PEOPLE AND PLACES: The King of Rock and Rollers: Elvis's Rolls-Royce Phantom' which he had to paint silver so his mother's chickens would stop pecking at it

The King of Rock and Rollers: Elvis's Rolls-Royce Phantom' which he had to paint silver so his mother's chickens would stop pecking at it, to sell for $300,000

King of Rock's old limousine will go under the hammer during a Bonhams auction in California next month
Icon bought the luxury car in 1963 and had it sent to coachbuilder James Young who fitted it with new accessories
Memphis's most famous son held on to the car for five years before donating it to charity, where it sold for $35,000
Elvis was a renowned car fan - owning a number of Cadillacs, Jaguars and a BMW

A prized possession of one music's biggest petrolheads, Elvis Presley, is set to fetch up to $300,000 at auction next month.

Elvis bought the Rolls-Royce Phantom V brand new in 1963 and had it custom-fitted with the latest gadgets including a telephone, electric windows and a microphone.

The car was initially midnight blue, but he was forced to have it re-painted a lighter silver because his mother's chickens would repeatedly peck at their reflections when he visited her.

Rock and rolls: Elvis's 1963 Royals Royce Phantom will go under the hammer next month and is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000

Luxurious: He bought the car in 1963 and sent it to a coach builder to have it equipped with the latest gadgets. The car was initially midnight blue, but he was forced to repaint it light silver because his mother's chickens kept pecking at it

Elvis was renowned for his love of cars, especially Rolls Royces. He is pictured here with another Phantom he bought in 1961 outside his Graceland mansion

When his new purchase arrived, he sent it to Britain where coachbuilder James Young installed the newest gadgets including a Blaupunkt Koln radio, parking and flashing lights and air conditioning.

The car will go under the hammer next month at a Bonhams sale in The Quail, California and is expected to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000.

The centre rear armrest featured a writing pad, mirror and clothes brush while a fitted cabinet contained cut glass decanters and crystal glasses.

Under the bonnet was a 6.2-litre, V8 engine which gave the 2.6-ton car 200bhp and a top speed

of around 100mph.

Elvis, then a 28-year-old global sensation, had the 20-foot long car shipped out to his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, where he entertained the likes of The Beatles. Memphis's most famous son held on to the Rolls-Royce for five years before donating it to charity, where it sold for $35,000 (£20,500).

It then disappeared for the next 20 years until it was bought by its current owner at a memorabilia auction in London.

They have kept it in a private museum and used it sparingly, with the car regularly maintained by English Rolls-Royce restorers Frank Dale and Stepsons.

Bonhams yesterday described the Rolls-Royce as 'one of the more significant Phantom V's to have come up for sale in recent years'.

The auction house added: 'It is a most interesting model of this highly desirable motorcar complete with undisputed Elvis provenance

'It is offered with copy of its original chassis card confirming the original owner as well as his exacting specifications.

'This important and significant Rolls-Royce Phantom V, with its undisputed place in pop culture history, will surely be jewel in the crown for any Elvis collector.'

Steering wheel: After the car was given a makeover, with new seating and radio put in place, it was shipped to his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles

Grey interior: Memphis's most famous son held on to the Rolls-Royce for five years before donating it to charity, where it sold for $35,000.

Innovative: Elvis had the car fitted with all the latest gadgets of the time including a telephone, electric windows and air conditioning

Proof: The car comes with its original documents. The form states that the owner is 'Elvis Presley' and the coach builder who designed the interior is Briton, James Young

Sgt. Elvis Presley leaves the house he and his family occupied in Bad Nauheim, Germany, March 1960.

In her upcoming autobiography, Elvis Presley's fiancee Ginger Alden spills the secrets of her love affair with The King

'I'm going into the bathroom to read,' he told her when he had trouble falling asleep
She found him slumped over on the bathroom floor, on his knees with his hands beneath his face
The King had a violent streak and shot his gun at a television set. But always apologized for his bad behavior
He was fascinated with numerology and conspiracy theories

‘I’m going into the bathroom to read.'

Those were the words Elvis Presley uttered to his fiancée Ginger Alden in the early morning hours of August 16, 1977 at his Memphis mansion, Graceland. And they were the last words he would ever speak.

The King couldn't fall asleep and he didn't want to disturb the beauty queen who was about to become his wife.

