THE man who bought Elvis Presley’s abandoned private jet and turned it into a motorhome said he was left with one major regret.
YouTuber James Webb bought the aircraft at an auction at the Roswell International Air Centre in New Mexico on January 8 2023.
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In what was a remarkable case of the stars aligning, the purchase date would have been Elvis‘ 88th birthday.
The battered 1962 Lockheed JetStar L-1329 – which will never again grace the skies – was flogged after sitting abandoned in a desert for almost four decades.
But having shelled out £216,000 ($234,000) for the tattered jet, he only paid a fraction of what the King of Rock forked out in 1976 at a staggering £690,000 ($840000).
However, James – better known as Jimmy’s World on social media – revealed that he had one regret over the purchase.
Priscilla Presley, 77, also made an appearance at the event and spoke to the swarms of budding auctioneers, describing Elvis’ love of collecting planes and cars.
And the YouTuber says he regrets a missed moment with the star’s wife.
He said: “She was standing less than eight feet away from me, and I could have spoken to her, but I didn’t. I regret that, too.”
And the online star has also admitted another regret which keeps him up at night.
James could not use the wings and tail of the jet when designing the RV, and he therefore decided to remove them.
The wings were then cut up and sold to Elvis fans – but the decision could have cost him a lot of headache.
His decision to sell the wings may have led to legal consequences, as the sale of aircraft parts without permits is illegal in the US.
James also said about the jet, which cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars: “Do I regret paying $234,000 for that abandoned plane? Yes, that was a really bad decision.”
On top the massive fee to buy the aircraft, James spent an additional £90,000 ($116,000) on renovating and converting the jet.
After getting the jet delivered to Florida, James toyed with the idea of transforming it into an Airbnb.
He came up with the concept after finding out Dolly Parton charges an eye-watering £8,000 a night for fans to sleep in her tour bus.
He previously joked in a video on his channel: “Maybe we can rent Elvis’ for $100,000 a night. That’s just crazy.”
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But – after finding out the plane can never fly again – he decided turning the jet into an RV could be the answer as the structure is already equipped with much of what it would need to be a home on the road.
James spent a total of £270,000 ($350,000) on purchasing and converting Elvis’s jet, as well as 18 months of his life working on the project.
It is uncertain if he will ever profit from the venture, and he is now travelling around the US with the RV charging Elvis fans $10 to see its interior.
In the video showing the jet’s conversion, James showed off the aircraft’s interior, with plush red velvet seats, wood cabin panelling and even its original cassette player.
According to the auction site, the plane also boasted a television, RCA VCR player and audio cassette players with headphone jacks attached to every seat.
The jet’s on-board lavatory included a vanity, as well as a kitchen area, beverage dispenser, and microwave oven.
The jet was previously used to carry Elvis’ famous TCB band, Colonel Tom Parker and Memphis Mafia across the country to concerts.
Elvis bought the jet in 1976, just a year before his death when it was sold and ended up with a Saudi Arabian company.
It was then left for almost 40 years under the sun in the New Mexico desert.
And now after its resurrection and conversion by James, the jet is now serving as camper van and museum on wheels.
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