The King of Rock’s personal family car was recently rediscovered after decades
Elvis Presley owned many notable cars – most of which are heavily documented and stashed away in various collections and museums around the world. This 1967 Lincoln Continental though, has been unseen for decades and was only just recently rediscovered and is coming to the public market for the first time since the 80s.
The car will be going under the hammer at Mecum’s Monterey auction, taking place in just a few days from august 15-17. No pre-auction estimate has been published.
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The King of Rock took delivery of the car shortly after he married Priscilla Beaulieu in May 1967. The big Conti’ was a wedding gift from his manager Colonel Tom Parker, with Presley’s ownership documented with a copy of the original vehicle title listing Elvis Presley as the original owner.
It’s no normal ’67 Lincoln Continental either. It features exclusive coachwork by Lehmann-Peterson limousines, which were lauded by top brass at both Ford and Lincoln for their design and engineering.
The story goes that Ford-Lincoln got their hands on the first Lehmann-Petersen prototype limousine and tried their hardest to break it by sending it through a ringer of jumps. The car failed to bend or buckle, and Lehmann-Peterson limousines quickly became the ride of choice of America’s jet-setting stars.
The Presley family car was outfitted with air-conditioning, power steering, power brakes, power windows, a power antenna, power front bench seat, an in-dash clock and a host of other luxurious amenities – making the already exclusive Continental even more so by the period’s standards.
The car bore the 462ci V8 coupled with an automatic transmission, a specification that was introduced in 1966, and was lauded at the time as one of the smoothest and most refined powerplants around.
Throughout the early 70s, the Lincoln limousine acted as the Presley family car, carrying himself, Priscilla and their only child Lisa Marie around town, on trips and to countless social functions.
Presley boasted a very respectable car collection – with American iron luxo-barge marques like Cadillac and Lincoln being his favourites. He also owned Rolls-Royces, various Stutz, Mercedes-Benz and even bought a BMW 507 roadster while stationed in Germany.
While many of those cars are extensively documented as Presley cars, this land-yacht Conti’ has remained virtually unknown for decades, and has scarcely been seen by the public.
The car bears unique provenance as a wedding gift to Presley, extensive private family use, and the fact that the car is likely the least well-known amongst the dozens of recorded vehicles Presley had owned.
It’s looking a little worse for wear these days, but someone will buy it and – hopefully- bring it back to its former glory.
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