Elvis Presley’s Jet! 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar
While he was alive (and some would say it continues today), everything that Elvis Presley did was big and loud. Take the Graceland Estate in Memphis, Tennessee, for example. And this 1962 Lockheed JetStar is no exception, with all its perks. It’s been in mothballs in the desert for the past 40 years and recently sold at a Mecum auction in Florida for $260,000. Which turned out to be on what would have been The King’s 88th birthday. The story of the disposition of this interesting Elvis possession is revealed here on Robb Report.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this airplane here on Barn Finds. But since the last time was nearly five years ago, it’s certainly worth another look. Elvis took custody of this decked-out aircraft about a year before his death and forked over $840,000 to buy it (which is equal to $4.4 million today). The JetStar was built to accommodate nine passengers and a crew of three. When fired up, it had a top speed of 565 mph and a range of about 2,500 miles. But that was all eons ago and the physical condition of the jet is no longer the same.
Elvis’ former wife, Priscilla, was on hand for the auction, while the dilapidated airplane was not (it’s out by the Roswell, New Mexico airport). The King had an affinity for planes (and cars, houses, and all sorts of other things; have you ever been to Graceland?). Her appearance at the auction probably generated interest in the carrier which hasn’t been flyable in ages, in part due to its engines and other mechanical components having been removed.
The airplane last changed hands for $430,000 in 2017, so the California-based seller took a loss of at least $170,000 on the transaction. And that doesn’t include commissions and other applicable fees and the cost of storing the plane for the past five years. While the exterior of the machine is sunburned, the JetStar’s red-velvet interior is decent as the windows were kept covered. For the buyer to take this treasure home with them, it will likely need some disassembly for shipping. Viva Las Vegas!
Auctions Ending Soon
2002 Subaru Impreza WRXBid Now1 days$333
1975 Chevrolet Corvette ConvertibleBid Now1 days$4,000
1964 Ford F-100 Camper CustomBid Now1 days$2,000
2006 Jeep Wrangler SportBid Now3 days$11,000
1974 Datsun 260ZBid Now5 days$750
Comments
Looks about as faded as his music. Elvis who? It’s only normal for generations to forget previous generations music, although, I read, my generation and my kids generation are the only 2 generations that like the same music through history. It’s refreshing to hear the Beatles or Bob Dylan being played.
There’s no denying, Elvis was huge. Stirred up quite a hornets nest with those “swivelin’ hips”. Made Benny Goodman look like a clown, and our parents took that as an insult. I happened to like the “King”, not faint at the sight of him, but he did open the door to rock and roll, and all the mishigosh THAT involved. I suppose you could say Elvis started it all. The plane? I have no idea.
Clearly you didn’t see the Golden Globes last night. Lead actor went to a “hot” young actor who portrayed… you guessed it…Elvis in yet another movie about him. The King has been introduced to a new generation. Not fading away anytime soon.
Nobody watched the Golden Globes.
Over 6 million people watched the Golden Globes. And unless, Wayne, you don’t watch news online or on TV or read social media, then it was hard to miss who won awards that night.
They gotta get this running so it can be flown safely. But leave the exterior as is. It could be the only rat jet in the country. They could land it on State Fair Blvd and taxi it into the Syracuse Nationals this summer.
I think you’d be hard-pressed to get this thing airworthy again. Maybe someone could salvage it as a themed B&B or something? At this point, it’s a hunka hunka burnin’ rust.
It sounds like this has become lawn art at this point, the engines and many of the cockpit instruments were removed years ago.
Good one Danno! Your comment cracked me up. First laugh of my day! Thank you.
I would check the bathroom first.
Oof!
Well you might be able to get your money back selling off the interior parts as Elvis owned junk then scrap the rest
Careful this doesn’t get air born and become a hunk of hunk burning 🔥 love ❤️
Imagine if old E never had that black medical book to fake symptoms to get those scripts written. I guess also those 1 pound BLT sandwiches too. He probably could have sang modern songs with his good voice.
Nice Jet to restore..,
“It’s out by the Roswell, New Mexico airport” waiting for the aliens to come to get it.
Where Elvis left it when he got on the Mother Ship
& went home.Those WERE rumors of his death.
They were there and saw the condition, and took off.
This will NEVER fly again due to the fact that the engines are fuel consuming monsters. There is so much about the instruments, engines and other mechanical features that are ether unavailable or so terribly inefficient that it makes no economic sense and it is far to expensive to make one of these fly again. If you are interested check out the Movie GOLDFINGER as title character has one of these as well and we see it in more than one scene.
Lot of people out there with stupid money!
Flying days are over for this. If you had the room, put in the back and turn it into a man cave! Elvis’ spirit might visit!
