Ride like The King in this stretched Lincoln.
Elvis Presley led a very public life with a collection of cars that was well documented, so it's hard to think that one of his former cars could have been forgotten about for almost 40 years. But that's exactly what happened with the 1967 Lincoln Continental Lehmann-Peterson limousine you see here. Sometime after Elvis' death, this limo wound up in a private collection owned by James Petrozzini, and it was one of six cars from Petrozzini's collection that was auctioned at no reserve this weekend by Mecum in Monterey, selling for $150,000.
The importance of this limo is that it was a wedding present from Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, when Elvis and Priscilla got married in May 1967, and this car is said to have been a frequent choice for Elvis to drive around Memphis in with his wife and daughter, Lisa Marie. The auction listing says that the subsequent owner, Petrozzini, drove his son and clients around in the car, so it's likely that the odometer reading of 9,768 miles shows that the odometer has been rolled over.
Removing all doubt that this car was, in fact, owned by Elvis, is a title application with Elvis' signature, which was signed on November 25, 1966. Interestingly, the car is titled as a 1966 Continental, while the VIN codes the car as a 1967 model... and with with a low VIN sequence to boot. Aside from being a car formerly owned by "The King," this Continental is noteworthy for being a rare factory-backed limo constructed by Lehmann-Peterson that was one of the best of its time. The interior was fashioned after a private jet including the reverse-style seating arrangement with a radio positioned between the seats.
This was just one of many limos that Elvis had owned, but it's special because how it remained a secret for so many years. Sadly, the years were not easy on this car as evident by the rough interior, but it's still a really neat piece of Elvis history with plenty of character. The rest of the James Petrozzini Estate Collection (82 additional vehicles) will cross the auction block in October at the Mecum Chicago auction.
