Man was told he could have an abandoned Cessna 401A… If he can start it

An American man has taken on one of the biggest restoration projects yet, as he’s turned his attention away from car engines to an abandoned Cessna 401A plane.

The YouTube personality X has built quite a following restoring old cars. But he’s now spreading his wings, literally.

The plane hasn’t moved in over a decade, but the owner has made him a promise.

If the Cessna 401A starts, it’s his to keep.

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Car restorer takes on huge plane project with abandoned Cessna 401A

Airplane restorations are becoming the new fashionable project after vintage cars all over America have been revived and glossed up to become supercar powerhouses once again.

Recently, we saw a WWII Plane get rebuilt after over 65 years underwater, but that was a ten-year-long project with hundreds of volunteers.

Rebuild Rescue is only a tiny team, primarily a one-man army with a helping hand here and there, and their latest project is a 1969 aircraft that hadn’t budged for 10 years.

The Cessna 401A was abandoned for 15 years and the YouTubers were promised that if they could fix it to fly, they could keep it.

The project started three years ago with the first of 81 episodes worth of content to get this aircraft airborne again.

In Episode 1, the host revealed the plane in its not-so-glorious state and began working on the motors, but to little avail.

The project soon became much harder than they first imagined, as despite the propellors moving, the engine would not start.

This restoration build was documented in its near entirety on the channel, as they moved the airplane into a hangar with fresh tires, and began digging into the engines on both wings.

The abandoned airplane restoration remains unsolved

Three years down the line, multiple engines, wings, and thousands of parts later, the project is still ongoing.

While the plane technically has started, it has yet to take to the air again.

In one early attempt at flying it again, the Cessna 401A burst down the runway but caught fire, setting the restoration back significantly.

To date, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent getting the Cessna 401A up and running again – albeit with sponsors’ help and donations – and the aircraft continues to teeter on the edge of being airborne.

Hundreds of abandoned planes are primed for restoration in aircraft graveyards, but it’s likely this team will be leaving winged vehicles behind after years of torment.