Danno…no, it wouldn’t rust where its at in New Mexico. Hundreds of US Air Force aircraft are there in long rows. I’ve been there and there is ‘no’ rust!
Plus the fact that it’s aluminum
LOL yeah, but a “hunka hunka burnin’ aluminum oxide” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as readily.
Drop a couple of LS crate engines in it and get Pussy Galore to be your pilot?
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk… SHAME ON YOU ALL! The comments are DISGUSTING. I am absolutely APPALLED at all the negativity surrounding this treasure from “The King” himself, Elvis. Show some much deserved LOVE… I can’t imagine that there isn’t SOMEONE out there, with the means to do so, that Could not restore Elvis’s Jet to its original grandeur, and then, perhaps place it in a museum (The Rock n’ Roll museum, The Smithsonian, Graceland, Las Vegas… ). Maybe charge a small entry fee, and then donate all proceeds to St. Judes, or the Salvation Army, or Red Cross. This absolutely SOULD, AND MUST be kept, and treasured, and seen by the world, perhaps forever, for the time capsule that it is. There was one, and will always be, only one Elvis. A generation from now would shutter at the very loss of this, as just another nugget of memorobilia gets chipped away, forever. STOP BASHING AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL, ELVIS! Thank you, Thank you very much!
Rebuilding this aircraft would be akin to 300 loaded Brink’s trucks rolling across Rt80 with the doors open…
Small drop in the bucket to the power ball winner from a few weeks ago….
At the end of his life, Elvis had little common sense and even less money. This was a horrible purchase for him at the time. He died almost bankrupt and purchases like this brought him to that. Elvis was called the King and he must have thought himself one as that as well. Unfortunately, that lifestyle required more cash then the ol’boy had at the time. To get this to fly again? Why? Spend millions to fly it from air show to air show? More likely than not, it will be cosmetically restored and placed in a museum. That is the best thing for now, and probably forever.
Right on Craiger !!! And an American Veteran , Elvis was The greatest ,hands down, he NEVER called himself The King , that name was given to him by the fans .
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk… SHAME ON YOU ALL! The comments are DISGUSTING. I am absolutely APPALLED at all the negativity surrounding this treasure from “The King” himself, Elvis. Show some much deserved LOVE… I can’t imagine that there isn’t SOMEONE out there, with the means to do so, that Could not restore Elvis’s Jet to its original grandeur, and then, perhaps place it in a museum (The Rock n’ Roll museum, The Smithsonian, Graceland, Las Vegas… ). Maybe charge a small entry fee, and then donate all proceeds to St. Judes, or the Salvation Army, or Red Cross. This absolutely SHOULD, AND MUST be kept, and treasured, and seen by the world, perhaps forever, for the time capsule that it is. There was one, and will always be, only one Elvis. A generation from now would shutter at the very loss of this, as just another nugget of memorobilia gets chipped away, forever. STOP BASHING AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL, ELVIS! Thank you, Thank you very much!
Right after the auction, Mecum presented an unannounced, 15 minute meet-n-greet with Priscilla with the proceeds donated to a children’s cancer charity. That auction raised $8500. I considered bidding, but was dressed entirely inappropriate for the occasion
At this point an airplane museum should buy it, restore it entirely and exhibit this historical machine forever. Interest will grow with the decades.
How many planes did Elvis have? It seems like, every few years, one of these shows up.
He had two that I know of. This JetStar and a Convair 880. Graceland is close to the airport. I think they closed Winchester Avenue one Sunday morning and towed the Convair to Graceland. Both were on display across the street from Graceland for years. I didn’t have anything to do with the JetStar, but helped a friend of mine put new hinges on the door of the Convair. It was the only device on the plane that ever moved, and closing and opening it again every morning wore ’em out. I can’t remember what they charged for a tour of the thing, but for a while it was pretty popular. I seem to remember that the Convair was sold to a preacher/church group who flew it around the country and charged people to walk through it. Can’t imagine it made ’em much money.
According to the Mecum write up Elvis owned 3 jets, 2 JetStars and the Convair. Also according to the Mecum write up Elvis only owned this plane for a short time. He bought it on December 22, 1976 and sold in the spring of 1977.
Cathouse, I only ever saw one JetStar, but the name he gave it was “Hound Dog II”, so that implies “Hound Dog 1” some where!
I don’t know how Elvis acquired “Lisa Marie”, but a friend of mine, an airplane dealer named KG Coker brokered a sale of it to a couple of lawyers in Memphis. they’re the ones that put it on display at Graceland.
Cathouse, Elvis died in mid 1977, so he couldn’t have owned it very long!
Here is a picture of Hound Dog II that was posted on the previous B.F. threat regarding this same plane.
