I Just Wonder What You Do There In The Back

In 1955, Elvis Presley bought a 1955 pink and white Cadillac Fleetwood for his mother.

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Elvis has a reputation as a car collector for a good reason, he bought a lot of them. Not only did he buy them for himself, but, as part of his generous nature, he also bought them as gifts for friends, family, associates and even complete strangers.

Elvis' car of choice? Cadillac.

Elvis purchased over 100 Cadillacs during his lifetime. He would often test drive them for a few days before giving them away.

The Cadillac he bought for his mother was his first Cadillac and his favorite. It was used in his early performing days to transport himself, his band and their equipment. On one of these ventures, near Texarkana, Arkansas, and shortly after he bought the car, a brake lining caught fire and it suffered some damage, which was repaired. Incidentally, though he bought the car for his mother, she never drove it.

During a radio interview, Elvis was once asked about the four Cadillacs he had in the driveway of his home. Elvis' response was, "I do have four Cadillacs, but I haven't got use for four. Maybe some day I'll go broke and I can sell a couple of 'em."

Elvis' love affair with Cadillac continued to the end. A gleaing white 1977 Miller-Meteor Landau Traditional Cadillac hearse would transport Elvis' body to the Memphis Cemetary on August 18, 1977 after a private service inside his Graceland home. The procession, which attracted thousands to line the streets of Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, included another sixteen white Cadillac limousines to carry mourners.

The hearse was apparently destroyed when it was engulfed in flames on Interstate 75 near Live Oak, Florida, in 1984.

"Pink Cadillac" (1989), starring Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters is the story of bounty hunter tracking down a woman who has skipped bail and disappeared in her husband's 1959 Pink Cadillac.