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Al Capone’s bulletproof 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan is back on the market

It turns out that infamous mob boss Al Capone played an early role in the development of the modern armored executive car, and now there’s another chance to own his bulletproof 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan, which is being offered by Celebrity Cars of Las Vegas for a cool $1 million. It was last seen netting $341,000 at auction by RM SothebyÂ’s in 2012 and does not appear to have undergone significant restoration since then, raising the question of why its value has jumped nearly threefold. Painted green with a black roof, fenders and bumpers, the car is said to be the earliest surviving bulletproof vehicle, with nearly inch-thick glass and once lined (but no longer; read on) with nearly 3,000 pounds of asbestos-wrapped steel armor plating. It features a rear window rigged to drop quickly, so the tough guys in the rear seats could fire on any pursuers. Heavy spring lifts operated the side windows, which were also rigged to raise higher than usual to reveal a circular cutout big enough for the muzzle of a machine gun. In this case, the factory specs may be the least interesting part of the car, though it is undeniably a looker. It features a Series 341-A, 90-bhp, 341 cubic-inch L-head V8 engine mated to a three-speed manual, with a beam front axle and full-floating rear axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. It has only 1,111 miles on the odometer, having spent much of its history in museums or on display at carnivals and amusement parks. ItÂ’s believed to have flown under the fedsÂ’ radar in a Chicago garage owned by Emil Denemark, a known mafia associate and South Side Cadillac dealer who was related to Capone by marriage, when the mob boss began his slide into legal troubles leading up to his eventual felony conviction and jail time. In 2008, an elderly man named Richard “Cappy” Capstran told a friend that he had once helped his father install armor plating on a Cadillac owned by Al Capone. His father, Ernest Capstran, had repaired another of CaponeÂ’s vehicles and earned the mobsterÂ’s business fortifying the brand-new Cadillac. “My dad said, ‘We donÂ’t do that kind of work here.Â’ And they (CaponeÂ’s men) said, ‘You do now,’” Richard Capstran recalled in a recorded interview, per SothebyÂ’s. CaponeÂ’s associates reportedly also backed the car into the shop so no one could see what kind of work was being done to it.

Car subscription services: A slow, expensive start — but the potential is huge

Americans are used to paying for subscriptions — to magazines and cable television, for instance — but experience shows they'll cancel when the price of admission gets too high, or there are more tempting alternatives. Cord cutters ditched nearly 1.5 million pay-TV subscriptions in 2017, according to a survey by Leichtman Research Group. Cable TV started out cheap with basic offerings, and then got expensive. The auto industry's subscription offerings are new, but they're starting out costly, and not price-competitive with traditional leasing. The upside is that they take the hassle out of car ownership for busy people by letting the service take care of maintenance, insurance, licensing and taxes. And they give consumers choice, often allowing relatively painless switches between different cars in the automakers' lineup. Subscription services also point the way toward an ownership-free auto experience, and offer an easy transition to a potential world where ride- and car-sharing will be dominant. Subscriptions are here to stay, but consumers may take a while to "get" them. Lincoln's subscription service for lightly used 2015 to 2017 models, offered through the Ford-owned Canvas beginning this year, got off to a slow start. Many early subscribers canceled. Last month, Cadillac announced it would " temporarily pause" its $1,800-per-month Book subscription service for "adjustments" as of December 1. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Snags with the back-end technology used to support the service made some customer-service functions tedious and time-consuming, adding costs for the company." The challenge for automakers is to come up with a strategy that offers consumers a compelling, affordable option to regular ownership, and one that can also make a profit. I think they'll find that sweet spot, but they're not there yet. Jack Nerad, former executive editorial director at Kelley Blue Book and author of " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car," points out that "A lot of people expected that subscriptions would be very valuable for people who wanted inexpensive transportation, but the reality is quite the opposite. Subscriptions are offering more choices for the wealthy.

2021 Cadillac Escalade to have a massive 38-inch curved OLED display

The redesigned 2021 Cadillac Escalade is going to be revealed Feb. 4, and it’s going to have a huge screen. Cadillac released a video teaser today showing the enormous display — watch it above. This screen is a curved OLED display that measures 38 inches from corner-to-corner. The exact resolution wasnÂ’t revealed, but Cadillac claims the pixel density is twice that of a 4K television. That particular stat is also rather nebulous, as the pixel density of a 4K TV varies with the TVÂ’s size. Regardless, itÂ’s safe to say that the screen is going to be very sharp and look fantastic. CadillacÂ’s use of an OLED screen will ensure it has spectacular color representation and the best blacks that a screen is capable of. Smartphones with OLED displays typically offer a better experience than those with LCD displays, and we can hope the same is true for this Cadillac display. On top of it being a huge screen, Cadillac also says itÂ’s the “first curved OLED” in the industry. Most infotainment screens in cars these days are flat displays, but Cadillac appears to be sticking its best tech foot forward with this curved screen. Other details worth noting in this teaser is the obvious presence of Super Cruise. The green light stretches across the steering wheel, indicating that the new Escalade will definitely offer the semi-autonomous driving technology. The rest of the interior is difficult to make out, but there appears to be a row of shiny buttons below the screen. Below this we can see what might be the top of the gear lever sticking up. ItÂ’s tough to know for certain what it is, but itÂ’s similar in size, shape and style to other new Cadillac gear levers. However, both the 2021 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban use push-button shifters. The switch to an actual gear lever would be more consistent with other Cadillacs, but inconsistent with its full-size SUV brethren. We wonÂ’t have terribly long to wait to find out. Cadillac says itÂ’s going to reveal the new Escalade in Los Angeles during Oscars week. Expect some of the big stars to roll up to the red carpet in new Escalades. ItÂ’s hard to think of a better place to show off the chromed-up, shiny new Cadillac. Related Video: