Airplanes arent cheap No matter how you look at it and no matter how much work you think you can do

yourself they just arent cheap So what does a person do who doesnt have the income to plunk down $25000 to $50000 for an airplane Is there hope for those of moderate means

In the first place we have to define cheap and we have to recognize certain realities the first being that if a person is having trouble paying the rent then this is probably not a discussion for them-cruel but real-14 DECEMBER 2004

istic If however the budget allows an extra $300 a month for frivolities theres definite hope Three hundred dollars a month is the payment on a $15000 loan at 75 percent inter-est for five years or $20000 for seven years Just for the heck of it lets use $15000 as a budget and see what we can do with it

There are a lot of ways you can go when trying to become a vintage air-plane owner Here are the most obvi-ous ways

-Buy the best flying airplane you can for $15000

-Buy a flying airplane that needs

TLC and upgrade it -Locate a project and have it re-stored

-Locate a project and restore it yourself

Partnerships-Two Wallets Are Always Better Than One

Were going to assume youre go-ing this alone In reality however the partnership concept works ex-tremely well on a vintage airplane because many of them arent the kind of machines you take for an en-tire weekend and go to the Bahamas or someplace distant so scheduling

is rarely a problem Having a partner doubles your buying power or halves your expenses Either way finding a good partner is often much harder than finding a good airplane You can always make a weak pilot stron-ger and you can generally work out the financial factors but if a person is a jerk you cant do much about it and none of us wants to live with a jerk So pick partners carefully

Buying a Flying Bird to Go Flying The assumption here is that youre

going to buy an airplane fly it pretty much as is and then resell it without spending any time or money on it

There are a surprising number of airplanes that can be had for $15000 However at that level youre working at the bottom of the airp lane food chain and not only are the pickings slim but sometimes they are pretty ugly For that reason there are a few rules that you must follow because quite often buying cheap gets expen-sive when something breaks and the airplane is no longer a bargain Also if you buy smart chances are you can fly the airplane for several years and sell it for more than you paid for it

The Cheapskates Guide to Buying a Fly-ing Vintage Airplane - Dont buy an a irp lane that has

flow n very little fo r t h e past few years Unless the price is low enough to cover tearing the engine down for a complete inspection you could be buying problems Lycomings especially love to de-velop rust in areas you cant easily inspect (rear cam lobes) and that rust eventually goes through the engine eating bearings and other important stuff in the process

- Don t buy a n a i rpla n e tha t is w ithin a few hu n dre d h o u rs of TBO Even if it runs perfectly and will give you several hundred hours of trouble free flying youll have troubles reselling it Plus if it goes sour its going to take a lot of money to get it flying again or youll have to dump it and lose a good part of your investment

- Don t buy qu estio n a bl e log-books Give preference to those with complete logs that show their entire history and speak of good maintenance

- Dont buy a questio n able over-h aul Look for familiar names in the logbook especially from the last overhaul and check up on the names you dont know

- Stick w ith popular engines Its hard to beat the A-65 Continental and its harder to support many of its peers such as the 0-145 Lycom-

ing or 90-hp Franklin They arent bad engines but should any prob-lems develop youll have more trouble finding parts and mechan-ics that understand them

- Avoid deteriorat ed a irfram es Rust rot and corrosion are good reasons to walk away from an air-plane regardless of how cheap it is Unless youre qualified to do the repairs yourself youre talking about a money pit

- Buy at the top end of that airplanes price bracket Every airplane has a price range that is driven by con-dition Lets say the price range for normal (not the super cream puffs) Luscombes is $12000 to $20000 It makes more economic sense to extend the loan out to seven years from five so you have the $20000 to buy the best one available That one will give you less problems eg cost less money to keep running and you stand a better chance of recouping your investment when you sell A dog will always bring dog prices and they usually cost more to keep flying

- Give preference to popular types if you plan on reselling Although fringe airplanes such as the Por-terfields Interstates Funks etc represent the best buys in terms of flying airplanes if youre think-

