This text was written by Joe Esposito, a member of the inner-circle of Elvis Presley. It was written as an answer to a question on the Collecting online homepage, the web part of the Collecting magazine. Interesting stuff !
As everyone knows, Elvis loved cars. But when it came to the merchandising of souvenirs, he showed little or no interest and really wasn't involved. Elvis had a lot of cars. The first thing that attracted him was the looks of the car. He didn't care if it was a $5,000 car or a $50,000 car or what brand it was, although he was very partial to American-made cars. He really liked Cadillacs and Lincolns, also some Chryslers. We bought a few foreign cars like the Rolls Royce because it was very prestigious and looked great, a Mercedes limousine and a Ferrari, but mostly his cars were American-made. He was very patriotic when it came to that.
This 1977 Cadillac Seville, two-tone burgundy and silver with white leather interior was the last Cadillac
that Elvis owned, and the registration to Elvis' 1977 Cadillac
If Elvis saw a car he liked in the window, he'd stop and buy it. That was basically it. If the dealership was closed and we knew the owner, we'd call and wake him up. We'd say, "Listen, Elvis wants to buy this car." Naturally the guy would meet us there, because if he didn't, Elvis would say, "Well, we'll find someplace else."
Elvis' famous Pink Cadillac 1955
Did Elvis bring bags of money? Absolutely not. Elvis never carried cash. Either I would write a check or, if I wasn't there, somebody else would write the check and Elvis would sign it. If we were in Memphis the dealerships would just send the bill to the house at Graceland.
Elvis Presley's 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Model 75 Limousine
He gave me a lot of new cars, including a brand new Seville and a gorgeous Eldorado convertible. One time he offered me a brand new Rolls Royce, but I turned it down because I didn't want to cause problems in the group. When I sold those cars, I didn't sell them as Elvis collectibles. But I'm sure the Eldorado convertible is out there someplace and I know it's worth a lot of money. But at the time I didn't think of it as a collectible.
