Elvis Presley bought a car for fan
Priscilla Presley recalls ex-husband Elvis Presley’s extraordinary generosity - highlighted by the moment he spontaneously gifted a car to a fan at a Memphis dealership.
Elvis Presley once gifted a car to a fan.
The King of Rock and Roll was in a car dealership in Memphis, Tennessee, hunting for a new vehicle, and after he asked a woman for her opinion on a motor she browsed, Elvis got a salesman to give him the keys to that car, which the music legend then handed to the lady.
His 80-year-old ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, recalled in the new issue of Britain's HELLO! magazine: "He went to the car dealership in Memphis, Tennessee. He was looking for a Cadillac, and there was this woman there looking at one of the cars, and then [she] started walking away.
"He said, 'Excuse me, what do you think of this car?' She looked at him and went, 'Oh my God, Elvis Presley!'
"He said, 'I saw you looking at this car, I'm looking for a car - what do you think? Do you like this car?' She replies, 'Oh, that's a beauty.' He said, 'You like it?' She said, 'Yes, sir.'
"He called over to the salesman and said, 'I'd like the keys to this car. I'm going to drive it around.' So the guy came back with the keys, and Elvis walked over to her and said, 'Put your hand out.' He said, 'This is yours,' and put the keys in her hand."
The woman was then overcome with emotions.
Priscilla - who married Elvis in May 1967 during a private ceremony at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada - continued: "It was very touching.
"The tears were flowing [down] her face, and she said, 'No one has ever given me anything.'
"He was like that all the time. He was just so generous in every way."
The Naked Gun star Priscilla - who had her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, with the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker in February 1968 - said her former spouse loathed receiving gifts on his birthday or for Christmas.
The star - who left Elvis in February 1972, with their legal separation finalized in July that year, and their divorce became official in October 1973 - explained: "He loved giving gifts. He didn't like getting gifts because he felt he had so much."
Elvis died of a heart attack at the age of 42 in August 1977, and he would have turned 91 on Thursday (08.01.26).
Priscilla - who lost Lisa Marie to a "small bowel obstruction", adhesions caused by weight-loss surgery, bariatric surgery, that she underwent several years ago, aged 54 in January 2023 - thinks the Viva Las Vegas singer would not have liked being in his 90s.
She said: "He would say things like, 'Oh boy, I don't want to be a 90-year-old man and not be able to do this or that.' I can hear his words."
However, if Elvis were alive, Priscilla could imagine him "doing the same thing in life - singing and touring. He loved it".
