Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A little known Elvis fact, Elvis drove the very first Elva M1A group 7 car in his 1966 hit film, 'Spinout'.




The Mark 1 was a simple space frame design of round and square tubing with light alloy sheeting riveted and bonded to form a stressed and bonded undertray. The Mark 1 was fitted with an Oldsmobile V8 engine, Cooper wheels, uprights and steering arms, and a 4 speed Hewland gearbox. The new car had its racing debut at Mosport Park that September and was the fastest car on the track

the first of the Elva built cars, chassis 20-01, and is the car that premiered at the London Racing Car Show as the first McLaren customer car the world had ever seen. The car was then bought by John Coombs, a Jaguar dealer in England, for Graham Hill to drive. After the L.A. Times Grand Prix in October 1965, John Coombs sold the car to Jerry Entin, a California racer. The M1A’s new owner landed it a part in the movie Spinout, in which Elvis Presley drove the car.

McLaren 1965 M1-A, chassis #20-01, very first customer car built by Elva for McLaren, driven by Graham Hill in LA Times Grand Prix 1965, movie car w/Elvis driving it in Spin Out 1966,


I covered the move Spin Out two years ago  http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/05/from-movie-spinout-elvis-movie.html

http://mathewscollection.com/gallery/1965-mclarem-m1-a/
http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/news/elvis_drove_the_first_mclaren.shtml
http://mclaren-soul.tumblr.com/post/68200801165/mclaren-and-hollywood-the-mclaren-elva-m1a-driven
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_279756-Elva-M1A-Mclaren-1965.html

3 comments:

  1. didn't he also drive an Elva in Viva Las Vegas?

    ReplyDelete