Elvis Presley’s bright yellow 1971 De Tomaso Pantera carries a souvenir from its most famous owner. After an argument, the King tried to drive off, the car wouldn’t start, and he shot it. Two holes in the steering wheel and one in the floor pan stayed with the car as it moved into the Petersen Automotive Museum’s collection in Los Angeles.
The story could easily pass for a Memphis tall tale. However, it comes from the people who look after the car. The Petersen’s own collections manager told it in 2011, when the museum brought the Pantera out of storage and onto its show floor.
It’s also a very different Elvis car from the big Cadillacs most fans picture. This one was a mid-engine Italian exotic with an American V8, and it was bought as a gift.
How Elvis Presley’s Pantera ended up with bullet holes
According to Jalopnik’s November 2011 report, Presley bought the Pantera in 1974 for his girlfriend, Linda Thompson. Tom Kenney, the Petersen’s collections manager, told the outlet how the shooting unfolded. Presley had just fought with Thompson and wanted to leave with a furious burnout to make his point.
Instead, the car refused to start. So Presley pulled out his revolver and shot it through the door, Kenney said. The rounds hit the steering wheel and the floor pan, leaving two holes in the wheel and one in the floor.
A few weeks later, Street Muscle repeated the account and confirmed the damage. “Two holes on the steering wheel and one on the floor pan remain today,” the magazine wrote in 2011.
Not every telling matches
As with many Elvis stories, the details shift depending on who tells them. In a 2010 piece republished by the Australian fan site elvis.com.au, motoring writer Wesley Allison gave a longer version. He wrote that one bullet went through the steering wheel and broke the windshield, while another took out a tire. He also said a hole in the driver’s door has since been repaired.
Allison framed that version as the story that goes around, not as a confirmed record. By contrast, the Petersen’s account to Jalopnik names only the steering wheel and floor pan. That’s why the museum’s version, two holes in the wheel and one in the floor, is the one to repeat.
Allison’s piece adds a few other details. He wrote that Presley bought the car used in 1974 for $2,500, and that it carries serial number 1954. He also reported that Presley sold it in 1976, the year before he died, and that it passed through several owners after that.
What Elvis was shooting at
The Pantera was an unusual car for a Tennessee rock star. Street Muscle describes it as a mid-engined, Italian-American exotic that Lincoln-Mercury dealers sold in the U.S. from 1971 through 1975. Its engine was Ford’s 351 Cleveland V8, rated at 330 horsepower in the magazine’s account, driving through a ZF transaxle.
That combination made it quick for its day. According to Street Muscle, the Pantera could reach 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. The same article admits early cars had real problems, though. It says rust-proofing was nearly nonexistent and the cars were prone to breaking down.
That last detail may explain a lot. Considering the early cars’ reputation, a Pantera that wouldn’t start isn’t hard to believe. Ford ended imports in 1975, but De Tomaso kept building the car for years, and Street Muscle puts total production at about 7,200.
From Presley to the Petersen
Unlike many Elvis cars, this one doesn’t live at Graceland. Jalopnik reports that it later turned up for sale as part of a large collection of exotics. A friend told Robert E. Petersen about the cars. Allison describes Petersen as the founder of Motor Trend and Hot Rod magazines, and the museum carries his name. He then bought the entire lot for his personal collection.
“I was thrilled to get the Pantera,” Petersen said, according to Jalopnik. Allison’s account dates that purchase to the late 1990s and adds that the museum’s staff later replaced the carburetor and fuel tank.
In November 2011, the museum moved the car from its secret garage to the main show floor. Jalopnik noted that it looked fairly stock, apart from the two modifications Elvis made himself.
The holes in the record
The bullet damage appears again in later reporting. In 2014, the Vancouver Sun toured the Petersen’s storage area, where the museum kept about half of its 300 vehicles. Its writer found the Pantera there. “There, sure enough, is a bullet groove in the top of the steering wheel,” the paper reported.
The Petersen’s digital content manager, AJ Gordon, pointed out the mark during that visit. The Sun, like Allison, presented the shooting itself as a story that has been passed down.
Neither source says where the car sits today, so a visit is no guarantee of seeing it. Still, on the record, Kenney’s 2011 account and the 2014 tour both place Elvis Presley’s Pantera in the Petersen collection, with the steering wheel he shot in place.
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