Elvis’ Derelict Jet Finally Finds Way Out of Dessert

NM – A Lockheed JetStar formerly owned by Elvis Presley and left to bake in the New Mexico sun for nearly four decades after his death was recently sold in a Florida auction. It lacked its engines and some cockpit instruments, but with its cabin still furnished as Presley had desired, the 1962 vintage aircraft sold for $286,000, including the seller’s commission and other fees. 

The buyer, an internet personality named Jimmy Webb, said he plans to refurbish the aircraft. His hobby of finding derelict aircraft and restoring them has become a YouTube series, and Webb intends to document the process undertaken on this aircraft entirely. “It will not fly again, but it will move under its own power,” Webb told BJT, adding that he has yet to see the jet in person. “It was in the desert, so I know the metal is probably going to be OK, but the interior is probably dried out.” 

He plans to head to New Mexico in mid-February and disassemble the JetStar and then spend roughly $30,000 to truck it across the country to a warehouse outside Tampa, Florida, for its restoration. Webb explained that he was not the winner of the auction but ended up with the airplane after he was contacted by the auction house about an hour after the final hammer when the winner could not complete the transaction. 

“For me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said, adding that the sale price for the jet was reasonable only because of the Elvis cachet attached to it. “I’ll get to do what I love to do, which is find something broken and get it going again, and it makes really good content for the show.” After the project’s completion, Webb plans to take the restored aircraft on tour to airshows such as Sun’ N Fun and EAA AirVenture and perhaps even make a stop in Las Vegas.