Inside Elvis Presley's stunning motorcycle collection

What’s the first thing you do when you sniff success? You go and buy a motorcycle of course. And what sort of motorcycle? A Harley-Davidson, naturally.

Well that’s what Elvis ‘The King’ Presley did anyway.

Born into very modest circumstances in the southern backwater of Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in conditions that were anything but regal. Elvis Aaron Presley was deprived of life's luxuries, but those limitations would become a hidden blessing. At the tender age of 11, instead of a bicycle, his mother gave him a $13 guitar instead. This fortuitous gift awakened Elvis's singing talent and this small token spawned one of the world’s greatest entertainers.

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Elvis initially signed with Sun Records in 1955 and the advance so enthused the young singer that he immediately raced down to the local dealer and bought a 125cc Harley Hummer. When he made the switch to RCA a year later, he quickly upgraded to a larger, 883cc 1956 Harley-Davidson KH, the precursor of the Sportster, paying $900 on finance. With a keen eye for promotion, the Motor Company featured the aspiring singer on the cover of The Enthusiast magazine, copies of which now sell for US$200-plus.

That famous KH motorcycle is now owned by Harley-Davidson and on display in their superb museum in Milwaukee.

As his meteoric career took off, so did Elvis’s passion for American iron and his bikes began to reflect his success. Feeling that he had outgrown the spritely KH, he visited Memphis Harley-Davidson in search of something more reflective of his new status and he rode away on a brand new 1957 FLH Hydra-Glide.

Elvis’s wild stage antics began to worry those in the conservative music and film business and his rebellious persona was toned down for TV and film. As such it was suggested that Triumph and Honda might be more suitable brands for a homely boy-next-door. In 1964 Paramount Pictures released Roustabout where Elvis played the part of Charlie Rogers, a struggling singer who joins a travelling carnival. For this movie, Elvis rode an inoffensive Honda 350 Superhawk so that his profile might better align with Honda’s, reflecting their new tagline: “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”

Clearly, Elvis didn’t mind the burgeoning Japanese brand and he rode one again in Viva Las Vegas - and so did his co-star, the stunning Ann-Margret. A couple of Hondas remained in his collection to the very end.

The great 20th-century icon was also impressed with the British Triumphs. In 1964, a riding buddy bought a 650 Bonneville which Elvis insisted on test riding. So enamoured was he with the bike’s nimble handling, he bought a phalanx of the machines for his “Memphis Mafia” pals so they could roar around the streets at all hours of the day and night, a pastime that apparently did not phase the local police who sometimes joined them.

His choice in bikes was independent of their cost, as Memphis Mafia member Joe Esposito describes it: “It didn't matter if it cost a million dollars and another cost a dime," he explained. “If he liked it, he would pick the one that cost a dime.”

Though Presley's tastes ran the gamut, he had a soft spot for traditional Harley-Davidson dressers. “He loved Harleys that were big and close to the ground,” explains Ron Elliot, who maintained Elvis' fleet of bikes.

Elvis owned at least a dozen Harleys with the most popular being the FLH touring machine of which he owned nine. His last ever FLH, a 1976 model bought just before his death with barely delivery miles, sold at auction in 2019 for US$800k.

You can see a collection of Elvis’s cars and bikes at Graceland or you can see his 1976 custom FLH right now at the Elvis - Direct from Graceland exhibition currently on at the Bendigo Art Gallery.