Elvis Presley’s Jet Found Parked in the Desert

Intro - 00:00
Model History - 00:38
Plane Specifications: 01:15
Cabin Features - 01:44
Ownership History - 01:52
Full Cabin Tour - 03:19
Summary - 05:49

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The jet was purchased by the one and only, Elvis Presley, and now it's heading to the Mecum auction block in Kissimmee, Florida...

This 1962 Lockheed JetStar L-1329 was acquired up by the king of rock ‘n’ roll on December 22, 1976, for the princely sum of $840,000.

Inside, the cabin features wood paneling and red velvet upholstery with gold-finish hardware. There’s seating for nine by way of six plush chairs that swivel and recline, along with a couch. An onboard entertainment system is tucked away in a media cabinet, featuring a television, RCA VCR player and audio cassette player.

This JetStar is a truly rare bird with immense appeal and one that will do nothing but shake up the crowds at Mecum’s 2023 Kissimmee auction.

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[Sim]

Flew on this plane several times when it was owned by Morton Norwich. No purple interior at the time. Flew into a dirt strip at a salt operation in the Brazilian jungle as well as well as another plant on Grand Inagua in the Bahamas. Plane also flew into East Hampton Airport on Long Island. It was one of the first jets to fly into EH (1973-74) and the town lengthened the runway so it could take off with a full load of fuel and fly to Chicago without stopping at Suffolk Airforce base. In the video, you indicate that Morton sold it to EP in 1976. Morton must have purchased another JetStar as they had one flying in 1981.

[peters]

Would love to see someone restore this. Awesome piece of history.

[montinaladine]

I know this comment is a bit late and I hope whoever made and edited this video is still reading comments. I just want to say how really great this whole video is - it's a breath of fresh air (regarding editing) compared to so many other horrible videos out there that are so hyped up and over-edited that they are actually stressful to watch. This video shined for me, not just for the extremely interesting content, but it was so natural and relaxing to watch. No silly music added in to distract the viewer, no hard cut editing-out of the natural pauses between sentences when speaking and no stupid video effects, zooms and cuts. All smooth and natural. Maybe you didn't know it would turn out so natural but that's how it ended up. I was right there with you listening to the tour guide - the only thing missing were the musty smells of 1970s fabrics, velour and wood. Thank you.

[nolatone]

Unbelievable how good condition the passenger cabin is compared to the cockpit.

[leokimvideo]

You can smell the 70's inside this time capsule

[ToreDL]

With how crazy some Elvis fans can get, I'm flat out surprised his jet, of all things, hasn't been put on an immortal pedestal already!

[kevintaylor]

The interior is in remarkably good shape.

[Fran_SG]

This plane should be preserved. It is so special.

[MajorCaliber]

This was one of Lockheed's few ventures into the civilian realm, and so they just "naturally" made everything mil-style and to milspec. If you surmised this resulted in a craft with an excellent safety record, you would be correct. (Same with the L-1011...) e.g. even though The JetStar was never intended to be supersonic, the Engineers thought "in a dive, you never know..." so notice there is no hinged "elevator" control surface, but rather the entire horizontal "stabilator" moves as one piece, as seen on their F-104 and other military jets. This eliminates deadly "flutter" and thus improves control at trans-sonic speeds. Elvis knew, and now you do too! 🤔 _sideburns_

[jcb]

I've been waiting for years to see what's inside that bird. I used to work there at the airport and see it every morning curious on what it looked inside.

[DanLaFollette]

I worked on Jetstars in 1979 and 1980 when I was stationed at Ramstien AB Germany. We had a small fleet of executive jets for flying around high ranking individuals and dignitaries. We called our operation Teeny Weeny Airlines.

[MrTeddy-xihc]

This should be restored, and put into a museum! This is apart of America’s history!!

[TropicLuv]

I’m very surprised that no one has bought this and refurbished it to its glory days with Elvis! Whether he ever rode in it or not to me, is not that important. It’s an amazing plane! The inside is pretty pristine for a plane that’s been sitting for long. I wish I was rich, I’d buy it then deck it out like it used to be! And I would be sure that it would be in perfect flying condition so I could use it! SO COOL!!!!

[Supercruze]

Looks like a job for Rebuild Rescue. Always loved the Lockheed Jetstar. What a cool plane. My father piloted one of these for Ethyl Corp out of Richmond VA back in the early to mid 60s.

[IRIDEHARLEYS]

People keep commenting that the interior is purple. Its not. It's red like the exterior color. Red velvet upholstery to be exact. Mecum Auctions even provided the ownership description listed on official paperwork: Inside, the cabin features wood paneling and red velvet upholstery with gold-finish hardware.

[elijahvincent]

It's incredible how clean the interior is! I'm expecting to see the king walk in at any moment with how untouched it is!

[WestTNConfed]

The 1970s had such a nice rustic culture. Everytime I see house/car/plane interiors and applications from that era they look so much more spectacular and homey than the black/grey/white sharp-edge synthetic style we have today.

[grahamwhittle]

Elvis was so flash what a guy he was there will never be another one like him

[Oscarin]

I worked for a company at the Roswell airport, we were told that Elvis had owned the plane but he actually never flew in it. I also had the privilege to go inside the plane myself and took my daughter with me too they had a small event there and they were letting people go inside this plane and some other different ones as well.

[ginaferracini]

Wow! ..how sad it being left out there like that. Should be a show piece it's beautiful..its history.♥️