Man who converted Elvis’s private jet into an RV reveals eyewatering cost
- A man bought Elvis’s former private jet and turned it into an RV
- He parted with hundreds of thousands of dollars
- But he did have a plan to try and recoup some of his cash
Published on Aug 23, 2024 at 11:50 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 23, 2024 at 3:16 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
The man who bought a private jet that used to belong to Elvis Presley and converted it into a unique RV spent thousands of dollars on the project.
Although previously used to fly around one of the most famous people ever to walk the planet, the 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar was left to rot in a desert for 40 years.
That was until YouTuber James Webb—no, not the space telescope dude—discovered it and decided to buy it and convert it into an RV.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
James parted with a lot of cash to get the jet project off the ground
Webb – the man behind the Jimmy’s World YouTube channel – said he knew that buying the plane would be a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.
That’s a fair point, how many grounded private jets belonging to Elvis could possibly be out there?
Then being able to give it a new lease of life all while documenting it and sharing it with tens of thousands of folks on YouTube?
Priceless.
But – of course – it wasn’t actually priceless – and Webb had to part with $234,000 to get his hands on the plane.
Taking ownership of the jet was only half the battle.
Webb and his team then had to begin the painstaking process of turning it from an aircraft into a motorhome.
“It cost about $30,000 to get it from New Mexico back to Florida and I’ve probably spent another $50,000 on it or so,” Webb told Supercar Blondie in June as he prepared to take the plane to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh show.
“My total budget was $360,000 – the whole budget, when it’s all said and done. But I mean, just this month alone with all the metalwork and paintwork and other stuff, there’s $50,000, right there.
“It’s just crazy.”
He came up with a smart plan to recoup the money spent
But with the project complete – after just 18 months, no less – Webb managed to stick below his budget.
“I’m in about $350,000. Which for a private jet I guess is pretty cheap… and it’s a lot cheaper to maintain now than a regular private jet and gets better fuel mileage,” he told AOPA in July.
However, Webb isn’t the sort of guy who has $350,000 lying around.
“There’s no Earthly way I could ever have afforded to do this without being able to make the money back,” he admitted to Supercar Blondie in June.
But Webb had a trick up his sleeve.
He decided to cut up the wings – which had to be removed from the jet – into small tags that are sold with a certificate of authenticity, a copy of the bill of sale from when Elvis bought it and a recent snap of the jet.
Meaning fans could get their hands on a real piece of music history and he didn’t end up out of pocket.
Smart, right?
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
