Elvis Presley’s 1974 Custom Cadillac DeVille Station Wagon Is a Rare, Lost and Found Gem

Elvis Presley loved anything with an engine, whether with four or two wheels. In his short life, he built a collection of cars and motorcycles that would shame many of today’s influencers, and he bought even more cars to give away as presents. The thing with Elvis and cars was that he always seemed to do things on a whim, like that time he decided to buy a brand new 1956 Continental Mark II because he’d found his Lincoln Premier covered in lipstick marks and love notes from his adoring fans, and didn’t care for the idea of taking it for a wash.

Because of his willingness to spend money on cars and a clear wandering eye when it came to anything with an engine, Presley left behind countless pieces of auto memorabilia, many of them in impeccable condition. One of them, believed to be among the rarest of all, was almost lost in the fog of time: a 1974 custom Cadillac DeVille station wagon.

Since he was always buying something new, not many of the cars he bought were around for long, regardless of how spectacular they were. Highlights of Presley’s collection include a BMW 507, said to be the most expensive in the world, a Rolls-Royce Phantom V, a DeTomaso Pantera, and an entire fleet of Cadillacs, with the station wagon among the most famous.

This station wagon, which was built specifically to the singer’s demands, is featured in the latest episode of Ridiculous Rides (see the video below), which brings its fascinating story back in the spotlight. It started on the morning of September 26, 1974, when Elvis went to Madison Cadillac for a one-of-a-kind build tailored to his needs: he wanted something he could haul his music gear and his luggage in, on his way to the airport. This being Elvis we’re talking about, no regular truck or car would do, so he wanted something with a bit more flare.

He chose a four-door DeVille sedan that American Sunroof Company converted into a wagon, replacing the hardtop with a vinyl roof that integrated a luggage rack. After all, this was a hauler car, so it had to fulfill that functionality. Painted in a pinkish white with pink stripes, the wagon received a pink roof and, perhaps most shocking of all, a brown leather interior. The tailgate has a clamshell opening, activated by key. By The King’s later-era flashiness, it’s definitely an understated car – until you think of the purpose it was built for.

After placing that order, Elvis bought another four standard Cadillacs that he gave away to friends. As one does (when one is a generous multi-millionaire surrounded by hangers-on). For this vehicle alone, he paid $17,000, plus more than $10,000 for the conversion.

Powered by a 7.7-liter Cadillac V8 engine, mated to an automatic transmission, the station wagon is 19.3 feet (588 cm) long and weighs 5,174 pounds (2,347 kg). It’s a veritable land yacht, but it’s still able to reach 112 mph (180 kph) top speed, according to its current – and third – owner.

Elvis used the station wagon a lot, by his own standards. After his death, it was sold at auction by the Estate with 5,000 miles (8,047 km) on the odometer and a price tag of $50,000 that was indicative of its celebrity provenance and one-off status. Then, it disappeared for almost four decades, to the point where even Elvis historians forgot about it.

The car emerged, out of all places, on Craigslist, at the beginning of the 2010s. It was eventually acquired by the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois, and went on display there in December of 2014. It is still there, among other celebrity-owned or super-famous cars like Bumblebee from Transformers, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, the Bonnie and Clyde movie death car, the Eleanor Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds, the evil Christine, and the original George Barris Batmobile.

Brian, the manager of the museum, says that he still takes it out for a ride every once in a while, just to make sure that it’s running smoothly. In the video, it sounds like he’s using it for a daily, but that can’t possibly be the case, since the car is now showing, after all these years, a total of 8,000 miles (12,875 km). “It’s a piece of Americana and it’s a great piece of history,” Brian says. That it is, no doubt about it.