In June 1965, Elvis had been on the set of the musical ‘Frankie and Johnny’ at Samuel Goldwyn Studios, Hollywood. Taking a break from filming, Elvis spent his down time with his closest friends, known as ‘The Memphis Mafia’ at his Bel Air home.
Jerry Schilling, friend of Elvis and member of his famous ‘Memphis Mafia’, put a down payment on a new Triumph T120 650 Bonneville at Bill Robertson & Sons on Santa Monica Boulevard. When he brought the bike home, Elvis asked to take it for a ride around the Bel Air neighborhood. Jerry, of course, obliged and Elvis jumped on the bike. He was impressed, and in fact when he returned, he told his transportation manager, Alan Fortis, to “order one for all the guys, but… it has to be tonight!”
Bill Robertson & Sons managed to deliver seven Triumphs that night, a mixture of 650 TR6’s and the high-performance, twin-carbureted 650 T120’s. They rode together around Bel Air, riding late into the evening, only stopping when neighbors called the police to complain. The remaining bikes arrived two days later and the nine of them made sure they made the most of down time from filming, riding the Pacific Coast Highway together on Sundays.
All nine of the original bikes are currently lost to time, with no formal record of where they went after the summer of ’65. Triumph is now launching an appeal to fans around the world to help track down or uncover the fate of these bikes.
Triumph’s researchers are keen to hear from anyone who has a lead on what happened to one of these bikes, or perhaps a last known location.
If you have any information related to the whereabouts of one of these historic bikes, please contact Triumph at ElvisTriumph@TriumphMotorcycles.com.
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