VINTAGE AIRPLA NE 15

ing about reselling remember that those airplanes are less expensive than something like a Cessna 140 for a reason the market has deter-mined its willing to pay more for a 140 than a Porterfield Keep that in mind when thinking of reselling

bull Ignore the reputations of air-planes and get the facts Aviation is rife with old wives tales about airplanes Go to the type clubs and get the facts plus get a flight in whatever youre thinking about buying A classic example of un-earned reputations is the suppos-edly squirrelly Luscombe it han-dles fine as long as youre checked out properly Its reputation stems from pilots who havent really learned to fly and they blame the Luscombe when its really the pilots fault

bull Buy on condition not appear-ance Look past the paint and in-terior to see the actual condition of the airplane You can fly with ugly paint for years but shiny paint wont make the engine last any longer or cure corrosion

bull Double check Airworthiness Di-rective (AD) compliance Some of these airplanes have gone for years without having ADs brought up to date You dont want to be the one caught holding that bag

Buying a flying airplane that needs TLC and upgrading it This is every buyers dream buy an ugly airplane spend a few weekends 16 DECEMBER 2004

cleaning and polishing and have an airplane as good as those that cost more We said it was a dream and it usually is The costs associated with fixing anything more than the most trivial cosmetic problems always drive the investment above the ac-quisition cost of the top airplanes in this bracket The chances of this working out are slim but definitely not impossible If this is to happen the following conditions absolutely must be present - Low- to mid-time engine with

good history - Basic airframe is clean with no rust

corrosion or bad dings - Exterior has only cosmetic prob-

lems like paint but fabric and metal are good

- All ADs are complied with - Instruments and radios (if any) are

serviceable and legal - Overall condition is above average

appearance is below average - Primary problems are of a hygienic

nature which a good bath and a little paint (very little) will fix This is a very iffy proposition that

requires you to really look at the air-plane closely and put a sharp pencil to the plans you have for it Too of-ten we let our enthusiasm carry us away and we would have been better off buying the most expensive air-plane of its type This concept works best when the owner can do much of the work and there are few if any parts that must be bought

Locate a project and have it restored

We can make this short and to the point this is not the way to get into vintage airplanes inexpensively and especially not for $15000 Shop rates vary wildly but $25 to $35 per hour seems to be about average which is about $250 per day Now think how many days it will take someone to do whatever it is that your airplane needs Lets say six weeks to disassem-ble cover and repaint your airplane Thats 30 working days or $ 7500 and doesnt include materials Or shop around and get prices for dif-ferent segments of it Recovering at $10000 engine $8000 so now we have spent more than our $15000 and we havent even bought an air-plane yet To put it simply you cant pay someone else to do the work and get into vintage airplane projects on the cheap

Locate a project and restore it yourself

This has real possibilities but again only if certain things happen or are present The first move however is to evaluate yourself before you evalu-ate a project It s super common for people to get all enthused about the airplane and then when the gritty reality of restoration sets in the air-plane starts gathering dust It would probably surprise all of us to know how many classic airplanes are sit-ting in garages and barns not being worked on

Self Evaluation -Are you pro j ec t oriented When you start a project do you keep after it day after day or as the enthusiasm wanes do you let it slip in favor of other activities Be honest here

-Do you have the workspace A dou-ble garage is more than enough for most two-place airplane projects Its amazing how good a Luscombe or 120 looks sitting in a double ga-rage workshop It can be done in a single garage but only if theres

storage space available for com-pleted components

-Do you have the t ime There is no such thing as free time It all comes from somewhere and for most folks that means family and family activities get short changed This has to be examined closely More than one project has been abandoned because it was caus-ing too much unrest in the house-hold Or conversely the project continued but the marriage didnt Get the family into the project or at least make sure you arent building resentment by not being where youre supposed to be

