Rare Elvis-owned Stutz Blackhawk goes on auction

Holy Elvis-mobile. Would you look at this 1971 Stutz Blackhawk that Elvis used to own, and that you can see in Las Vegas before it goes on the auction block for at least $400,000-$600,000?

Starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, you can take a selfie in front of this rare dodo-bird-of-cars in the front lobby of the Palms hotel.

There were only 26 of these babies crafted by Italian hands in 1971. Elvis got one, but then he did something only crazy rich people do.

He gave it away! Yes, he gifted this impossible-to-buy material possession to someone for free, because he had so many other material possessions up in his face, he was all, “Whatever.”

The lucky recipient was (drum roll, please) one of his doctors.

Elvis loved doctors. Annnd prescriptions.

But this physician wasn’t the one who was acquitted of over-doping Elvis. The king of pain relievers gave this sleek vehicle (burled walnut trim, wool carpet, 7.4 liter 455 cu engine, now featuring 33,000 miles) to Dr. Elias Ghanem, house doctor for the Las Vegas Hilton.

The doctor’s widow told my buddy Norm Clarke, three years ago, that Ghanem got the car as a gift after nursing Elvis’ pneumonia, and that he was the Elvis doctor who was concerned enough to take away Presley’s meds, Dilaudid, Valium, Percodan, Demerol, Quaaludes and Sanilert, which was hand-labeled, “to keep sanity.” (No, I don’t know where you can get Sanilert.)

The good doctor died in 2001. Now Julien’s Auctions will display the Stutz at the Palms until April 22, and then take it to New York for a May 15-16 auction called The Property from The Life & Career of Elvis Presley. His “TCB” tour bus is up for bidding too.

If you’re a Millennial or a Digital generation child, and you don’t know what “TCB” means, it stands for “Taking Care of Business,” which is what Elvis did in his bejeweled Liberace suits and karate belt while he was pointing his finger at you, and while he forgot the lyrics, “I did it my way,” floating across the stage on gobs of prescription medications until he died at the ripe old age of 42, having never experimented with one illegal drug, only the legal ones.

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. Find him on Twitter: @VegasAnonymous.