ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A private jet once owned by Elvis Presley that has sat on a runway in New Mexico for nearly four decades is back on the auction block.

The online auction site IronPlanet announced this week that the plane had returned to the market after its current owner bought it last year for $430,000.

A previous auction house said Elvis designed the interior that has gold-tone woodwork, red velvet seats and red shag carpet.

But the red 1962 Lockheed Jetstar has no engine and needs a restoration of its cockpit.

The plane has been privately owned for 36 years and sitting on a tarmac in Roswell, New Mexico.

Lindsay Goldstein, a spokeswoman for IronPlanet, said the jet is still grounded in Roswell and the current owner “has not made any changes to this piece of history.”

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Photos of the plane also show the exterior in need of restoration and seats of the cockpit torn.

A previous owner disputed an auction house’s claim the king of rock ‘n’ roll designed its red velvet interior.

Roy McKay told KOB-TV in Albuquerque he designed the interior himself. McKay said that when he purchased the jet, it had a two-toned gray interior and “kind of looked like a casket.”

But then-GWS Auctions Inc. spokesman Carl Carter said the auction house is confident Elvis designed the red velvet interior. IronPlanet also is confident Elvis designed its interior, Goldstein said.

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on Jan. 8, 1935, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his parents at age 13.

Presley became a leading figure in the fledgling rockabilly scene by covering songs tha were originally performed by African-American artists.

Elvis was 42 when he died on Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis.

—From news services


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