at a London, England, amusement park. The May 13, 1933 edition of the New York Daily News has a photo of this Capone car in a sling and prepared for loading on a ship bound for England.

An article in Old Cars Weekly on April 19, 1984, reported "The Secret Service borrowed the car from the Treasury Department, which had confiscated it when Capone was arrested on income tax evasion laws (sic.). .."

Al Capone's 1928 Cadillac that was sold and shipped to England was expected to sell, at the 2006 RM Auctions, Inc., for between $750,000 and $1-million, without a reserve, It sold, for $621,500.

But what became of the Capone bullet-proof Cadillac the Treasury Department confiscated, and which President Roosevelt used? This writer still searching for the eventual fate of that vehicle.

And was there a third Capone armored Cadillac? Perhaps during some urban renewal project in Chicago or its environs, a demolition team may come across a now weather-beaten green and black car in a hidden garage or basement. If it's like the ones the Chicago Police used in 1928, who knows?