Al Capone's Bulletproof Cadillac — 3,000 lbs of Armor and a Machine Gun Port

A 1928 Cadillac Series 341-A Town Sedan, armored in Chicago the year it was built — roughly 3,000 pounds of steel plate, glass close to an inch thick, and side windows modified so they could be raised an extra inch to expose a circular port sized for a machine gun muzzle. The rear window drops on command so whoever's in the back seat can return fire. It's one of the earliest surviving armored civilian cars anywhere, and it's been carrying Al Capone's name since the 1930s. THE EYEWITNESS In 2008, a man named Richard Capstran mentioned to a friend that as a boy he'd helped his father install armor plating on Capone's Cadillac. He was in his nineties. The car turned out to still exist. Capstran's account: his father Ernest ran a body shop that had done good work on another car belonging to the Capone organization. Shortly after, a brand-new 1928 Cadillac arrived. When the job was explained, his father said they didn't do that kind of work. He was told, "you do now." The car was backed into the shop so nobody walking past could see what was being done. The rear of the body was cut open to take an asbestos-wrapped steel plate — which arrived with lead already embedded in it from a proof test. Capone came in person to settle the bill and paid double. He noticed the ten-year-old in the shop, asked who he was, and was told the boy had sanded between the lacquer coats. Capone handed him ten dollars. The family never talked about the job for decades. When Capstran was reunited with the car seventy years later, he said he had no doubt it was the same one. WHAT THE PAPER TRAIL SHOWS We can follow this car continuously from 1932. Before that, the case rests on documents and circumstance — and we'd rather lay it out than just assert it. Emil Denemark ran a Cadillac dealership on Chicago's south side, was related to Capone by marriage, and had documented ties to the Outfit — his home and business were bombed in 1927, and his name still surfaces in a 1950 federal organized-crime investigation. Capone was one of his customers. In December 1931, an Associated Press reporter traced the plates on a Capone Cadillac and found it still registered to Mae Capone. Denemark's explanation was that the plates simply hadn't been removed yet. Capone was convicted in October 1931 and began his sentence in May 1932. IRS records show him trying to liquidate assets that autumn. The two V-16s were public and drew federal attention. The older armored V-8 sat in a Chicago garage and was apparently overlooked. In roughly spring 1932, a couple working a traveling carnival bought the car from a Chicago agent, believing Capone had placed it there. They exhibited it, then sold it in May 1933 to Harry LaBreque. From there it's fully documented: shipped to New York, then to England, displayed at Southend-on-Sea and at Blackpool. In 1939 the U.S. government asked the British to pull it from display over the "poor public relations" of advertising American gangsterism. Sold at auction in 1958 for $510. Restored in Ontario — most of the heavy plate came off then, though the bulletproof glass and drop-down rear window stayed. Then a run of museums: Niagara Falls Antique Auto Museum, Cars of the Greats, the Smoky Mountain Car Museum. Into the O'Quinn collection in 2006, and to RM Sotheby's in 2012. Is it beyond doubt? We'd rather you look at what's here and decide. What isn't in dispute is that this is a genuine 1928 armored car from the right city in the right year, and there aren't many of those. THE CAR Series 341-A. 341 cubic inch L-head V-8, 90 horsepower, three-speed manual, 140-inch wheelbase, beam front axle, mechanical drum brakes. Black over green — the same scheme Chicago police cars wore at the time, which was almost certainly the point. Excellent cosmetic and running condition. $1,000,000. Sold on bill of sale. Serious inquiries: 702-818-1031. Full documentation and 80+ photos: https://www.celebritycars.com/details... CELEBRITY CARS LAS VEGAS 7770 Dean Martin Dr, Suite 301, Las Vegas, NV 89139 https://www.celebritycars.com Twenty-plus years of exotics, classics, and cars with stories attached. Subscribe — we film whatever comes through the showroom. Instagram:   / celebritycars   Facebook:   / celebritycarslasvegas   #AlCapone #Prohibition #ArmoredCar