Celebrity cars roll onto auction block

Angie Wagner

Friday, March 20, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Slip behind the wheel of Elvis Presley's 1976 Cadillac Seville or take a wild ride in Cher's old Ford.

Of course, it'll cost you big time.

Classic cars once belonging to some of the biggest names from the past will roll onto the auction block this weekend.

"The bidding gets pretty fierce," said Julie Rosoff, spokeswoman for The Auction, Inc., a Danville, Calif., company hosting their 10th annual celebrity car auction here.

More than 400 antique, classic and celebrity cars will be auctioned off on Saturday and Sunday at the Imperial Palace hotel-casino. More than 7,000 people from around the world were expected to attend.

Three cars once owned by Elvis were drawing quite a bit of attention Friday at an auction preview. His 1976 blue Cadillac Seville, the last car he owned before his death, was expected to fetch $30,000 to $40,000, said Tim McGrane, operations director for The Auction.

Other celebrity cars include Cher's 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck, a 1964 Rolls Royce once owned by Sammy Davis Jr. and John Lennon's Rolls Royce.

One of the first all-new Volkswagen Beetles was also part of the auction.

"We'll have people that will buy as many as a half a dozen," McGrane said. "They do it as a hobby."

The cars expected to go for the most money were a 1936 Buick McLaughlin Series 90 Sedan owned by King Edward VIII and two Cadillac convertibles used by former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

One of the convertibles was the car directly behind John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in November 1963 in a Dallas parade.

"I've been fooling around with cars since I was 17," said Dan Nishiyama, 53, a Los Angeles lawyer. "This is a very good auction."

Nishiyama buys and sells cars as a hobby, which he said helps relieve stress from the work day.

"Women like to change their clothes. Men like to change cars."

The cars were a little too steep for John Wright, 45, of Chicago, who came by the lot just to look.

"I wish I could (bid)," he said, eyeing a 1955 Ford Thunderbird once driven by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.