Bought Elvis Presley's Last Private Jet To Turn It Into A Mega RV

It was abandoned for almost 40 years in a warehouse in the middle of the desert, it went up for auction in January and in the last few hours the identity of its new owner was known: it was

's plane

, a relic full of mystique that he plans to get ready to get out on the road as soon as possible.

Although not precisely by air, but by land.

It is that James Webb, the figure behind the YouTube channel Jimmy's World, acquired this

, a process that has already begun and with which, once finished, he hopes to be able to go the country to meet all the King's fans and raise funds for charity.

Swollen, sweaty and panting, but his voice intact;

This is how Elvis Presley looked in 1977, when he was going through his inexorable final stretch.

"We're going to take it to Las Vegas, maybe to Graceland – Elvis's historic mansion in Memphis -", ​​Webb was excited when thinking about the project, which he is carefully documenting to publish on social networks although, he acknowledged, it has so many possibilities of going well as being a resounding failure.

Elvis Presley's last plane will be a mega RV

The story of the youtuber who bought it at an auction.

The aircraft was dumped in a warehouse in Roswell.

The play is risky, it is clear, but it was the best option for Webb after quickly ruling out his intention to return it to its original state -the specialty for which he is famous in the networks-: as they explained, getting him to fly again was going to Demand an incalculable investment to overcome the deterioration suffered after so many years of inactivity, besides that it does not even have engines and the cabin is practically stripped of all its components.

How they will transform the last plane of Elvis Presley

The original plan was for the plane to fly again, its natural state.

But the cost of acquiring the engines made it an impossible undertaking: $5.7 million was the price Webb had to pay to achieve it.

Elvis Presley's plane that will be converted into a motor home.

That is, about 30 times more than what you paid for the entire plane.

For this reason, he appealed to plan B: that the aircraft become a giant motorhome and become a traveling museum.

Webb stressed that he is

.

And he argued: "If you can't make it fly, then it might be a good idea to aesthetically restore it so that people can see what Elvis' plane was like in those days: visit it, go inside, sit in the same seats that the artist himself used, etc. ”, he stated.

James Webb, the influencer who bought Elvis Presley's plane.

First, he thought of turning it into a most eccentric Airbnb, with prices that could reach $100,000 a night, but then, seeing that the plane still had some resources in good condition, he came up with the idea of ​​mounting the fuselage on top of it

.

"It has a water system so that we can have a functional bathroom, microwave, TV, stereo, everything," said Webb, who in one of the tours of the plane that he posted on YouTube showed the original cassette players of the plane and other details, like the velvet seats and all that 70's magic that she plans to keep as is.

Elvis Presley's plane that will be converted into a motor home.

After passing through several hands after Elvis's death, on August 16, 1977,

in New Mexico, United States.

The city in which less than 50,000 inhabitants live became famous worldwide as the mecca of UFOs

after an incident that occurred in 1947 and the filming of an alleged autopsy on an alien, which gained notoriety in 1995 and 11 years later its authors confirmed as false.

Elvis Presley's plane that will be converted into a motor home.

The auction, which took place on January 8 -

-, was carried out by the house GWS Auctions and was based on 100 thousand dollars, although it did not take long for it to get hot and little the number was rising.

"It was the biggest purchase I've made in my life, but I knew it was a unique opportunity," said Webb, who acknowledged that the operation was more expensive than his own house.

Elvis Presley's plane that will be converted into a motor home.

Its previous owner, the auction house specified, was "a very loyal fan of Elvis Presley, who is over 80 years old and would like to sell it to see it restored for the world to enjoy."

But beyond its emotional value, the plane itself is quite a rarity, one of 202 built between 1957 and 1978 by Lockheed.

It is the only one of its kind built by the company, but it also stood out in the aeronautical industry for having been the first jet dedicated to executive service in the world.

Elvis Presley's plane that will be converted into a motor home.

Elvis bought it in December 1976 in exchange for 840 thousand dollars – about 4.4 million current dollars

, if the value is adjusted for inflation – and with the idea of ​​adding it to his fleet made up of the Lisa Marie (named after to his daughter) and the Hound Dog II (a clear reference to one of his most famous songs), which can now be seen at the Graceland Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

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