Elvis Presley was a noted Cadillac enthusiast, with the rock n’ roll icon having owned (and given away) countless Cadillac vehicles over the years. An Elvis-owned Cadillac is a highly sought-after vehicle for fairly obvious reasons, so you can imagine the look of shock on one enthusiast’s face when he found the artist’s old Cadillac wagon for sale on Craigslist of all places.
This story was recently covered by the folks behind the Barcroft Cars channel on YouTube, who went out to Volo, Illinois to interview Brian, the manager of the Volo Museum where the car currently resides. Brian found the car listed for sale on Craigslist as a 1974 Cadillac wagon, with the seller only making a brief mention of the car’s rather interesting ownership history at the very bottom of the listing. This individual was a car collector and was the only person to have owned this wagon-converted Sedan DeVille apart from Presley and the Volo Museum, so it’s always been very well taken care of and remains completely original.
Brian of course wasn’t going to take the Craigslist seller’s word that this car was owned by Presley, so he had to do a little leg work to confirm its provenance. The seller provided documentation with the vehicle that showed Presely’s name and signature on the paperwork. The documentation also proved that Presley purchased this vehicle from Madison Cadillac Inc. in Memphis, Tennessee on September 26th, 1974 and later registered it in the state. The rocker lived in his rather famous home at 3764 Elvis Presley Blvd. in Memphis at the time, with in-period photos showing the Cadillac wagon parked out front of the large white mansion.
“I just really wish this car could talk and tell me the stories,” Brian says of the Cadillac wagon.
Check out the video embedded below to learn more about Presley’s unique custom Cadillac wagon.
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Comments
I wonder what Elvis would drive if he were alive today; I doubt it would be Cadillacs. They were the pinnacle of automobiles in his era (1956 to 1977) but just a few years after his death, the great decline began and millions of once loyal Cadillac owners, like Presley, moved to other makes. He did also own a Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and a BMW 507 among other makes but his favorite by far was clearly Cadillac. I would venture to say that a Rolls Royce Ghost with its opulent luxury and near silent operation plus a fair amount of flash would most closely replicate the Cadillacs of old that Presley preferred.
Now that is a wow vehicle. I never heard of a Caddy wagon before. If any it were funeral cars but it would have a B pillar. SDV, Sedan Deville, on the title application but inked in 4D. The other paper work does read 4D station wagon.
The clam shell tailgate was GMs answer to the ever popular Ford’s three way tailgate. Ford owned the station wagon market at that time, however, it never won over the masses. The rear glass always had to be operated to gain access. I attended a Chevrolet dealers sales meeting that “introduced” the New Chevrolet 1977 model year. When the three way tailgate was shown, similar to Ford’s, the place erupted in applause.
Yeah I wish GM still made cool sedans and wagons. The Malibu wagons were/are cool but very few have survived. I’m really tired of crossovers unless they would make sporty 2-door versions
I think he might want to have someone vet that title. I do not think it is real.
It could be legit but it does not contain his full name. There should be a place for him to sign his name and again on the reverse when it was sold or a family member if he was deceased would have had to sign it along with the new owner’s signature. They must be awfully lax in the state of Tennessee.
Just saw the Elvis movie in theaters. Whole new perspective. Good movie.
I can just imagine him and his friends loading up the wagon..
Looking at the video again, it was built by a coach builder and probably the coach builder also built hearse versions for the funeral industry. The big mystery is why would someone list it on Craigslist and it had Elvis’s name on it?
I was a travelling saleswoman for a large company back in the 70’s. I drove a 1973 because it was reliable, comfortable and could stand the long drives across country. Believe me if Cadillac had made a station wagon back then I would have bought one. You could only get Caddy’s like that if you were taking people for their last ride. I think who ever sold that man that car took him for a ride.
I bought a car that same year. The dealer had me sign a duplicated set of papers that had all the title info on it. I received one copy and the state received the other two copies. If you paid for the car and no lien holder of record was listed the Title would be sent to your current address after it was registered. Otherwise the Title was sent to the lien holder until the debt was satisfied, then you received the title. At that time it was the same in all 50 states. No one including Elvis, who most likely wrote a check for the full amount, would have left without signing that title verification and his signature would have appeared somewhere on the title. It was done that way to protect the dealer’s insurance in case the car was involved in an accident 10 minutes after it left the lot and was destroyed.
The new owner needs to pay the state of Tennessee to check their archives and pay for a true copy. I did this on a 1958 vehicle and found that the title had been re-applied for and given a 1959 year.
There is the limo Cadillac that Elvis had when he got married and it was in Bellefonte Pennsylvania years ago. I partied in it.
It looks like it is based off the 73 Olds Custom Cruiser. My family had one growing up. Everything from the rear doors back says Oldsmobile.