YouTuber determined to restore a vintage 1947 Cessna 120 aircraft with a charming love story behind it

This American YouTuber is throwing caution to the wind and is determined to restore a vintage 1947 Cessna 120 aircraft.

The airplane has a charming love story behind it and even though the content creator thought a plane like this should only be used for parts, he decided to bring it back to life.

He worked through a potential enormous disaster and him and his son worked together to remove the paint and fix the magnetos.

The engine was in need of a full rebuild or replacement, which gave him a difficult decision to make about the vintage 1947 Cessna.

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He’s determined to restore the vintage 1947 Cessna 120 aircraft

Jimmy from the YouTube channel Jimmy’s World is well known for his videos about restoring airplanes, and this plane is no different.

However, the vintage 1947 Cessna 120 aircraft he’s determined to restore is not in great shape, and Jimmy said he would typically use something like this for parts.

Jimmy briefly mentioned that the vintage 1947 Cessna 120 aircraft has a charming love story behind it, by showing a picture of a couple, with an arrow pointing to them reading ‘it was his wedding gift to her’.

The magnetos, last overhauled in 1995, are completely rebuilt to zero-time specs, replacing all worn-out components.

He takes them to experts to overhaul them with brand new state-of-the-art components, which shows Jimmy’s willingness to go to the right experts if he thinks they can do better.

It’s a true father and son business

Jimmy has recently started including his son Silas in his plane restorations.

He suggests that Silas pretends not to enjoy the work, even though he says he doesn’t, but it’s clearly all a joke, as Silas takes great pride in his work.

Jimmy used some new peroxide-based paint stripper on the Cessna for the first time, explaining that it’s good for the ‘baby seals’.

He painted it on, only using half a gallon and left it overnight, he realized that he probably should’ve started stripping the paint immediately after he painted it, which he then did.

The airplane’s N number slowly is revealed, but Jimmy has a quick brush with disaster thinking he may have dissolved the bolts that join the wings to the plane body.

Luckily he avoided that catastrophe, which could have spelled the end of the project.

Jimmy disassembled the engine, with key parts like the intake, alternator, starter, and propeller removed with difficulty, it took three people to get the it off.

He took the engine to a shop called Zephyr who told him it is completely unsalvageable.

It is now up to Jimmy to decide whether he will fulfill his promise to the couple who the vintage 1947 Cessna used to belong to, or stop sinking money into the restoration.

It’s a difficult decision, but we’ve seen enough from Jimmy to know that he’ll make the right call.

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