‘Okay, but don’t fall asleep,’ she responded, fearing he would zone out while sitting on the john. She went to bed, leaving his reading light on for him when he returned.

The King and I: Ginger Alden, Elvis Presley's last love, will tell her story in her book, Elvis and Ginger, to be published September 1. The couple had a great time with friends on their last holiday in Hawaii before he died

Iconic Elvis: In the 1950's and 1960's he was the King of Hollywood as well as the King of Rock and Roll

When Alden woke up hours later at 2 pm and noticed Elvis' reading light still on, she knocked on the bathroom door, called his name and opened the door. ‘That’s when I saw him in there’.

In her upcoming memoir, Ginger and Elvis, due out September 2 from Berkley Hardcover, the still heartbroken Ginger, now 57, recounts some of the details of her short-lived life with Presley.

She reveals she found him slumped over on the bathroom floor, on his knees with his hands beneath his face, in a grotesque position as though he had been praying. Ginger bent down to touch him to find his body cold, according to a review of the book by Kirkus Reviews.

‘I slapped him a few times and it was like he breathed once when I turned his head,’ she revealed in the only interview she has given to date. She tried opening an eye to see a cloudy blue pupil.

‘It was just blood red, but I couldn't move him.’,

‘I didn't want to think he was dead. God wouldn't want to take him so soon’. She pressed the intercom in the bedroom at Graceland that rang in the kitchen and called for help.

‘Elvis has fainted,' she screamed.

Beauty queen: With titles Miss Traffic Safety, Miss Mid-South and runner up Miss Tennessee University it's no wonder Ginger caught Presley’s eye. Elvis’s old army buddy and helpmate, Joe Esposito, ran up the stairs, rolled Elvis over and pounded on his chest to try to get him breathing, but rigor mortis had already set in. Elvis had died of poly-pharmacy - the use of multiple medications that are clinically unnecessary - in his bathroom at Graceland.

‘His swollen face was buried in the red shag carpet, his tongue, nearly bitten in half, protruding from clinched teeth,' wrote author Alana Nash in her own well-documented biography of Presley, Baby Let's Play House.

She first met the King when she was five years old and her father was a Public Relations Officer in the army

'His beautiful skin now mottled purple-black,’ wrote Nash.

He vomited and crawled a few feet before he died. It was not a painless death, according to Nash.

If Elvis had called out, Ginger likely would not have heard him,' Nash wrote. Elvis had called nurse Tish Henley, who worked for his personal doctor on site, Dr. George Nichopoulos, known as ‘Dr. Nick’, and asked her to bring up something to help Ginger sleep.

Nash reports that Henley insisted she sent up one Dilaudid pill, a strong opiate, stronger than Ginger would actually require for the menstrual cramps she said she was suffering.

In her memoir, according to Kirkus, Alden tells the chronological story of how she first met the King when she was five years old and her father was a Public Relations Officer in the army in Memphis.

She met the music icon at a local fairground when Elvis recognized her father and walked over to say hello. He patted the little girl on her head. Fast forward to November 1976 when Alden’s sister, Terry, the reigning Miss Tennessee, was invited to Graceland to meet Elvis and her sisters, Rosemary and Ginger, went along.

So in love: 'I know this sounds funny but when Elvis entered the room, I thought trumpets would sound. He looked so handsome,' Ginger revealed in an interview

Ginger, a local Memphis beauty queen with the titles Miss Traffic Safety, Miss Mid-South and runner up Miss Tennessee University was the one who caught Presley’s eye.

Ginger gushed, ‘I know this sounds funny but when Elvis entered the room, I thought trumpets would sound. He looked so handsome. He quickly sat in a chair and started talking with each of us. It turned out to be a truly wonderful evening as he took us on a tour of Graceland.

'Later he sang for us and read aloud from some of his books about religion’.

Alden was two decades younger than Elvis and twenty at the time when she got caught up in life at Graceland and he began showering her with presents of jewels, three cars including a Lincoln Continental, furs and promises his death would prevent him from keeping.

Nash writes that Alden was a reluctant girlfriend who was put off by his drug use and still involved with a boyfriend in Memphis. But she was encouraged by her mother, Jo LaVern Alden, a serious Elvis fan, to hang in there with the King.

Jo had taken her little girl to Graceland to peer through the big iron gates, she was such an Elvis fan.

