Several attempts to sell the plane had taken place over the years. At one point in 2008, the plane was included in a Las Vegas collector car auction; auction houses touted it as a rare opportunity to own an aircraft once belonging to Elvis, with an expected price ranging into the millions. However, that sale did not produce the hoped-for result.
Auction Day: A Piece of History Changes Hands
The bidding opened at $100,000 — a modest sum considering the aircraft’s provenance. With its engines long gone and an unrestored cockpit, the plane needed significant work before it could ever run under its own power again. Eventually, the bidding climbed slowly before topping out at around $286,000, including auction fees, when the hammer came down in early January 2023.
Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s ex-wife and custodian of his legacy in many public forums, attended the auction and spoke about Elvis’s love of collecting cars and planes, praising the passion that drove him to acquire such a unique aircraft.
While $286,000 is a significant amount for a vintage jet, it’s a far cry from the $840,000 Elvis paid in 1976 or the multi-million-dollar estimates once floated in auction previews. The relatively low final price reflects the challenges involved with refurbishing an aging aircraft: absence of engines, outdated avionics, missing cockpit instruments, and regulatory barriers to re-certification for flight all make this a restoration project rather than a ready-to-fly aircraft.
What Happens Next: Restoration Dreams and Practical Realities
The buyer — aviation enthusiast and Florida YouTuber James Webb — had big plans for the JetStar. Known for documenting his restoration projects on his Jimmy’s World channel, Webb explained that he intended to refurbish the aircraft. While he initially hoped to return it to flightable condition, practical realities — including the cost of rebuilding vintage aircraft to modern standards and regulatory hurdles — made that unlikely.
Instead, Webb foresaw a different future for the plane: transportation in pieces to a warehouse near Tampa, Florida, where it could be restored for static display or even converted for use in unique contexts such as aviation shows like Sun ’N Fun or AirVenture, or as a distinctive promotional vehicle.
Indeed, dismantling and moving vintage jets is not uncommon. Without engines, aircraft like this JetStar must be separated into transportable components and shipped by ground — a costly and labor-intensive undertaking, but one that can preserve the historical fabric of the aircraft for future generations.
Some enthusiasts have even proposed converting the old JetStar into a luxuriously appointed roadgoing recreational vehicle (RV), whereby the fuselage could be mounted on a truck chassis to become a mobile exhibit or novelty. While this is far from a traditional aviation restoration, it represents the kind of creative repurposing that keeps historical artifacts alive in public imagination.
Historical Context: Elvis, Global Travel, and Private Jets
To understand the cultural weight of this auction, it helps to consider the broader timeline of private aviation and Elvis’s own career.
The JetStar, in particular, was attractive because it was designed for smaller groups and shorter routes, perfect for cross-country tours. It was one of the aircraft models that helped usher in the era of business jets that would later become commonplace among corporate executives and affluent private owners.
Legacy and Cultural Impact
Elvis Presley’s 1962 Lockheed JetStar is more than just an old airplane. It’s an artifact of 20th-century Americana, representing the intersection of celebrity, technology, and the evolution of personal mobility. In its heyday, it was a showcase of mid-century luxury and modernity. Decades later, its abandonment in a desert and eventual sale at a collector’s auction reflect how even iconic objects can fade from public view before being rediscovered and recontextualized.
For fans of Elvis and aviation alike, the auction was not just a financial transaction — it was a rediscovery of a piece of rock-and-roll history that once carried a legendary figure and his entourage across the skies. After years of sitting silent, the jet is now poised for a second life, whether as a meticulously restored exhibit or an imaginative tribute to a bygone era.
Conclusion
The 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar once owned by Elvis Presley encapsulates a unique blend of pop culture lore, aviation history, and the complexities of preserving aging mechanical artifacts. Its journey from a cutting-edge private jet to a degraded static relic, and finally to a sold and repurposed artifact, mirrors the shifts in how we value and remember historical objects.
Today, the jet lives on not just as metal and upholstery but as a symbol of Elvis’s enduring legacy — a reminder that even objects left behind can find new life and continue to tell stories about the past.
