Becoming famous is easy: you either do something really good or something equally or more evil. Same goes with cars, too. There are endless articles on history's favourite cars: cars that changed the world, but here we would deviate just a bit from the usual and indulge our senses in something that is rather evil. While famous cars are everywhere, infamous ones are somewhat rarer to find. Here we will take a look at some of the most infamous cars from the history of the world.It took an inch-thick bulletproof glass and 3,000 pounds of steel armour plating to protect gangster Al Capone as he drove through prohibition-era Chicago in his Cadillac. The infamous gangster was convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and sent to Alcatraz island prison. Later, the US treasury department impounded the Cadillac, and the secret service later borrowed it for President Franklin D Roosevelt's security detail in 1942. In August 2010, Texas car collector John M O'Quinn wanted and tried to auction the car, but it did not happen as the car failed to fetch the minimum price of $450,000 and decided to keep it.
Not many people knew about the white Ford Bronco that carried the infamous OJ Simpson until the car chase was broadcasted on Television in 1994. However, after that, the car acquired an identity of its own. Former National Football League player Al Cowlings, a close friend of Simpson, owned the car. It was later reported that Cowlings unloaded the Bronco at a private sale for $75,000, but not before being involved in more controversy. In 1994, he was sued for reneging on a contract to sell the car to celebrity memorabilia company Startifacts.
Among his expansive fleet of cars, the Mercedes-Benz 770K was Hitler's personal favourite. The funny thing was he never drove any of these, as he never learnt to drive. He liked to be chauffeured around in big open cars than were very imposing and gave him a commanding presence. The Canadian War Museum, in 1971, received a 770K that was believed to belong to Hitler's fleet. The car immediately became one of the most popular attractions in the museum. In 2009, an armoured 770K also thought to have been Hitler's was discovered in a barn in Germany. According to reports, a Russian billionaire bought it.
Not many Hollywood blondes can be proud to have lent their names to a popular road safety device but Jayne Mansfield has - and in tragic circumstances at that. In June 1967, Jayne and her three children were being driven to an engagement in a 1966 Buick Electra 225 when they crashed into the back of a tractor trailer. The car slid under the trailer, killing Jayne and her driver instantly, but her three children survived the accident. After that, the Lorries in the US were fitted with a steel bar, known as Mansfield bar, at the back to prevent cars slipping under them. Mansfield's Buick Electra was returned to its owner Gus Stevens after the crash, which he eventually sold. The car was later displayed at a Florida museum for many years and is now reported to be owned by a Mansfield enthusiast in North Carolina.
Death came almost immediately when NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt spun into a concrete retaining wall at nearly 161mph on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Later Patti Dobler, the paramedic who pulled Earnhardt from the wreck, said that the car was a total wreck. "The whole front end was just demolished", he said. The original stock was in the name of Richard Childress Racing, the team for which Earnhardt raced. Childress had the original car destroyed, but a replica of the same is on display at the Richard Childress Racing Museum in Welcome, North Carolina.
Probably not as infamous as the other cars in this list, but John Lennon's Rolls Royce had a little controversial history of its own. It was not a very happy day for Rolls-Royce fans when Lennon decided to brighten up his exquisite Phantom V limousine with a psychedelic paint job. Moreover, he even had the car equipped with a rear seat that converted into a double bed, a television, a refrigerator and a loud-hailer public address system. Later the car was shipped to America and lent to rock stars including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Moody Blues, becoming inextricably linked to the self-indulgent lifestyle of the time. On many occasions, the car has been displayed in museums and passed through the hands of several owners. It was purchased at auction in 1985 for $2,299,000 and today you can see it for yourself at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Canada.
John Dillinger is well known to everyone as the famous bank robber who terrorised the American Midwest during the 1930s. His vehicle of choice during those days was an Essex Terraplane, which he used as his getaway car. Later, a police shootout in St. Paul, Minnesota, left a bullet in Dillinger's left leg and two in a front panel of the car. However, Dillinger managed to escape J Edgar Hoover's FBI agents for several more months. Dillinger was finally shot by the FBI agents in a Chicago alley. The original car, complete with bullet holes and all, is on display at America's National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, DC.
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