The bidder who snatched up Elvis Presley’s once famous private jet is revealed to be YouTuber James Webb – and he has plans to completely transform it.
Webb, who is behind the channel Jimmy’s World, bought the 1962 Lockheed JetStar L-1329 for $234,000.00 at an auction at the Roswell International Air Centre in New Mexico on January 8 – which also happened to be the late singer’s birthday.
The YouTuber is known to flip abandoned aircraft, and when he discovered Elvis’ jet could sadly never fly again, he revealed in a video what he planned to do with it.
Initially he toyed with the idea of turning it into an Airbnb, telling viewers Dolly Parton rents her tour bus for $10,000.00 a night.
“Maybe we can rent Elvis’ for $100,000.00 a night. That’s just crazy,” he admitted, before adding, “It gives me an idea.
“What if we turned Elvis Presley’s private jet into Elvis Presley’s private RV – the King of the Road. This could work.”
The YouTuber said it already has a lot of the resources such as a motor in the back, wheels and a generator that can be used to power lights and airconditioning.
“It’s got a water system so we can have a functional bathroom, microwave, TV, stereo system – all that fancy stuff,” he said.
He then pointed to the front of the plane and said that’s where the steering wheel can go, along with the original captain seats.
Webb, who had the plane transported to his Florida workstation, plans to take the next year to turn it into an RV before he takes off to tour the country and raise funds for charities.
“We’re going to take an RV chassis, take the house part of the RV off, put [the plane] on that, so this can be the ‘Elvis Experience’,” he told Fox News.
Webb said he wants to take the plane to wherever he can find Elvis fans.
He told the publication it’s the biggest financial purchase he has ever made – costing him more than his house.
The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll purchased the jet in December 1976, less than a year before his death in August 1977, for $840,000.00 – estimated to be around $4.4 million in today’s money.
The jet is a little worse for wear after having spent many years sitting idle in a desert in New Mexico. It has also been stripped of its engines, and the cockpit has most components missing.
Sadly, the outside has also accumulated layers of rust, hiding its previous image of luxury.
But in his video, Webb showed off the interior with the jet’s original cassette player, wood cabin panelling, red velvet seats and 1970s charm having been well preserved – and he plans to keep it that way.
For the scraps of the plane not used for the RV, such as the wings and the gas tanks, Webb said will turn the pieces into Elvis mementos for profit.
He shared another clip of the wings and nose being removed which some viewers said was “hard to watch”.
“Normally I like watching things get destroyed, but this one was hard to watch,” to which the YouTuber responded: “I agree. I didn’t want to put this video out … but it’s the surgery video.”
Another person wrote: “I totally understand why this plane met this fate, but it was still sad to watch it being cut into pieces … my heart ached when I saw the rudder move one last time when the tail was pulled off, probably because the rudder control wire was still attached.”
Some suggested he should have just kept it the way it is.
“If you can’t make it to fly, then maybe it’s a good idea to just restore it visually for people to come and see how Elvis’s plane looked back in the day in it’s almost full glory. I mean even just restoring it visually would be cool, to visit, go inside, sit down on the chairs where Elvis himself sat etc.”
In the caption of the video, Webb explained he “destroyed Elvis Presley’s private jet to save it.”
Elvis Presley had three private jets that he travelled around in.
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The two others – the Lisa Marie (named after his daughter) and the Hound Dog II (named for one of his most famous songs) are currently up for display in the Graceland Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 1962 Lockheed JetStar L-1329 purchased in 1976 was reportedly extra special to him as he split the plane with his father, Vernon Presley.
The jet is the only one in his fleet to be privately owned.
After Elvis passed away, the jet was sold, later ending up with a Saudi Arabian company. It was then moved to Roswell International Air Centre (ROW) in Roswell, New Mexico, where it’s been stored for decades.