It was January 1955 when Elvis purchased his first Caddy. Contrary to popular belief it wasn’t his first vehicle. That was his very affordable and unreliable Lincoln!
The Caddy was already Pink. The history books tell us he wasn’t the first to sport a pink paint job on the coolest car of the era, but boy oh boy he sure was the most famous! Boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson was actually the first. He is known to have had cars resprayed before reselling them. I wonder if one of them could one have slipped through the cracks?
The stand out colour of the new ride even inspired a change of lyrics in E’s first song to hit the national charts “Baby, Let’s Play House”.
Although the car accented Elvis’ individual style and perhaps accelerated (get it, accelerated?) his recognition (not ignition – ok I’ll stop,…look & listen) it very nearly came to a tragic end. The original Fleetwood was engulfed in flames due to a problem in the brake lines, somewhere along the road from Hope to Texarkana, between gigs. Thankfully E and neither of The Blue Moon Boys (Scotty & Bill) were injured.
There’s something to be said here about Elvis’ instinctive “drive” (I know, sorry) but apparently within two days of the wreck, Elvis purchased his brand new ride! Yes, on the 5th of July 1955 is when he purchased the true icon of American, if not all of the world’s automobilic (is that a word?) emblem!
The car was originally blue with a black roof, but thanks to his neighbour; Art (such an ironically fitting name) Elvis had it sprayed pink, leaving the roof black. “Elvis Rose” yep, that’s the shade of pink they called it, and eager to spoil his beloved mother, he gifted it to her. Just imagine how proud and excited he must have been to bestow such a lavish gift on the most important woman in his life.
I wonder why they didn’t include “Elvis Rose” as a shade when they released the “Excitingly alive” Elvis lipsticks put out in 1956?
As Gladys didn’t drive, and didn’t seem about to, even with the prettiest wheels in town. It didn’t take long before our gorgeous young buck borrowed it to take it on the road again. It wasn’t exactly all smooth sailing from there, but perhaps somehow meant to be, as this is when Scotty crashed the car. Again making the best of a bad situation, our young idol took the opportunity to repair the car, while replacing the upholstery and having the roof sprayed white.
Thank you Elvis, for showing us how it’s done. You are and always will be our idol!
Wishing all the lovely mamas in the world a very special Mother’s Day!
Colonel Clarker