01/08/2025
In 1976, ELVIS PRESLEY spent his 41st birthday vacationing in Vail, Colorado—and went on a famous spree of car-purchasing.
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In December 1975, Presley decided to leave the lonely confines of Graceland, his mansion in Memphis, for the holidays and his 41st birthday (January 8, 1976). He took Linda Thomson, his girlfriend, and several of his “boys” to Vail, Colorado, to celebrate.
“He flew in on his jet, and we rented a Trailways bus,” Captain Jerry Kennedy, head of the Denver vice squad, said. “We sang Christmas carols on the way up. We took off work for ten days; we got him lodging and ski outfits.”
Kennedy obtained permission to use the ski slopes at night, and Elvis and his entourage rented snowmobiles for noisy 3 a.m. rides through the woods.
Shortly after the holiday revelry, Presley went on a now-legendary car-buying binge. Wearing a white woolen ski mask and bulky snowsuit, he visited Kumpf Motors, a luxury automobile showroom in Denver, arriving three hours after closing time with a large party. He told three in the group—Kennedy; Detective Ron Pietrofeso, who had been Elvis’ police guard during concerts in Denver months before; and Dr. Gerald Starky, a police physician who had treated Elvis a day earlier for a scratch he said was caused by his ski mask—to pick out the cars they wanted.
Read more on the CoME blog: https://colomusic.org/blog/elvis-presleys-colorado-connection/