To motivate Ginger to accompany him on tour, Elvis even promised to pay for landscaping at her mother’s house as well as pay off her mortgage. That payout would be an issue the mother would take to court after Elvis’s death. And she would win.

Elvis' fiance Ginger Alden speaks about their relationship

Death in the family: Elvis accompanies Ginger to her grandfather's funeral in in Arkansas in 1977

Yes sir: Alden tells the chronological story of how she first met the King when she was five years old and her father was a Public Relations Officer in the army in Memphis. This is her dad with Elvis.

While Ginger writes glowingly about being at his shows, Elvis often motivated her to travel with him by flying in her family as well.

He proposed to Alden in his bathroom at Graceland on January 26 1977. ‘When January 26th came, I felt as I had known Elvis longer than a few months. Our relationship had been so intense as if he wanted me to know almost everything about him in a short time.

I knew I had fallen in love and couldn't imagine not being with him.

'I knew I had fallen in love and couldn't imagine not being with him. His cousin Billy had told me how Elvis would come in from riding motorcycles, fall across the bed and say, ‘there must be someone out there for me’. We had been together a short time but I felt I had found my soul mate’.

Elvis presented the 11.5 carat diamond engagement ring worth $70,000 made from his TCB (Taking Care of Business) ring he wore on stage saying, ‘I never thought that I would find it in my own backyard, I’m asking you, will you marry me’?

‘I was so happy as he presented a green velvet box, opened it and placed a very large and beautiful diamond ring on my finger. My hand was shaking as we kissed and stepped out of the bathroom into the bedroom. My hand was still trembling as he kept lifting it to look at the ring saying, ‘oh boy’.

Elvis proposed to Alden in his bathroom at Graceland on January 26, 1977. He died in his bathroom on August 16

Chill: Ginger said Elvis had a relaxing time on their Hawaiian vacation but it was cut short when he got sand in his eye and scratched his cornea. He wanted a doctor in Memphis to check it out

Describing their first sex, in her book she writes, ‘I felt chills as he touched me. Was this it? Were we finally going to make love? I was aroused but anxious, barely able to breathe’.

In her memoir, Ginger reveals Elvis hit her once and apologized. He shot off firearms at a television set and a telephone, threw a dish of ice cream he was devouring when she decided to talk about calories and being fat. He always apologized for his passive aggressive behavior that he exhibited when he didn't get his way. But she tells her story with affection drawing a rosy aura over the scant details she’s willing to finally divulge.

Ginger writes that Elvis was interested in numerology and conspiracy theories but according to the early review, Elvis comes off as a lightweight.

Ginger was a witness in early March 1977 to the signing of Elvis’s Last Will and Testament but there was no mention of her in the document.

Immediately after Elvis's will was signed, he went to Hawaii with an entourage of thirty including the Alden's sisters -- Rosemary and Terry. They all checked into the Rainbow Towers, Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel but Elvis would move out with Ginger and into a rented beach house in Kailua, on the other side of the Island.

He relaxed on the beach, played touch football, went shopping, watched television, played ping pong and ate cheeseburgers, pizza, barbecue dinners -- before promising he'd go on a diet when he got back to Memphis.

'My time with Elvis was so special and the Hawaiian vacation was a lot of fun', Ginger said.

It was to be his last vacation, but it was cut short when he got sand in his eye and scratched his cornea. He wanted a doctor in Memphis to check it out.

'I stayed at Graceland and administered eye cream for a few days so I could help him be prepared for his next tour.'

Fans branded Ginger as the woman who had not saved Elvis. Ginger stepped out of the public eye after the King’s death. She did the one interview in 2002 and declared this was the last time she was talking – until the idea for her memoir evolved twelve years later.

Before he was the King: Intimate pictures of Elvis aged just 21 and on the verge of changing rock 'n' roll forever .

New book of photographs show behind-the-scenes moments of a young Elvis Presley at the start of his career in 1956 . Collection includes iconic photograph of Elvis and a young female fan's tender backstage moment, known as 'The Kiss'. Rarely-seen pictures of a 21-year-old Elvis Presley in the beginning of his career show all stars start somewhere, even the King of rock 'n' roll. Taken by photographer Alfred Wertheimer during Elvis' time on the road in 1956, the snaps show that despite his tender years, he already had his legendary movements and Brylcreem hairdo figured out. Mr Wertheimer, now 83, caught the would-be King's more intimate moments as he records his music, perform on tour and sneak a kiss with a young fan backstage.

