The guys who bought Elvis Presley’s private jet at auction for $234,000 desperately want it to fly again.
Once owned by the King of Rock n Roll, the plane was abandoned in New Mexico for 40 years.
And those four decades took their toll on the 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar.
READ MORE! Man who bought Elvis Presley’s private jet tries to power it up for first time in 40 years
After buying it at auction, James Web from Jimmy’s World managed to power it up for the first time in decades – sharing the incredible moment with his followers on YouTube.
But now he wants to see it take to the skies again.
So, he brought in the professionals to inspect the old Lockheed JetStar and work out what it would need to bring it back to working order.
This is when Ryan from ADS enters the picture.
After a few minutes of inspecting the aircraft inside and out, Ryan says “I’ve never seen an aircraft so damaged in my life”.
“I couldn’t even imagine any of the electrical working… it would be a miracle if this thing started up,” he said.
So, straight off the bat, Jimmy is slapped with the ugly truth about the aircraft he’d just dropped $234,000 on.
Ryan went on to break down the cost of fixing the aircraft and this is when Jimmy just about has a heart attack.
| To fix | Cost |
| Plane inspection | $80,000 |
| Non-destruction tests – (checking for cracks etc) | $20,000 |
| Stripping the paint, sealing, and sanding | $120,000 |
| Fixing corrosion of the aircraft | $75,000 |
| Flight controls | $450,000 |
| Landing gear | $360,000 |
| Brakes | $24,000 |
| Fuel tanks | $10,000 |
| Rewiring the electronics | $1.5 million |
| APU (mini jet engine) | $180,000 |
| Miscellaneous (hoses, screws, fittings) | $100,000 |
| JT212 engines (four of them) | $2.2 million |
| Flight testing | $100,000 |
| Airworthy directives | $450,000 |
| Total | $5.7 million |
Even if Jimmy had the $5.7 million required, Ryan said the plane would still be nearly impossible to fix.
He said the engines alone, which Jimmy would need four of, were almost impossible to find anymore.
That aside, even if they fixed the plane, Ryan said it wouldn’t meet government requirements.
“Right now your aircraft is too loud to even start up and run,” he said.
“They do make hush kids to reduce noise, but they don’t make them for your aircraft.”
All in all, Ryan ended the somber meeting by telling Jimmy “there’s no possible way that plane is flying”.
Jimmy, who was still picking his jaw up off the floor, admitted his grand plan to get the plane flying again was now likely dead in the water.
“Plan A was to get the airplane flying again, but if it’s not going to fly, what are we going to do with this plane?” he said.
So Jimmy went back to the drawing board and eventually came up with a solution.
“We are going to convert Elvis’s private jet into Elvis’s private RV,” he said.
While it’s a blow to hear the King of Rock n Roll’s plane will never take to the skies again, we can’t wait to see what kind of epic creation Jimmy makes with it.