-Do you have the skills This is a nonquestion because you can learn any skill Besides everything you do must be rechecked by an AampP anyway In fact one of the most valuable skills you can de-velop would be the ability to make friends with AampPs and convince them to come check your work in exchange for barbeque or some-thing For those skills you dont want to learn eg welding paint-ing etc you can bring the project right up to the ready-to-weld or paint stage and pay to have the fi-nal work done Most of the cost of either types of work is in the time

spent in preparation Once ev-erything is cut and fit in place two hours of actual welding is a huge amount of welding Ditto painting The cost is in the

disassembly cleaning masking and prepping Actual spraying time to paint an entire airplane probably isnt two hours including all the small parts if they are well organized and ready to shoot

Project Evaluation Deciding what makes a good proj-

ect isnt easy and price is most of-ten the least important part of the equation

-Size Dont bite off more than you can chew Luscombes and 140s are good little weekend garage proj-ects A Tri-Pacer is a little more la-bor intensive and a 108 Stinson is a quantum leap up the time and complexity scale If you opt for a bigger airplane make sure that you want that airplane more than life itself or youll run out of steam

-Condition If the airplane is a proj-ect why did it stop flying Was it damaged What kind of damage Some types of damage are easier to fix than others and much of it is outside the capabilities of a back-yard restorer How much storage damage does it have in the form of beat-up skins ribs etc What about storage conditions Was it dry or wet Is there rust or corro-sion These are hard to fix Were mice making an apartment house of the airplane complete with their nasty hygiene habits

-Type ofconstruction Differentindi-viduals have different affinities

Some like wood others are

more comfortable with aluminum or rag and tube Each material re-quires different skill sets and abili-ties and all demand a thorough understanding of FAA-acceptable repair techniques This is where a good AampP is worth whatever he or she charges for guidance

-Damage assessment An airplane that has been in a serious accident is generally better left for the pros or semi-pros unless the damage is minor or limited to rag and tube airplanes which lend themselves better to amateur repairs

-Completeness An airplane that is missing parts is an airplane that is going to cost a lot in phone calls and aggravation Plus those parts arent cheap Dont under-estimate the problems associated with replacing something fairly minor like an aileron or parts of the control system for example If the airplane is only disassem-bled into its major components (wingsfuselageengine) its easy to see what is or isnt there But if its a true basket case or a project someone has already totally dis-assembled to work on doing an inventory is a major task that ab-solutely must be accomplished before money changes hands Also if this is to be an accurate restoration as opposed to a sport flying restora-tion its critical that all the trim

pieces on the interior and cowling be accounted for This inventory will be the basis for arguing price with

the owner The price should reflect missing parts

-Engine If the engine is missing the project had better be very in-expensive if youre going to finish up for less than $lSK If it is there it has to be determined if its a use-able engine a core to be rebuilt or a bunch of mangled parts that sort of look like an engine but arent Dont be afraid to argue for pulling a jug for inspection The longer the engine has been hiding under a workbench the more likely it is to be just a parts donor A project

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 17

with a fresh engine is worth a size-able premium

-Paperwork DONT BUY A PROJ-ECT THAT HAS NO PAPERWORK OR DATAPLATE This is something the pros seem to be able to pull off but the average guy isnt set up jousting with the FAA Registration Branch In the first place without a data plate the airplane has no of-ficial identity and that means you have no way of proving its yours or it hasnt been stolen Without a data plate there is almost no way you can license it Dont even think about trying to get it licensed as an Experimental aircraft The FAA wont allow a formerly certified airplane to be moved to that set of certification categories

Treat the paperwork exactly the

same as if you were buying a flying airplane and youll avoid major hassles later on And dont plan on working this out later It would be a real bummer to finish an air-plane and then find you cant li-cense it

-Proforma budget Before buying the project sit down with a pencil or better yet a computer spread-sheet and work up a budget for parts materials and outside labor Mentally walk through what you have to do to the airplane start-ing at the front and working back Make up three columns labeled Least Expected and High and put numbers in each of the columns This should give you a range If possible get your local AampP or EAA Technical Counselor

