Elvis Presley’s private jet that reportedly laid abandoned in a New Mexico desert for nearly 40 years has arrived in Florida with the plane’s new owner.
YouTuber James Webb of Jimmy’s World bought the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s jet for $234,000 at an auction at the Roswell International Air Center in New Mexico on January 8, 2023.
Webb, who is famous on social media for transforming abandoned planes, moved the red Lockheed JetStar L-1329, registered N440RM, over 1,600 miles to Plant City, Florida.
The jet’s new owner revealed to Fox News that he plans to turn the plane into an RV and then drive it around the country for Elvis fans to enjoy.
“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,’” Webb told Fox News.
In one video shared on his YouTube page Webb can be seen plugging in power into the jet for the first time.
To his surprise and clear delight, the jet filled with lights turning on and aviation apparatus seemingly coming alive for the first time in four decades.
Inside the Lockheed JetStar the seats were covered in soft red velvet with a sound system and television built in.
Elvis bought the private jet for $840,000 on December 22, 1976, almost four time the amount Webb paid.
“I knew that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Webb told Fox News. “It was the biggest financial purchase I have ever made, outside of a house, and this was ironically more expensive than my house. How crazy is that?”
Built in 1962, the Lockheed C-140 JetStar was the third and last private jet bought by Elvis Presley.
It was purchased a year before the singer’s death and was the least flown of all his aircraft.
After the singer’s death in 1977, the JetStar was sold to a Saudi Arabian company.
It was later sent to a desert in New Mexico for storage, where it spent around 35 years on the ground unmaintained.
Webb plans to turn the aircraft’s wings and engines into Elvis Presley mementoes that fans can buy.
