Georgette Braun: Auto museum offers up real-life Dillinger car

The year was 1997, and the bullet holes in the walls were 63 years old.

Even though absorbing history wasn’t my main focus for the day, the story of the April 23, 1934, shootout at Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wis., and how notorious bank robber
John Dillinger escaped the FBI there engrossed me for hours — until the after-dinner partying started, anyway. I was at the lodge, where walls in the entrance are covered with newspaper clippings detailing the shootout, for my nephew’s wedding reception. My brother and his family live in nearby Hazelhurst.

My Dillinger fascination has piqued again, this time with a more local connection. A 1932 Studebaker Commander from Historic Auto Attractions museum in Roscoe is expected to be seen in “Public Enemies.” The movie opens Wednesday nationwide and features Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent who led the manhunt of Dillinger.

Seems a good time to turn the spotlight on Historic Auto Attractions as part of my occasional Destinations series in this column. The series features fun local places that might not be on your radar. I list four reasons to go to each destination, plus a half-hearted reason, because not every place is perfect.

By the way, Universal Studios filmed “Public Enemies” at Little Bohemia Lodge. And yes, as I remember, the food we ate there was very good. But of course, it was the ambience that was riveting.

Georgette Braun can be reached at gbraun@rrstar.com or (815) 987-1331. She blogs at http://blogs.e-rockford.com/askgeo/.

4.5 reasons to visit Historic Auto Attractions
1.Thought-provoking Dillinger relics. Johnny Depp doesn’t drive the green 1932 Studebaker Commander that actually was used as a getaway car when Dillinger’s gang robbed the Central National Bank in Greencastle, Ind., said Wayne Lensing, owner of the car and Historic Auto Attractions. “They wanted a black one, with bigger running boards,” he said, so crews could stand on them to film bank-robbery action in “Public Enemies.” But Lensing said he expects his Studebaker will be seen along with other Depression-era vehicles in scenes filmed in Columbus, Wis. The moviemakers picked up the car in spring 2008 and kept it for a month.

In real life, the car was an unmarked sheriff’s vehicle that was stolen and used by the Dillinger gang in the largest bank robbery to that point in history, at $75,000. Lensing places the vehicle’s value today at $100,000. Lensing didn’t get any money for use of his car in the film, but the moviemakers fixed it up to make it drivable for the shoot.

Other Dillinger memorabilia at the museum includes a bulletproof vest Dillinger wore that was left at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wis., after Dillinger escaped an FBI shootout there; the 1911 Colt 45 that fired the fatal shot through the back of Dillinger’s neck on July 22, 1934, outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago; and a copy of the original death mask cast from Dillinger’s face.

2. Other gangster artifacts. Actual hats worn by Bonnie and Clyde on their fateful day. A car from the 1967 “Bonnie & Clyde” movie. Al Capone’s 1929 Ford Model AA beer truck.

3. Dozens of other cars once owned by or associated with famous people, big-time movies and race-car drivers. You know these names: Elvis, John F. Kennedy, Howard Hughes, Johnny Cash, Richard M. Nixon, the King of Siam, Adolf Hitler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, “Sanford & Son,” “Batman Returns,” “Back to the Future,” “Ghostbusters,” Roscoe native Danica Patrick, Rusty Wallace and Richard Petty.

4. Lifelike wax figures and other neat stuff. Artist likenesses include Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh, and world leaders include Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro. Marilyn Monroe’s jewelry and Buddy Holly’s wide-rimmed glasses are among hundreds of smaller notables. The Lincoln Room, with all things celebrating Ol’ Abe, opened Saturday.

4.5. Your legs won’t get tired walking around the place. That’s one upside. The downside: Some of the displays of cars and other collectibles are cramped. But Lensing plans to expand the museum by three times in the next few years, to acquire wax figures of all the U.S. presidents, to build a replica of the Oval Office and to make the place more family-friendly.

Historic Auto Attractions
What: Museum featuring cars, wax figures and artifacts of famous people, which opened in 2001
Address: 13825 Metric Drive, Roscoe
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through Labor Day weekend. Museum open weekends only September through November. Tours available March through December.
Cost: $10, $8 for 65 and older, $6 for ages 6 to 15; group prices available
Phone/Web site: (815) 389-7917, historicautoattractions.com
Owner: Wayne Lensing, a former worker at the Belvidere Chrysler assembly plant who also is owner of Lefthander Chassis of Roscoe, which makes asphalt oval-track race cars
Attendance: 8,000 last year; Lensing aims to eventually raise that to 50,000.

On the Web
To learn more about “Public Enemies,” go to publicenemies.net. To learn more about Little Bohemia Lodge, go to littlebohemialodge.com.