A star is born: A 21-year-old Elvis 'kiss' young fan Barbara Gray just before going on stage at the the Mosque Theatre Richmond, Virginia in June 1956

Taken shortly after the legend had been signed by record company RCA Victor, some of the black and white snaps for the new book include a 21-year-old Elvis and a young fan sharing a tender moment just before he goes on stage. The famous photograph - known as 'The Kiss' - was taken without Elvis' or the young woman's knowledge and had become one of the most iconic of the King in his early years.The fresh-faced singer actually touches the blonde girl's tongue with his in the spontaneous moment. 'I never bothered to ask her name,' German-born Wertheimer said in a Vanity Fair interview about 'The Kiss' in 2011. 'And she never bothered to tell me.' In fact the buxom blonde is Barbara Gray, or Bobbi Owens as she was known back them , a young woman to whom Elvis had spoken to over the phone and had arranged to meet in Richmond.

Young Elvis: The King performing for StageShow in March 1956 photographed by Alfred Wertheimer who was commissioned to take publicity shots of the, then unknown, new star

Making history: Elvis already had his signature moved down to a T when he performed at the age of 21 on stage at the the Mosque Theatre Richmond, Virginia in June 1956

Early days of stardom: Elvis Presley in an undated photograph, probably May 1956, slouched on a stairwell in Memphis, Tennnessee (not featured in the book)

This is Elvis Presley's debut album released in 1956 to unanimous acclaim one of the pionering albums in music, not only did it launch the career of The King of Rock, it rightfuly gave him that name by launching Rock and Roll to mainstream audiences and changing the course of music forever. Love me tender: Rare colour shot of Elvis recording 'Dont Be Cruel' at RCA 's Victor studio's on July 2nd 1956, from the new book revealing images from the very earliest days of the King of Rockn'Roll as his legend was born

When they met in person, they spent the day together, and Mr Wertheimer captured it all, photographing them flirting and being playful in the back seat of the taxi. Later that day, Mr Wertheimer grew concerned when he found he had lost Elvis subject just before the show was about to start. As he walked around the theatre looking for him, he saw two figures at the end of a dark, narrow hallway - the future rock star, and his date for the day. He thought about letting the two have their private moment, but then thought better of it, saying 'the worst that can happen is that he’ll ask me to leave.' Speaking in 2011, Mr Wertheimer said he was never asked about all the pictures he took that day until 19 years later, when Elvis was found dead in his Graceland mansion. He told the Today Show: 'The day he died, Time magazine called me and asked me to bring all my photos over immediately.'
Among those photos was 'The Kiss.' Despite the closeness evident in the photos, Mrs Gray, 75, said she didn't have as much attraction to the singer as he did for her, and she never saw him again. 'Maybe he had sparks, but I never even knew who he was.' Another image taken a few minutes later shows Elvis on stage, kneeling down on his left knee while singing into the microphone as he wows the audience who had never seen or heard anything like it before. Another photo taken on March 17, 1956 - about two months after he was signed - is of Elvis performing for American TV's Stage Show. In it, he is depicted holding an acoustic guitar while singing into the microphone and displaying his famous lip-curl. Over 400 photos, many of which have never been seen before, are being published in the new book entitled 'Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll' which has been produced by London-based Taschen. A spokesman for the publishers, said: ‘Alfred worked with Elvis on his very first tour before his fame took off and tighter controls were put on images of him. ‘Alfred had unprecedented and unlimited access to Elvis and was able to get so many candid shots. ‘Some of the photos are well known but others haven't been seen before. ‘We have wanted to work with Alfred for some time now. We have used his original negatives and made them as high resolution as possible for the book.’ Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, from a heart attack after battling prescription drug abuse. His abrupt death at the age of 42 shocked legions of fans still mesmerised today by his singing, sex appeal and on-stage charisma.

Suspicious mind: It was only early days for Elvis when he was photographed on a chair backstage in August 3 (not featured in the book)

A legend was born: Elvis sings onstage during his first tour, summer 1956, with his signature leather overlay on his acoustic guitar (not featured in the book)

All shook up: Pictured a month before recording his second album, Elvis Presley performed several shows in Miami in August, 1956, in front of ecstatic screaming female fans.