Thanks for all your updates C17 - please could we have some photos of the ongoing work.
The beautiful Starliner has been my favourite airliner for as long as I can remember, with my first actual encounter with one being in June '83 in Fort Lauderdale on my first US visit - it was N974R under going a very slow restoration. The next time I saw her was in June '07 at The Fantasy Of Flight Museum looking to be in fairly good condition, and in her old Lufthansa colours, of course!
When I heard of Lufthansa's purchase of the three Starliners in the US, I was quite surprised that they had decided on N7316C, an ex- TWA machine, to be the one to be restored to flying condition. N974R is an ex-Lufthansa machine (D-ALAN) and only flew last in 2001 so I had assumed that this was the aircraft that would be the one chosen. Lufthansa Technik state on their website that N7316C was chosen as it was "the technically sturdiest of the three".
Anyway, I can't wait to see her take to the skies again in Europe in the next year or two. Good luck to all those involved in this fantastic project. It puts the UK's classic airliner preservation efforts to shame.
Steve