The National Museum of Crime and Punishment, located in Washington D.C., has loaned John Dillinger’s 1933 Essex Terraplane to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana, where it will be on display through April 2016.
Dillinger, a bank-robber known as “Public Enemy No. 1,” bought the car in March, 1934, On the last day of that month, he escaped from police in St. Paul, Minnesota. During the escape, the car received two bullet holes that remain in the front cowl panel to this day.
Dillinger used the car until April 7, 1934, when he and his brother crashed into a field in Indiana, his home state.
“While John Dillinger was not from this area, this automobile brings a local connection to Dillinger and his gang in northern Indiana,”said Aaron Warkentin, curator of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. “This automobile is a fine example of a quality, low-production automobile priced for the depression-era middle class, complete with a respected Hudson 8-cylinder engine.”
Dillinger died when he was shot by the FBI in Chicago in the summer of 1934.
The car can be seen in the museums special interest automobiles gallery.
