The King Elvis

Today is Elvis Presley's birthday. He would have been 75 years old. He was known as a motorcycle enthusiast. He bought his first motorcycle while he was a teenager. Can't seem to find out which model was it, but looks likes a bicycle with a small engine on it. In 1956, when he was just about to release "Heart Break Hotel", he purchased KH model Harley. He was 21. And his collection of Motorcycles expanded till his death in 1977.

Harley Davidson museum has the 1956 KH along with a bill of sale, registration papers and an insurance application for the bike. They also have special exhibit about Elvis and Harley till the end of this month. You get discount to if you wear Elvis shades and sideburns. Elvis-Harley

Elvis rode motorcycles in a number of his films, most notably "Roustabout" (1964), in which he plays Charlie Roger, a motorcycle rider who makes his money by singing at shopping malls. He takes a part-time job working at a carnival to make enough money to repair his bike and such.

The studio put him on Honda CB77 Dream instead of Harley due to the bad reputation of Harley riders at the time and the famous the effective Honda ad, "You meet Nicest People on a Honda" By the way, Guggenheim Museum has Elvis' black Honda CB77 Dream.

Presley appeared on a motorcycle in "Viva Las Vegas" (1964), "Clambake" (1967) and Stay Away Joe (1968).

I hear he had spotted riding trikes around Memphis after getting bloated.

Well Happy Birthday King...