Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Elvis and his Stutz Blackhawk's



Our good friend The King Of Cool from over at The Dino Lounge had a cool picture of Dean and his Stutz. That got me thinking about the two at Graceland. They are some cool cars and Elvis was very fond of them. The second picture is the first one Elvis ever owned. It was a prototype that was sent to the US to be used to show around to potential dealers and buyers. Jules Meyers who was a Stutz dealer took the car to show Elvis and he of course had to have one. Jules told Elvis they could make him one but Elvis was having none of it. He wanted the one in his driveway. The guy did not want to get rid of it at first because he was using this one to gain publicity and Frank Sinatra was interested in it as well. Elvis being Elvis charmed the guy into letting him have the car. Elvis was also willing to take some pictures for publicity and let the car be shown at a car show before taking delivery. Frank was not willing to do this. So the guy was glad to let Elvis have the car. Elvis would have it sent George Barris to do some customizing, and then the car was delivered to Vegas for Elvis. A driver for Elvis wrecked it pretty bad in the summer of 71. Elvis has it put in storage after that.
The first picture here is of Elvis' 1973 Stutz. It was for sure his favorite car in the 70's. It is very nice and had golf trimming in the inside and all. It was the car Elvis drove on the final night of his life and a fan snapped the last ever picture of Elvis driving into Graceland in it.Elvis would own a few other Stutz in the 70's but this are the only two in Memphis. Elvis also had a pearl white Stutz that I have seen pictures of. Man that thing is sharp!

1 comment:

Keith said...

Hey there. Glad I could inspire you on something. This is a really cool post. I love the pictures. Man, that is one awesome car. Dino and Elvis both had some good tastes. I would love to have one of these.