Photo: Big Iron Auctions
How much would you pay for a slice of modern American history? It’s gory, it’s tragic and it’s morbid, but it’s still a piece of history. For one buyer, the 1965 Chevrolet Impala dubbed the most infamous rental car ever was worth a lot of money.
Duane Earl Pope might not be a name that rings a bell to readers outside of the United States, but to Americans, it stands for the author of one of the bloodiest bank robberies of modern times. Pope, a fresh college graduate and the very definition of the “nice guy,” needed money to buy a trailer for his planned excavation business, and he had already been working for some time on an idea on how to get it easily.
He’d been tinkering with his pistols, making silencers on the machines on campus, and then testing him on his family’s farm in Salina, Kansas. One day in June 1965, he headed out to Hertz and rented a 1965 Chevrolet Impala with the $50 he’d borrowed from his father, on the excuse that he’d head into town to look for work. Instead, he headed into Big Springs, Nebraska, where he stalked out and, the next day, robbed the Farmers State Bank.
Pope shot the four people inside the bank, execution-style. Three of them died on the spot, while a third survived but was left paralyzed for life. He then drove the getaway car, now loaded with some $1,600 back to Salinas and returned it to Hertz. He would then fly to Mexico taking detours, and then into Las Vegas, where he gambled and enjoyed himself until he saw he’d made it on the FBI Most Wanted List. When the president of the McPherson College publicly urged him to turn himself in, he did.
Pope admitted to his crimes in a 19-page confession, and he’s currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. The Impala that he used for the bloody robbery was listed last weekend with Big Iron Auctions and, after 170 bids, sold for $45,000 to an undisclosed buyer.
The Impala had previously been hosted at the Chevyland USA museum in Elm Creek, Nebraska, and was part of the Monte Hollertz collection. Hollertz died last year, and the museum closed permanently one year prior. Powered by a 283 Turbo-Fire V8 delivering 195 hp mated to an automatic transmission, the Impala showed 13,962 miles (22,470 km). It was sold with a bunch of memorabilia, such as a copy of the paper Pope signed upon renting the car and various newspaper articles and clippings.
He’d been tinkering with his pistols, making silencers on the machines on campus, and then testing him on his family’s farm in Salina, Kansas. One day in June 1965, he headed out to Hertz and rented a 1965 Chevrolet Impala with the $50 he’d borrowed from his father, on the excuse that he’d head into town to look for work. Instead, he headed into Big Springs, Nebraska, where he stalked out and, the next day, robbed the Farmers State Bank.
Pope shot the four people inside the bank, execution-style. Three of them died on the spot, while a third survived but was left paralyzed for life. He then drove the getaway car, now loaded with some $1,600 back to Salinas and returned it to Hertz. He would then fly to Mexico taking detours, and then into Las Vegas, where he gambled and enjoyed himself until he saw he’d made it on the FBI Most Wanted List. When the president of the McPherson College publicly urged him to turn himself in, he did.
Pope admitted to his crimes in a 19-page confession, and he’s currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. The Impala that he used for the bloody robbery was listed last weekend with Big Iron Auctions and, after 170 bids, sold for $45,000 to an undisclosed buyer.
The Impala had previously been hosted at the Chevyland USA museum in Elm Creek, Nebraska, and was part of the Monte Hollertz collection. Hollertz died last year, and the museum closed permanently one year prior. Powered by a 283 Turbo-Fire V8 delivering 195 hp mated to an automatic transmission, the Impala showed 13,962 miles (22,470 km). It was sold with a bunch of memorabilia, such as a copy of the paper Pope signed upon renting the car and various newspaper articles and clippings.
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