Elvis Presley and his Jets

April 17, 1975 Elvis bought a Convair 880 Jet, recently taken out of service by Delta Airlines, for the then-substantial sum of $250,000. After refurbishing, the total exceeded $600,000. He immediately rechristened it the Lisa Marie.

Earlier Elvis had paid a $75,000 deposit on a Boeing 707 but the deal fell through. The previous owner had been Robert Vesco, the fugitive financier who had fled to South America after allegedly embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from international investment firms. Buying his plane would involve some complicated wrangling with the IRS. And Elvis was warned about another complication: If the plane ever landed in any of the countries Vesco was establishing a base in, there was every reason to believe that he might try to seize it.

The Convair 880 had a clean record and would have no problem flying to any country around the globe.

So that's the plane Elvis purchased.

The plane was in a hangar at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, and for months Elvis took great pleasure in flying friends out to check on progress as the interior of the plane was refurbished to his very specific design requirements (he bought another plane to make those trips - a smaller Lockheed JetStar). Elvis wanted a seating area, a conference room, and a private bedroom on the plane (with space for an in-flight reading library). He picked fabrics, decided on color schemes, chose the on-board audio-visual system, and even Ok'd the gold fixtures in the bathrooms (he counted heavily on some aesthetic input from Priscilla, too).

Elvis was especially excited about the fact that the same design team had previously customized Air Force One. The craft slowly came together as an airworthy mix of modem function and Graceland elegance.

Close in size to a 707, the Lisa Marie was customized with plush sleeping quarters, a penthouse bedroom with a custom-made queen size bed, an executive bathroom with gold faucets and a gold washbasin, a videotape system linked to four TVs and a stereo system with fifty-two speakers, and a conference room finished in teak.

It could hold a maximum of 29 people, but usually there would be about eight or 10. When the final paint job was applied to the exterior, there was a prominent 'TCB' logo on the tail.

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[Rocco9457]

You are wrong to think Robert Vesco would ever try to harm Elvis by steating his jet back. Robert Vesco did not steal from working people and I know for a fact he was a big Elvis fan. I also know Robert Vesco did not die in Cuba, he is breathing free air in Esom Hill ,Ga.

[seonfox]

Sorry, I did not write the information- just copied and pasted. I only made the vid :) Thanks for clarifying!

[donnya2217]

Read Ike Eisenhower's book. (Mr. Vesco's pilot) Seems like it was a fun time!!

[Rocco9457]

That is ok sweet heart, I just get a little out of wack when the good name of Mr Vesco is being question. After all, what Mr Vesco did would get him a big pay day on wall street today. Mr Vesco has told me of some high times he had on that old bird and he misses all the fun days.

[FastFreddy488]

baller....



[Frank Springer]

I love your video, I am a huge aveation fan and also Elvis, I have been inside the Lisa Marie and the Hound Dog on numerous occasions but have never seen footage of it while it was in service, this is awsome, I have been hounding EPE to do a book or video on the planes and their history, so thank you so much for posting this wonderful footage of Elvis and his planes. TCB!

[catyanne53]

trop super !