"If The Real Thing Don't Do The Trick" -- A Barracuda, Elvis & San Antone

Houston Press ^ | Thursday, Mar. 5 2009 @ 3:51PM | By Craig Malisow

[a fool in paradise]

For a moment there, it seemed like a lost piece of Elvis Presley memorabilia was rediscovered.

No, not the mason jar where they kept his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon, but something almost as cool - a Plymouth Barracuda thought to have been bought by the King for one of his queens in 1971. Said car-slash-historical artifact wound up in the hands of Tulsa-based Leake Auction Company, which is auctioning the 'Cuda and around 300 other cars at San Antonio's Alamodome March 21.

After doing its due diligence, Leake issued a press release today stating that "The current owner purchased the 1971 Plymouth Cuda in March of 2008 from a car collector dealership in Miami. While upgrading the drive train, his mechanic discovered what appeared to be the title to the vehicle between the carpet and the floor pan." (It must be noted that Leake never officially said the car was Elvis's, only that the questionable title was found in it).

The Ohio title listed the owner as Elvis Aaron Presley - but the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles couldn't confirm or deny its authenticity.....until earlier today.


"[We] got a call first thing this morning...from the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles that it was in fact a fraudulent title," Jennifer Tetley tells Hair Balls. She said "There were some little-bitty hiccups on the title that did not add up....We had eight digits - there should have been nine digits."

There was also a problem with the way the Ohio DMV's stamp appears on the title. Tetley assured Hair Balls that Leake never intended to mislead anyone, and while the sweet, sweet ride will still be auctioned off, it won't be advertised as Elvis's car.

[a fool in paradise]

If only our government cared as much when it came to verifying Obambi’s birth certificate.

[a fool in paradise]

[potlatch]

The "Cuda" that wasn't.........Elvis'

[devolve]

LOL! A fakeroo title! Hussein II's fault!

Elvis in Germany in 1958-59 in one of his two BMW 507s:



Bill Mitchell's 1959 Stingray-Duntov racecar that
Elvis drove in his 1968 movie "Clambake":

[potlatch]

Somebody tried to make more money off trickery. Lol, 9 numbers instead of 8 tripped them up.

I knew this would give you a place for your cars. Looks nice.

[devolve]

Good thread - Thanks potlatch

[potlatch]

Yes, I find them, lol.

[devolve]

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LOL!

And I dig up the mostly unknown cars of these people

Elvis bought a blue tri-power blue ‘62 T-Bird with Kelsey-Hayes wire whhels - he kept in only 2 days - and never bought or drove another Ford again

One wheel had some spokes break - Elvis phoned Edsel For personally

I imagine it was a heated phonecall!

[potlatch]

[I imagine it was a heated phonecall!]

I never once heard of Elvis being bad tempered. Probably all he had to do was ask and they would rush to please him.

[dfwgator]

I never once heard of Elvis being bad tempered.

I think there's a TV in Vegas that might disagree with that statement.

[devolve]

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The expensive chromed Kelsy-Hayes wirewheels Elvis loved on the high-optioned ‘62 T-Bird never should have had spokes that would break under acceleration

Plain stock painted steel wheels from Ford would have been much stronger and safer

Any special option from a high-dollar vender to Ford should have been designed and tested to handle 2-3 time the stresses and loading

Elvis payed top dollar and love classy high performance vehicles - a vehicle with dangerous parts that failed when he drove it in the first 2 days he had it would tend to annoy anyone

I have a photo of that model big ‘62 T-Bird somewhere - fitted with a roadster panel over the rear seat area

His favorite car was his Retro Stutz Bearcat

[devolve]

1962 saw strong production figures of 78,011 (including 9,884 convertibles) and the introduction of the Thunderbird Sports Roadster.

The Sports Roadster was a limited production version of the convertible which added 48 spoke Kelsey Hayes designed wire wheels, special badges to the front fenders and a passenger side grab bar to the front dashboard.

The most striking addition to the Sports Roadster was a fiberglass tonneau cover which covered the back seat of the car and created a two seater appearance.

1,427 Sports Roadsters were produced in 1962, including 120 models with the special M Code option noted below. Early models suffered from problems related to their specially designed wire wheels.

The problem was quickly corrected (You betcha!) when Elvis Presley was involved in an accident when one of the Kelsey Hayes wheels collapsed during hard turning.

Another addition for 1962 was a special engine code (VIN engine code M) which added a tripower or three two barrel setup to a higher compression version of the Ford 390CI engine.

This engine used 406 heads as well as the same carburetors that were found on the high performance 406 powered Ford Galaxies but with a modified version of the intake manifold to allow for proper air flow under the engine. This engine boasted 345 hp (257 kW) but was considered a moderate failure. The engine option was quietly discontinued halfway through the mid 1963 production run.

[devolve]

[devolve]

[devolve]

[SunkenCiv]

got a call first thing this morning...from the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles that it was in fact a fraudulent title

...probably the DMV will attribute this forgery to Joe the Plumber.

[potlatch]

Old, old photo devolve. I had not seen that before.

[potlatch]

This is very nice, and nicely framed too.

[devolve]

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So a wheel failed while Elvis went around a curve or corner

The dealer and Ford put regular steel wheels and hubcaps on it to repair it

Elvis paid over $6100 cash for it new - mostly because of the chrome wire wheels on it

Ford had no alternative chome wire wheels (there were other chome wire wheel manufacturers with 60-spoke instead of 48-spoke chrome wire wheels - but Ford was to stupid to check or make a variance - thousands were already sold with chome Kelsey-Hayes 15” wire wheels) - so Elvis never drove or bought another Ford as long as he lived

And Ford lost a huge free PR car sales gimmick!