Growing up in the Ozarks, I thought I lived in the middle of nowhere. Now that I’m older (and never left), I realize that I live in the middle of everywhere—geographically speaking, if nothing else. Some seriously neat stuff happens in my neck of the woods, and if you want proof, just look at these photos of Elvis Presley’s old jet just driving through traffic about 30 minutes from my house.
Yes, that really is a derelict jet that belonged to the King of Rock and Roll. And yes, it really is driving instead of flying. When YouTuber Jimmy Webb picked it up at auction last year, there was no chance it would ever see the skies again. But I certainly never imagined I’d see it at the corner of 14th and Moberly in Bentonville, Arkansas.
My friend Ian Caple—one of the awesome creatives at BLK ELK—was waiting for his food when he saw the Elvis jet go by. He posted it to the Arkansas Car Spotters group on Facebook, which is normally filled with supercars in random places and donks in North Little Rock. He might have earned “Post of the Year” with this one.
“We were just sitting at Sonic waiting for our food when I looked up and saw a damn airplane driving down the road,” Caple told me. “Just looked hilarious sitting next to a Mercedes.
“It definitely had pretty tight height tolerances to get under lights and bridges. Got a good laugh when I drove by and saw Elvis on the back with text that said, ‘All shook up.'”
A commenter pointed out that the jet is on its way back home after visiting the Guilt By Association Truck Show in Joplin, Missouri. (It’s put on by Chrome Shop Mafia, the guys from CMT’s Trick My Truck. Remember that?) Anywho, I’m curious if they meant to end up on 14th Street during lunchtime because that’s when everyone from Walmart’s Home Office leaves to get 7Brew.
I Turned Elvis Presleys Abandoned Private Jet Into A RV. Finished
The retired aircraft is a Lockheed JetStar that Presley bought in 1976. He only kept it for a few months before selling it to a Saudi Arabian sheik, apparently. It changed hands several more times before being parked in Roswell, New Mexico, where it was left to rot for some 40 years before Webb bought it at a Mecum auction in 2022. He’s done a lot with it so far, like swapping it onto a motorhome chassis and having a custom body built for the lower half that required 300 hours of sheet metal work.
In case you’re curious, the visibility looks to be as bad as you’d expect. However, Webb made sure to install a surround-view camera system so he could maneuver it on public roads. It’s amazing what you can register for road use, but maybe less surprising once you learn he lives in Florida. That’s not a knock! Promise!
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