The International Cessna 170 Association

Hi All

New '54 170B owners and Association members.

Looking through logs have not found any evidence of a paint job. Any chance this is the original?

I’d wager a large sum on “zero”.

My airplane was painted and new interior put in in 1962. No record of that in the logbook either.

Beautiful airplane, though. Congrats on the new purchase! Where are you located?

Your aircraft has the Benham or Bartone Exhaust, and the lower cowl has the original exhaust holes covered over and painted. Also the baggage door has been added. Both are desirable modifications, but not original, and since the paint seems to match that of the rest of the airplane I’d agree with Ryan there is little chance of “original” paint.

Thanks for the information. Aircraft is in Connecticut. Hard to believe it could be the original paint but was wondering if it is an original scheme.

Baggage door was added along with a number of mods; still digging through the logs and 337s.

“Original” is a word that deserves a trigger warning for some on here.

No clue what was original to your airplane without a packing slip or sales sheet. Dillon Barron went to great lengths to restore his ‘54 to its factory original comfiguration. The stock factory scheme is below, and you had your choice of red or blue that year.

There appear to be some design elements that were inspired by several different year model color schemes. The two-tone green is very attractive. Are you looking to repaint or simply researching what you have?

Hi Thanks for the photo! I understand the "original" connotation; will definitely need to repaint in the next few years. Kind of like the green but always like a classic look.

Found the above brochures but are probably for earlier model.

As pointed out, most certainly, this is not an original paint. It is not an original scheme with the base of white added either though elements of the scheme can be seen in various model year paint schemes.

The picture of Barron's '54 is what your airplane looked like scheme wise if it is a '54 when it left the factory. As Ryan stated the other color in '54 was a deep red, almost maroon.

I say if you plane is a '54 because your serial number will determine what model year it is, not your FAA paperwork. As far as the FAA is concerned the date the aircraft was first registered is the year no matter if it was a '54 serial licensed in late '53 or a left over '53 licensed in '54. Your serial is everything. Determining the year between a '53 and '54 is difficult in pictures cause there are few differences one can see in a most pictures.

Here is where we've collected pictures and such from each year: http://www.cessna170.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=31
As most 170s had modifications even most of our document pictures are not 100% accurate as some aircraft have the wrong spinner or some other detail that was not part of the model year but over all most of the pictures are the best we have collected.

Welcome to the association, really like the colours of your plane. Good luck with her.

"Original" … is highly over-rated in most cases for most people. Even those airplanes that appear "original" there are invariably many things not original. I doubt if any of the Oshkosh winners have fabric-covered wiring. Or Exide batteries. Or hollow axles. Or they have strobes. The list is long.
But to those of us who admire originality... those things are forgivable....and the things which are considered wildly un-original are things like VGs, wing-cuffs and fences, strut-fairings, flap/ailerons gap-seals, drooped wingtips, etc etc....even tho' some or most of those have good benefits enjoyed by their owners.
Those who have highly modified or customized airplanes often take offense when the originality-"nuts" don't care for their mods, and sometimes it's given over to hard feelings needlessly. (I'm often surprised when someone expresses dis-favor (trans: anger) over an assumption that I'm critical of their airplane simply because of my signature (which was created in an effort at humor but which many have thought serious. Some take their assumptions personally... when the assumption is actually their own.)
Although my airplane was once judged "Best Original" ...in actual fact it has so many mods that if they were each/all noticed by the judges might have slipped into the "custom" category.... Yet I personally very much admire original-appearing airplanes.
Each to his own. We're all supposed to be friends here and admirers of Cessna 170s first.

Congrats on getting your airplane!

Can anyone (Bruce?) tell the model year based on Serial Number 26181?

Thanks,

Bob

rnealon1 wrote:Can anyone (Bruce?) tell the model year based on Serial Number 26181?

Thanks,

Bob

1954 year model

Thanks!

Bob