1977 Cadillac Seville by Fisher

On the afternoon of August 16th 1977, the legend that was Elvis Aaron Presley permanently left the building.

It’s thought that Elvis bought at least 200 Cadillacs over the years, with nearly all of them gifted to friends, relations or sometimes just strangers who’d been particularly helpful, friendly or kind.

But the day before he died he wasn’t driving just another of the many Cadillacs he’d owned.

He was driving this particular car.

It was the last car he purchased for his own personal use.

He chose the colour scheme and had the car fitted with a CB radio which he used to call ahead to the guard house and the kitchen at Graceland.

We have photographs of him sitting in the driver’s seat.

We have his name on the car’s title document.

For those of you who may have suspicious minds, this is all factual.

We know that because no less an authority than Graceland Authenticated LLC, the ultimate arbiters on all things Elvis-related, has definitively endorsed, confirmed, documented and certificated the car’s provenance and history.

Nine days after his death, Elvis’ father, Vernon, transferred ownership of the car to Ginger Alden.

She was the King of Rock and Roll’s fiancé.

Had he not met an ignominious end on the bathroom floor that fateful day in August, Elvis and Ginger would have married on Christmas Day 1977.

In 1982 Ginger sold the car to the splendidly named Jimmy Velvet, a man who claimed with good reason to have the world’s largest collection of authentic Elvis memorabilia and was the owner and founder of the Elvis Presley Museum.

The car was later sold to Greg Page for $101,500 at a Las Vegas Hilton auction in 1994, by Scott Velvet, the son of Jimmy.

In 2014, the car went to auction at Graceland, where it was purchased by the current vendors, who then generously loaned the car to Lord Montagu’s National Motor Museum at Beaulieu for public display.

A signed photograph in the documents shows three sizeable gentleman who attended the auction and were known to all and sundry as the ‘Memphis Mafia’.

They were Elvis’ personal bodyguards and would have known this car well.

If you don’t believe us, feel free to take it up with them.

The car has been on display for many years - it’s clocked up 4 miles in 10 years - and we purposely haven't tried to start it.

It would need recommissioning and registering with the DVLA were it to be introduced to a UK road in the future.

From a few metres away it looks pretty decent.

The doors open and close properly.

The bodywork is mainly free of any dinks and dents.

The wire wheels, which need re-chroming, look basically sound.

Elsewhere, the chrome is reasonable.

Get a little closer and a few issues become apparent.

Most notably at the rear of the car, where the panels beneath both rear light clusters have broken away (various bits of them are in the glove compartment) and the horizontal section between the bottom of the boot lid and the bumper is missing on the nearside.

There is a little bubbling under the paint below the windscreen and a few nascent outbreaks on top of the sills and kick-plates inside the door shuts.

The silver and burgundy two-tone paint job is showing its age in various places and there are numerous scuffs and paint chips around the door edges and at the front of the bonnet.

You need to jiggle the keys around to get into the boot.

The interior is following the same script as its exterior counterpart, at least inasmuch as it’s rather tired-looking but by no means beyond redemption.

There’s no blue suede or Chantilly lace to be seen anywhere, but there are acres of grey leather upholstery and, save for a few cracks and creases, it’s held up pretty well.

The driver’s seat seems to be dropping slightly down towards the centre of the car, and it’s hard not to imagine Elvis sitting in it, with his somewhat portly stature towards the end of his life.

It’s equally hard not to imagine Elvis unhooking the CB radio handset and asking the Graceland kitchens to rustle-up another peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich with which to greet him when he got home.

The interior is very much of its era and that era is definitively, unarguably and obviously the 1970s.

That means lots of faux-wood veneers, carpets that are thick enough for you to lose sight of your feet, and more ashtrays than you might expect to find in a pub garden.

The passenger door card armrest is detaching itself from the door and making a bid for freedom.

So, too, is the black plastic shroud around the handle on the door behind it.

The engine bay is orderly, dry and everything seems to be in its right and proper place.

We know that it has been fired-up periodically (the last time was a couple of weeks ago) but we would suggest that all things mechanical will need to be recommissioned and gently coaxed back into life properly.

That said, this car has only covered 58,000 miles in its life, so there’s every reason to expect plenty of service yet from the big 5.7-litre V8.

The undersides of the car look pretty solid from what we can see, which is hardly surprising when you consider that it’s spent far more time inside than outside, and that when it was outside, it was mainly in sunny, salt-free Tennessee.

This car’s history is, obviously, utterly unique.

It’s also backed up with all the right certificates, letters, photographs and authentication.

It is, indisputably, exactly what it claims to be – the last car purchased by Elvis Presley for his own use and the one he drove on the penultimate day of his life.

When he died in 1977 Elvis was just 42 years old and had been behind the wheel of this very Cadillac Seville only a few hours beforehand.

All of us here at Bonhams|Cars Online who were lucky enough to sit in the driver’s seat, gently hold the steering wheel and look in the rear-view mirror felt some sort of visceral connection with his presence, his life story, and his indelible mark on popular culture and human history.

How do you put a price on that?

​Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am-12pm or 2pm-4pm. To make a booking, please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

The plate ELVIS 1 is not included in this sale.