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Old 02-07-2007, 11:50 AM
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Default Elvis Presley and the White 427 Cobra

The King was a car guy, more or less, though he bought more Cadillacs than anything else. He did have a Rolls Phantom V which I think is still at Graceland and a Stutz Blackhawk. And a Pantera he shot at when it wouldn't start.
But the only car I want to find him pictured with is a white 427 Cobra. I saw the movie Spinout on TV, and if I have my title right, I think he's driving a white 427 Cobra in the opening scene. Only minutes after that opening scene he spins it out and off the road into the water wherupon presto-chango it changes into some damn kit car (you didn't expect that to smash a real Cobra did you?) I went to those shops in Hollywood that sell movie shots but none had any of Presley with the white car though it's even on the movie poster (though posters varied for different countries).
I don't know how to download a still picture from a movie but if anybody does, let me know and I'll pay for the movie rental.
I even think the car might be Ollie the Dragon, the car that was raced by either Hal Keck or Essex Wire, famous for belching flames out of the hood scoop!
I am disappointed that Presley, after his brush with the ultimate Cobra , didn't buy one himself but he had to save his money to buy all those teddy bears...

History Buff
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Old 02-07-2007, 11:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Historybuff
I even think the car might be Ollie the Dragon, the car that was raced by either Hal Keck or Essex Wire
...wrong,

Wallace, did you get a computer or something?

...suddenly...all these posts.
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Old 02-07-2007, 12:03 PM
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www.oldiesmusic.com/king.htm
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Old 02-07-2007, 02:09 PM
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I have my own copy of the movie. When I get some time I will see if I can post a still. White car, red meatballs, black #11. Theoretically, it could mean 1st in Division 1 of the ARRC. Ed Lowther and Dick Smith raced with the same number.

Look for CSX3011, CSX3012, and one other one (perhaps 3002) as the cars used for the movie. I'd have to check my notes to be sure.

Anybody have any idea what the car is that is shown in the water after Elvis is run off the road at the start of the movie? It is not a Cobra. IIRC the front quarter looks 63-64 Corvette-like, with ??? for the back end. Any ideas?

Steve
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Old 02-07-2007, 02:28 PM
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any ideas who drove the other cobra in the race in the same film?
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Old 02-07-2007, 02:52 PM
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Try this link

http://www.elvis.org/trailers/spinout.html
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Old 02-07-2007, 04:16 PM
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Sure brings back memories. Thanks for the link........
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Old 02-07-2007, 04:54 PM
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He's here in my car...........

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/data/500/elvis.jpg
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Old 02-07-2007, 04:58 PM
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Ed,

Good thing he didn't look like that in Spin Out as he probably won't made it out of the water.........
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Old 02-07-2007, 05:07 PM
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Great trailer!
Those of you with the movie, how much more car scenes/time is there in the feature? If there is a solid 10-15 minutes of vintage car video it may be worth buying. Bet its in Walmart for short $.

Jeff
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Old 02-07-2007, 08:23 PM
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There is some good stuff for historic cars. Grand Sport, McLaren, Jag E-Type, Cheetah and a bunch of others. Very interesting class. I think my wife paid 8-10$ for it.
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Old 02-07-2007, 08:26 PM
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Hey Ed, looks like a replica sitting in a replica!

Elvis is IN the bldg...
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Old 02-07-2007, 09:24 PM
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Don't forget that Viva Las Vegas is about a road race too. There are plenty of great race scenes with vintage cars including Cobra, Corvette, etc. Plus... Ann Margaret.
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Old 02-10-2007, 08:53 AM
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Default The film trailer is great but...

in the actual lead in to the movie it seems like its a couple of minutes of white Cobra. Then this girl tries to pass him and Elvis tries to pass her and ends up in the drink. The car that goes into the drink might have been a Woodhill Wildfire, an early kit car.
I have seen still pictures from the movie where Elvis is in the foreground and the cobra in the background and they have an engine on a chain and it's a huge engine, I don't think a 427, something the size of a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12!

Different movie posters from different countries featured the white Cobra more prominently than the American posters

Regarding Elvis impersonators, met one from Memphis the other day at the Barrett Jackson and it's odd how once you get to talking to him, you feel like you are in the company of Elvis...like you've known him forever. Eerie...
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Old 02-02-2013, 06:18 PM
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Default Cobra look-a-like

Hi, I just found your site and I see you have been asking about my old race car that Elvis used as a stunt car in the movie Spinout. It had an Austin Healey frame and a 327 Chev motor in it. The Body was a one off. It was going to be a production kit body called the Banshee. I bought it three days after Elvis passed away. I still have the ad that was in the LA Times. It was in very bad shape. It had been in a barn since the filming. No Motor or transmission. I bought it over the phone and then headed to California to pick it up.
Restored it with help from friends and put it on a small show tour in and around Minnesota and Canada. Then I raced it at BRI and Road America for a few years.

Rich Meyer
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Old 02-02-2013, 07:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VRM View Post
I have my own copy of the movie. When I get some time I will see if I can post a still. White car, red meatballs, black #11. Theoretically, it could mean 1st in Division 1 of the ARRC. Ed Lowther and Dick Smith raced with the same number.

Look for CSX3011, CSX3012, and one other one (perhaps 3002) as the cars used for the movie. I'd have to check my notes to be sure.

Anybody have any idea what the car is that is shown in the water after Elvis is run off the road at the start of the movie? It is not a Cobra. IIRC the front quarter looks 63-64 Corvette-like, with ??? for the back end. Any ideas?

Steve

If you look in my photo gallery (page 3) I came across this car a few years back in a casino down in Tunica Mississippi. It was in this movie and they tried to call it a cobra but I don't think so.....is this the car you are looking for?
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Old 02-02-2013, 08:00 PM
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Rich, Can you post some photos of it? I would love to see it - I spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out what it was.

Thanks!
Steve
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Old 02-03-2013, 04:31 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VRM View Post
Rich, Can you post some photos of it? I would love to see it - I spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out what it was.

Thanks!
Steve
Story and photos in an issue of the SHELBY AMERICAN circa early eighties. The "stand in" Cobra was in a "museum" as as "Cobra" and owned if I recall by "Jimmy Velvet". My copy is packed away from my last moce but perhaps Nedsel has one handy............
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Old 02-03-2013, 04:44 AM
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Back in Aug 2010, I posted a screen cap of the mysterious white car that stood in for Elvis's Cobra in the river scene of "Spinout."

The guys at Hemmings Motor News picked up on it and, in a short article posted in Nov 2010, identified the car as a Microplas Mistral body mounted on an Austin-Healey frame.

This car is now on display at The Hollywood Casino in Tunica MS.
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Old 02-03-2013, 10:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark IV View Post
Story and photos in an issue of the SHELBY AMERICAN circa early eighties. The "stand in" Cobra was in a "museum" as as "Cobra" and owned if I recall by "Jimmy Velvet". My copy is packed away from my last moce but perhaps Nedsel has one handy............
No, I don't recall which issue it was in, either. I wrote the article after paying money to see "The 427 Cobra driven by Elvis in the Movie Spinout" at the Velvet Museum in Orlando, FL. The car was behind a wall, and you can only imagine my, uh, surprise at seeing this squat, truncated, white blob masquerading as an original 427 competition Cobra, with a large sign behind it extolling its provenance. Can you say REFUND?
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