Page 139 - Been There… Done That!

Been There... Done That!
Cline of the Las Vegas Imperial Palace was not going to be able to get here. There were only a few people at the auction, but her drop- dead gorgeous Lincoln convertible was going to sell, regardless of price, due to a court order. When it went on the auction block, a few people gathered around but were just watching. The auctioneer started calling for $100,000, which fell on deaf ears. Finally, he said, “give me a bid,” and a car trader bid $18,000. We went back and forth and I finally got the car for $18,900. Talk about lucky. It was worth that as a classic car alone and it was coral pink with a white convertible top and only had 26,000 miles on the odometer. Three hours later Richie Cline showed up and asked how much profit I wanted. My reply was, I was going to put it in my nightclub, but when I get ready to sell, he will get the first shot. After two years we took that car to Auburn, Indiana, where Richie Cline finally got it for six figures. Now it is in Tokyo, Japan.
Cruisers customers were also asking, what about a car from the King of show business (Elvis)? What they didn’t understand was, those cars cost as much, if not more than they could earn in a year. Having said that, I still thought it was a good idea and started calling some old connections. When they found out what I was looking for, I started getting calls about Cadillacs that Elvis had bought and given away, with the only proof being a copy of the canceled check he paid for it.
I wanted something more personal and kept looking, eventually finding Jimmy Velvet, a close friend of Elvis who owned the Elvis Presley Museum. I figured his prices would be through the roof. I called Jimmy’s office in Nashville and struck up a conversation with
137