The day was August 18, 1977. Mourners left a private ceremony inside Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee to say goodbye to “The King” Elvis Presley. His body was gently placed in a sparkling white 1977 Miller-Meteor Landau Traditional Cadillac, one of the most recognizable hearse limousines at the time. A silver Cadillac limousine was at the front of the long procession that went from Graceland to the nearby Memphis Cemetery.
What happened to that hearse that carried the body of “The King,” though?
One man – Chuck Houston – says he was the last person to drive the hearse in 1984. He got the hearse when the Memphis Funeral Home updated their fleet and got rid of the older cars. Houston’s father was the official owner of the hearse and it was one of his most prized possessions. He agreed to loan it to a funeral director in Florida, but he did this very reluctantly. According to Houston, this was the only funeral hearse that his father really wanted to keep in his 50 years of doing business.
Houston and a friend were driving the hearse to Florida to deliver it to the director there. But on the way there, they ran out of gas. After getting a couple gallons of gas in the car, they were on their way again. But a few miles later, the engine shut off completely and fire shot out from under the hood. This fire eventually engulfed the hearse…the hearse in which Elvis took his last ride.
And that’s what happened to the Elvis’s hearse.
