Bonnie And Clyde's Iconic Car: How Much It's Worth Today

The legend of Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow is one of life's great mysteries. Perhaps their undying loyalty to each other until death parted them (quite literally) struck a nerve with a country beaten down by the Great Depression. Or maybe the public saw them as Robin-Hood-types stealing from the deep-pocketed banking institutions, which many blamed for the stock market crash and ensuing societal chaos.

The exploits of the gun moll and her beau were plastered across the front page of newspapers across the country at the time. Since then, Hollywood has done its fair share of perpetuating a romanticized version of Bonnie and Clyde, so much so that the criminal duo will likely remain steeped in pop culture infamy forever.

In truth, Bonnie, Clyde, and their gang of outlaws weren't all that great at robbing. Sure, they once broke five guys out of prison in Texas, and were known to kidnap and ransom people, but according to several sources, they never got more than $1,500 from a bank job. Despite the myth that they only robbed from the rich, they were just as prone to holding up gas stations and grocery stores owned by private citizens, where the haul was usually only a few bucks.

In fact, they lived from job to job and frequently had to rob vending machines just to get food money. They were good at killing, though. By the end of their career, the FBI believed they were responsible for killing 13 people.

Bonnie and Clyde not only stole several vehicles during their career, but they were integral to their mythos. In 1926, Clyde's first arrest was for failing to return a rental car in Texas. In 1932, he was serving a 14-year stint for car theft (and robbery) and chopped off two of his toes just to get moved to a less harsh facility.

The duo were involved in a car accident in 1933 that cracked open the car battery, causing acid to leak onto Bonnie's leg, eating flesh down to the bone. An abandoned stolen car was why the Bureau of Investigation (later changed to the FBI) got involved in their chase. In the early morning hours of May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were shot to death inside a 1934 Ford Model 40 B Fordor Deluxe sedan on a highway near Sailes, Louisiana. Police shot 167 rounds into the car.

The "Death Car" had a 221 CID Flathead V8 with Stromberg 97 carburetion and three-speed manual transmission that produced 85 horsepower, making it much faster than most vehicles used by law enforcement at the time. The tan-colored, all-steel sedan had leather seats that classed it up considerably. Bonnie and Clyde stole it from the Mosby-Mack Motor Company garage owned by Ruth Warren just before they were killed.

In 1988 it was purchased for $250,000 by the owners of Whiskey Pete's Primm Casino south of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum as part of the "FBI: From Al Capone to Al Qaeda" display from July 2021 through February 2022.