pleased to bring him into the fold . While flying the airplane, a running restoration was started. The paint was stripped off starting in 1990, and the rest of the airplane began to get a going over. After stripping the paint , each area had to be gone over with a Scotchbrite® pad and etched, followed by a thorough clean ing with water. Art flew it to EAA OSHKOSH '91 with the airplane "in the buff, " where it was parked in the tran sient aircraft parking section. He was sure it was quite a sight as it sat without paint and towels that needed drying draped over the propeller blades. At about the same time, Art's busi ness life changed - he sold his company and went to work at Condit Ford in New ton , NJ. His partner, Darryl, decided to move to Virginia, so Art was again with
out a partner. His personal life took a different tack also - he ran into a lady who he knew from the body shop busi ness. Patty had run a body shop , and as time went along, they became close, and eventually were married. 1991 saw less and less work done on the Cessna. Time and money were a bit tighter, so flying and the 310 took a back seat for a time. A check was made of the engines on the Cessna, and what was found was not encouraging - out of the 12 cylinders on the engines, six had broken rings. The rings had broken due to ex cess wear in the piston ring grooves, al lowing the rings to chatter as each piston moved up and down in its cylinder. Art started to pull the engines , planning a complete overhaul on the pair of Conti nentaI0-470-B's.
The next year saw priorities change again - early in the year , Patty was not feeling too well, and was diagnosed with a serious illness that required immediate attention , keeping her sidelined for the rest of the year. Art also needed some medical attention , but by the end of 1992, both he and Patty were well on the road to recovery. Sitting on the cold ramp in its tied own, Art could see his twin Cessna looking less and less like the airplane he enjoyed flying. 1993 would be a much better year! The cylinders were all off and in a warm (relatively speaking!) hangar , and so work began. By the 4th of April, the air plane sat outside with no engines, no con trols and with the interior still left to be removed and replaced. Earlier , Art thought the airplane might be repainted VINTAGE AIRPLANE 15