THE HISTORY OF ELVIS PRESLEY’S LOVE FOR CADILLAC

20th Century music legend Elvis Presley bought and owned a lot of Cadillacs in his short lifetime – up to 200 by some estimates. Many were given away to friends, family, and sometimes even casual acquaintances, making it doubtful that an exact count of Elvis-owned Cadillacs can ever be compiled.

But there’s no doubt about the depth of Elvis Presley’s abiding passion for Cadillacs, which awoke in the early 1950s while Elvis was laboring in obscurity for the Crown Electric Company of Memphis, Tennessee. As Elvis later recounted to an interviewer, “When I was driving a truck, every time a big shiny car would drive by it would start me sort of daydreaming. I always felt that someday, somehow, something would happen to change everything for me and I’d daydream what I would be.”

A Pink One for Mom By early 1956, that daydream was fast becoming reality. With his records climbing the charts, TV appearances booked, and a fat $40K contract from RCA in his pocket, Elvis was the hottest performer in the nation. Obviously, it was time to buy some “big shiny cars!”

Despite the fact that Elvis personified dangerous, leather-jacketed rebellion to many witnessing his early performances, the homely truth is that he was very close to his parents Vernon and Gladys; close enough to bequeath his second pink Cadillac – a 1955 Fleetwood Series 60 – to his mother.

Sadly, Gladys Presley died in 1958, but the iconic pink Cadillac – on permanent display at the Graceland Museum in Memphis, Tennessee – remains a lasting monument to Elvis’ filial devotion. In 2006, an exact replica of the car was commissioned with the approval of the Graceland Museum; this car now makes regular appearances at “pink-ribbon”-themed breast cancer awareness events.

The “Solid Gold” Fleetwood After Elvis returned from Army service in 1960, one of his first moves was to talk to legendary car customizer George Barris about building a new luxury car. Barris chose a 1960 Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood limo as the starting point for what ultimately became one of the most flamboyant Cadillacs in history. Included were a state-of-art stereo system with turntable, a television set, full bar, portholes, gold-plated radio phone, and 40 coats of diamond-embedded paint. The cost to Elvis – in 2018 dollars – was about $480,000. Elvis’ “Solid Gold” Cadillac became so popular in its own right that Colonel Tom Parker sent the car – sans Elvis — on a solo tour through the South in 1965 that managed to attract 85,000 people. Today you can find this iconic Cadillac at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.

A Station Wagon Fit for The King

The fact that Cadillac manufactured no production station wagons in the 1970s was no impediment to Elvis, who, in 1974, had one custom-built by GM as a gift for his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. The result of GM’s creative handiwork was a roomy, decked-out 1972 Sedan DeVille station wagon whose stand-out features included 24 karat gold spokes, grille, and Cadillac badge; a 472 ci V8 engine, top-tier interior furnishings, and a (then) state-of-art 8-track tape player. Elvis delightedly drove the DeVille on his periodic long-distance commutes from Beverly Hills to Las Vegas, racking up about 70K miles on the odometer. He enjoyed the car so much that Parker ultimately tendered the car back to him. In December of 1976, Elvis drove the DeVille wagon 1,500 miles from Vegas back to Graceland on what would be his last road trip. Elvis Presley’s ultra-rare wagon was listed on eBay in 2015 for $1.5 million and also on the Mecum Auctions site (from which it appears to have been sold to a private buyer).

Your Own Legend Awaits at Sarant Cadillac At Sarant Cadillac, the legendary allure of Cadillacs is very much alive, and we invite you to visit our Farmingdale dealership to inspect the finest examples of the automakers art, including the Cadillac ATS, CT6, Escalade, and XT5. Give Sarant Cadillac a call at 877-212-1682 or use our website’s online contact form.

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