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Post by Alleyoop on Dec 14, 2015 18:28:52 GMT -6
HERE IS A BIT OF HISTORY I BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW…
Hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, the U.S. 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 armour 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.
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Doc's Anything Goes
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Post by richardv on Dec 14, 2015 19:33:28 GMT -6
That is interesting. And look at what he gets now.
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Post by olivertwisted on Dec 15, 2015 0:50:23 GMT -6
Very interesting!
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Doc's Anything Goes
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Post by tvnacman on Dec 15, 2015 8:32:04 GMT -6
Gee Al do you know about this because you live in IL? Home of the Capone.
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Post by jct842 on Dec 15, 2015 12:37:46 GMT -6
That bit about capone is a load of bull. scanners had not been invented at that time. The police had only one way radios that operated at the top of the am broadcast band and chicago's frequency was 1714kc. It is said that the myth was started by the people who sold the car at auction to beef up the price. FDR rode in a 1940 caddy, and the whitehouse had many other cars he could have rode in. www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id196.htm Pictures of fdr's car ride to the speech on link.
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Post by Alleyoop on Dec 15, 2015 19:22:21 GMT -6
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Post by jct842 on Dec 15, 2015 22:26:34 GMT -6
Because I had a background in tube type electronics the scanner thing did not jive, they only came into play with solid state and used to scan between different frequencys which chicago only had one in them days! I used yahoo as I hate google for most things! Too damn many ads. The internet sure is the place to perpetuate a fake story!
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Post by richardv on Dec 16, 2015 6:31:16 GMT -6
Having a strong interest in old automobiles I was also aware it was fiction. But, felt it was better to let it RIDE.
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