Well, good news. A gentleman named Dennis at Southbay Aviation has now started restoring the old 720 from Torrance. A herculean task, no doubt, but apparently the airframe is pretty corrosion-free. Here's the email I got from Dominique:
Hey Adam hope all is well in the middle of this Covid pandemic. I reached out to you the beginning of the year when things were normal about the 720 over in Torrance. Also spoke to Glen about his AC. Hey I just wanted to give you an update on the 720 sitting in Torrance. Dennis the owner of Southbay aviation is restoring it. Turns out that was serial number one out of 13 ever made and Eisenhower flew in that aircraft. He’s restoring it three-year project 250,000 and then donating it to the Smithsonian Institute afterward. It’s a great story I spent an hour talking to them here’s a few pictures for you. The FAA was all over that airplane but it turns out the aircraft was made withZinc so it survived any major corrosion and the FAA has given it a greenlight after several spar inspections. He said it’s a three-year project but all is going well he’s dropping the first engine and sending it over to San Diego today. Here’s some photos I’ll keep you up-to-date. Again I hope all is well.
