When Elvis’s Cadillac came to town.
It was 1969
So many cool things were happening in the world when I was nine years old.
I rode a bike with high handlebars and a banana seat. I had an Easy Rider poster on my wall.
The Beatles released Abbey Road. There were hippies, Woodstock was cool. We even landed on the moon!
It was an exciting time to be a kid.
It had been a year since dad had died, the sadness and wounds of abandonment were fading and being replaced by typical youthful exuberance.
The dictates of my mother were losing out to hot rod cars, chopper bikes, good friends and the discovery of girls – all wrapped up in a soundtrack of school, summer weekends, and the music of the 1960s. – In my head I was already a teenager. I had been for a while.
But of all the fun and exciting things going on that year, there was one that really stopped me in my tracks. I heard the announcement on 2ZC
Elvis Presley’s Cadillac was coming to do a tour of New Zealand and as the announcer said, “Coming to a town near you.”
There was a poster and everything!
The King of Rock n Roll’s luxuriously customised Cadillac Fleetwood stretch was coming to Hastings, and I wasn’t going to miss seeing it for anything.
Most of the kids at school were a bit ho-hum to the idea, but when they heard it had a TV in the back, well, that was pretty much the game changer.
For me it was different – I grew up with Elvis. Mum had his records and she would play Elvis movie soundtracks on our radiogram. Blue Hawaii was a favourite. In fact, some of my first memories were of being taken into a matinee to sit on her knee and watch his movies. You could say I had been well indoctrinated.
But I also LOVED cars.
After weeks of anticipation, the day finally arrived. It was a Saturday in May, and after a change of clothes from a muddy game of soccer, I joined my mate, Michael Ritchie for the bike ride into town.
We cycled fast down Omahu Road from Frimley, Mike on his Raleigh Twenty, me on my Raleigh Space Rider, past the Hospital, through the busy Stortford Lodge intersection and into the main street of Hastings. Up Heretaunga Street until we located and turned into Russell Street. There in the distance we saw the large glass windows of Magnus Motors’ vehicle showroom with lots of cars parked outside.
It was all very orderly inside and not too many people – certainly not a crush so we had plenty of time to walk around this magnificent work of art. Because that’s what it was.
Long, white and shimmery with it’s crushed pearl and diamond paint. Microscopic fish scales had even been blended to achieve Elvis’s idea of the perfect shimmer. It was breath-taking.
It was long and powerful with a V8 engine and in a day of frugal Austin 1100s, it’s miles per gallon was proudly displayed at just 7 mpg. You could hear the hushed “wows!”
We could see into the back of the car where Elvis would sit on those plush, pin tucked seats and marvelled at the luxury. There was an auto changing record player and an 8-track stereo. A refrigerator and ice maker. A liquor cabinet, a vanity unit, no doubt containing lots of hair oil, combs and aftershave. There was a gold-plated telephone, an electric boot polisher and, right in the centre of this chaos was the gold-plated television set.
Our young minds boggled.
Michael and I walked around it so many times, studying and discussing every detail, there were static displays showing Elvis standing next to this very car. We read about how Elvis had wanted the best, the biggest, the most luxurious car. It would be fit for a KING. And it was.
After we had examined every inch of this masterpiece, we agreed it was time to head home.
We unlocked our bikes and began the ride back down Heretaunga Street.
Rush Monroes was on the way and we still had enough money between us to buy an ice cream soda. We grabbed a straw each and talked excitedly between alternating sips.
It sure had been a special day and to think that this big giant chunk of Americana had been ours for the day in little old Hastings, New Zealand – our town – a pimple on the bottom of the world!
I’ll never forget the fullness and excitement of that day.
27 years later in 1996, on a trip through Tennessee, I visited Graceland and searched in vain for that car in Elvis’s auto museum. I saw his famous 55 Pink Cadillac and 21 of his other amazing cars as well as Priscilla’s Pagoda Mercedes, his motorcycles, guns – I even boarded his converted passenger jet but I never found the Gold Cadillac.
I later learned after my return home that it’s on display to this day at The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Bugger, I wish I’d known that at the time.
It’s almost worth a return visit.
Sardines & Whipped Cream©️ 