I am just relaying what is posted on the Mecum site. I am no where near an Elvis expert. According to Mecum the Convair and the other Jetstar were Hound Dog I and II. Also as I posted above he bought the Jetstar that is the subject of this thread on Dec 22, 1976 and sold it in the spring of 1977, so he only owned for 3-5 months. It is possible that he never even went anywhere in it, although that it just a thought on my part.
I just saw the news tonight that Lisa Marie passed away today at age 54 from a heart attack. Very sad. RIP Lisa Marie.
I remember seeing that bird when I was working on a T-38 at the Roswell airport 25 odd years ago.
Donate it to Pima Museum down by Tucson and write the loss off best you can. They have a few civilian planes, and It’ll live forever down there in the sand and at least be admired by plenty of airplane buffs.
Are there still remnants of those fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches in the crevices of the seats?
Clearly this will never fly again. The fact it’s been sitting there for four decades and changed hands multiple times tells me that nobody but Elvis buffs have any interest in it, and once one gets their hands on it, reality sets in and they have no idea what to do with it. It’s the quintessential white elephant which drains its keepers of funds and enthusiasm.
Sell off the interior furnishings to fans, and put the rest of the poor thing out of its misery.
Slow day in the barn to feature 64 year old jets. The people who followed EP are the same ones who enjoyed those German Hummel figurines which also have no value.
Got to ride in the Air Force version of this, Lockheed C-140. Many were used to certify instrument flying equipment. These were one of the first of what became known as “business jets”; this is one of the few that made it into civilian hands, I believe. Besides the JetStar, Elvis also owned a Convair 880 “Takin Care o’ Business” passenger jet. The JetStar, to my knowledge, was the only bizjet to be equipped with four engines, so it and the Convair were both gas hogs. (880 used the civilian version of engines used by the B-58 supersonic bomber.)
The Convair had TCB on the tail, but it was named after his daughter, Lisa Marie. That Convair had (I think!) GE 805 engines on it. They drank a lot of fuel, but were fast!
Hey Craiger,
Elvis has left the building!
LOL! I submitted this find to BF as well. I do remember when it was first on here, so it’s nice to see some new conversations about it.
Here is the link to the now ended Mecum auction: https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0123-532746/1962-lockheed-1329-jetstar/
If you haven’t seen the new Elvis movie yet, it is worth the watch.
I think I was one of very few during Elvis’s time that didn’t like him. I liked his “religious” songs, but never cared much for his popular stuff. I did appreciate his serving in the military and that raised my opinion of him. I never cared much for his movies either, but I often thought that out of the limelight, he might make a good friend. I was not happy how he died though, I figured he deserved better than that. Deep down, I always thought he was a decent man, but he did do some despicable things too…. not unlike a lot of us. I would like to see someone take his plane to a place in the country and make it into a livable “den”. I think that would be a proper tribute, if one is so inclined.
And let’s not forget he shot at his Pantera.
It’s strange what uncontrollable fan worship and too much money will do to a person. I liked his early songs, but it was sad to see him on the downward slope. He was, however, the author of his own misfortune, and it wasn’t too long before I avoided his sad “specials”. The plane should be renamed Scrap Pile. We all know the saying, about fools and their money: it will, in all probability, happen again and again, with ever decreasing sums involved. A very sad ending, to what could have been a much nicer story.
Such negativity about a man who provided hours and hours of entertainment to several generations. I may not be his biggest fan, but the old jokes about a legend are just that – LAME and OLD.
Watch the latest Elvis movie – it presents a unique theory about why he became the person he was later in his life. I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in between.
“TheOldRanger” “OldCarGuy”, and “Howard A.” I can almost hear the rocking chairs creaking on the porch.
Fridge full of Percocet & peanut butter samiches surely somewhere inside.
Lisa Marie Presley, only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, died yesterday. She was 54.
RIP Lisa Marie
I read, she pixxed away 100 million dollars from her inheritance. Apparently, I’m sure he had LOTS of kids we never heard about, but Lisa Marie was the apple of his eye. Can you imagine what kind of life she led? It was creepy seeing her talk, clearly with Elvis overtones.
JHC, Howard A, you just can’t resist making another stupid, useless comment that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. She just passed away for crying out loud.
I can usually tolerate you off-subject ramblings, but this is way over the line. Even YOU can admit that.
Howard A, I re-read what you said, and I may have overreacted. I THINK you were paying her some sort of off-handed compliment?
Just getting tired of peoples’ BS in this thread.
A YouTube personality ended up buying the Elvis Jet.
He has made some interesting videos about his plans for it and what he has done so far.
Here is an article: https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/auctions/elvis-jet-is-grounded-forever-but-its-new-owner-is-flying-high/