Guy who Built a 1970s Pan Am Airplane in his Garage

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Here it’s safe to say we all enjoy traveling back in time but  some people go a bit further.

Self-confessed “airplane nerd” Anthony Toth has spent nearly $100,000 on a partial replica the 1970s Pan Am ’747. He began building the Boeing 747 playhouse in the garage of his Redondo beach home, but upgraded to a 3,000 square foot warehouse when he realised he just had to have an upper deck. The setup includes all the bells and whistles of a real 1970s Pan Am 747, from the powder blue seats and spiral staircase to small in-flight accessories such as the genuine headphone sets and vintage magazines which Toth has travelled far and wide to find.

When he unveiled his new cabin to the local press in February, he even tracked down real ex-Pan Am flight attendants to serve in-flight meals in their old uniforms. Controlled by an iPad, he played the humming of jet engines from hidden speakers.

Toth took his first Pan Am flight at age five and remembers every detail of his experience in that golden age of air travel. By age fifteen, he was already collecting airline seats which he kept in his room. In his 20s, he worked for United airlines, which had bought some of Pan Am’s decommissioned airplanes. Cleared out for a United re-brand, everything from Pan Am ice buckets, salt and pepper shakers to cocktail napkins were tossed, and of course, Anthony made sure he was there to get his hands on the loot.

Much of the plane’s structure is a former Japan Airlines 747 that Toth rescued from the Mojave desert boneyard, but even serious Pan Am enthusiasts would agree Toth has created an almost exact replica of the iconic American airline.

But Toth is still not content. He will soon add a full cockpit purchased from a decommissioned Air Canada plane.