Saturday, May 23, 2009

FORD was the preferred car of escape for Bonnie and Clyde...


FD: If you are not familiar with the about.com series of websites and newsletters, let this be an introduction.


Clyde Barrow Wrote a Letter to Henry Ford

By Jennifer Rosenberg, About.com
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/qt/clydeletter.htm
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are infamous for their two-year crime spree from 1932 until their deaths in a hail of bullets in 1934. More amazing than his novice murders and robberies was Clyde's uncanny ability to evade the police even when he was surrounded.
Part of Clyde's ability to evade capture was in his skill as a driver, while the other part was most definitely in the choices of cars that he stole. Quite often, Clyde would be in a car that could out maneuver and out run any of the police cars that attempted to follow him.
Additionally, living a life on the run meant that Clyde and Bonnie spent days and even weeks at a time in their car while traveling long distances and sleeping in their car at night.
The car that Clyde preferred, one that offered both speed and comfort, was the Ford V-8. Clyde was so thankful for these cars that he wrote Henry Ford a letter in April 10, 1934.

The letter read:

Tulsa, Okla 10th April
Mr. Henry FordDetroit Mich.
Dear Sir:

While I still have got breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make.
I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one.
For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got ever other car skinned and even if my business hasen't been strickly legal it don't hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8.

Yours truly
Clyde Champion Barrow

Over the years, many have questioned the authenticity of Clyde's letter to Henry Ford, based on a discrepancy over handwriting.

http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/barrow.asp

http://texashideout.tripod.com/comparison.html

The letter is currently on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

http://www.jeffreysward.com/tributes/bonclyx.htm
If you want a gun like the one that killed Bonnie and Clyde: BAR

1 comment:

Claudia Wilson said...

If you live in north Texas you can have a Bonnie & Clyde local "stay-cation" tourist visit to Ponder in Denton County. See the bank building on the corner, scene of a robbery and a scene in the movie. Go down the block and eat at the world-famous steakhouse, if you eat that sort of thing.

Here's a nice presentation by a local
http://woodenuknow.com/SunnysRainbow/pondertexas.html#pondersteakhouse

(take FM2449 exit from I-35W, a little bit south of the I-35 merge in Denton)