Page 140 - Been There… Done That!
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Gary Graham
the manager. As we talked she let it slip that Jimmy had a Lincoln Mark IV he wanted to sell and had tried for a while with no success. My thought was that Elvis was known for Cadillacs, but in fact, he owned just as many Lincolns. I left my number and Jimmy called the next day. We talked for a while and he soon realized I was a friend of Elvis and the Colonel, not like he was, but enough to exchange some stories.
I asked if he had any Elvis cars he would sell and he had a couple, one being Elvis’ last Cadillac, a 1976 Seville. He had photos of Elvis driving it through the gates of Graceland and all the necessary documentation for a mere $150,000. I told him what I wanted to do and that the price was just too much for what I needed. He then said he had a Lincoln Mark IV with some documents (canceled check, drive-away tag and letters). Further, he said it was drivable. For $60,000 I could have it, but being ever the trader, I told Jimmy I only had $40,000 to spend but thanked him for his time. Fifteen minutes later, Jimmy called back and said, “bring me the cash and it’s yours.” I went to Nashville and got the Lincoln. It was in used car shape and just didn’t really look like Elvis, but it was his favorite color, blue. I thought that at least it was a start. I drove it back to Missouri with one stop to get a battery. When I pulled into my garage, my wife took one look and said, “You paid $40,000 for that.” My reply was, just wait, there are some things I can do to make it look the part.
The next day, after realizing Jimmy was a little disorganized, I started a search of the car, knowing some things had been left in the trunk and glove compartment. The first thing I found was a
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