Editor Low-buck Picks Were goingto skip the obvious Luscombe120140ChampT-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some you may not have thought about that can be fit into the $15K budget

Aeronca Chief-This is a side-by-side Champ good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably wont

be in the $15K budget 65TAC-Defender-Pre-warwartime tandem pick carefully because of age

Piper J-4 Cub Coupe-A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasnt skyrocketed in

price like the J-3 Good project but rare Colt-A two-place Tri-Pacer $15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project 125 Tri-Pacer-This is an early Tripe w0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an orphan engine as far as Lycom ing is concerned

Interstate Cadet A-65-lsnt really enough power but still flies okay Some had Franklins

Ercoupe Thousands out there $15K will buy a flying airplane or super project

Funk Both pre- and post-war models a good flyer and fairly fast Has a T-bar control

yoke system A real antique in a tiny package

Cessna 150 Dont laugh The square tail pre-1963 models are true contemporary classics

but look for a good engine as the 0-200 is expensive to overhaul

Stinson lOA Hasnt caught on at all Two-place but could use more power (cant everything)

This will probably be a project

18 DECEMBER 2004

to sit down and go through it with you An extra set of eyes is well worth the effort Then add at least SO percent and youll be close to what itll cost to put it back in the air At that point youre ready to start arguing with the owner about the price

-Location Proximity has a lot to do with the worth of a project because transportation is such a problem Although the airplane that is on the other coast may be a much better project at a better price by the time you get it home it wont be much of a bargain At the same time you have to evalu-ate the balance between projects it may well be worth the time and money if a distant project will re-quire enough fewer parts and work to justify the trip

-Where t o look Trade-a-Plane is always the first place to start look-ing along with Barnstormerscom and the classified section of maga-zines including Vintage Airplane However the best deals will al-ways be found on bulletin boards at fly-ins and at local airports A lot of airplanes are in the hands of people ready to dump them just to get them out of their hair and they usually arent advertised

-Typ e club i s im p ortant The more popular the type the stron-ger the type club will be and thats important If youre restoring a Porterfield youll have a much smaller number of people to help you than if doing a Luscombe or 120140 If you have your heart set on a given type of airplane your first move should be to join that type club It would take a book the size of the

Manhattan phone directory to cover all of the bases on ways to get into vintage airplanes on a budget Weve covered some of the basics Now its up to you to spend some time bal-anCing your checkbook and talking to everyone who will talk to you about entry-level classics and con-temporaries You may be surprised what you learn

is rarely a problem Having a partner doubles your buying power or halves your expenses Either way finding a good partner is often much harder than finding a good airplane You can always make a weak pilot stron-ger and you can generally work out the financial factors but if a person is a jerk you cant do much about it and none of us wants to live with a jerk So pick partners carefully

Buying a Flying Bird to Go Flying The assumption here is that youre

going to buy an airplane fly it pretty much as is and then resell it without spending any time or money on it

There are a surprising number of airplanes that can be had for $15000 However at that level youre working at the bottom of the airp lane food chain and not only are the pickings slim but sometimes they are pretty ugly For that reason there are a few rules that you must follow because quite often buying cheap gets expen-sive when something breaks and the airplane is no longer a bargain Also if you buy smart chances are you can fly the airplane for several years and sell it for more than you paid for it

The Cheapskates Guide to Buying a Fly-ing Vintage Airplane - Dont buy an a irp lane that has

flow n very little fo r t h e past few years Unless the price is low enough to cover tearing the engine down for a complete inspection you could be buying problems Lycomings especially love to de-velop rust in areas you cant easily inspect (rear cam lobes) and that rust eventually goes through the engine eating bearings and other important stuff in the process

- Don t buy a n a i rpla n e tha t is w ithin a few hu n dre d h o u rs of TBO Even if it runs perfectly and will give you several hundred hours of trouble free flying youll have troubles reselling it Plus if it goes sour its going to take a lot of money to get it flying again or youll have to dump it and lose a good part of your investment

- Don t buy qu estio n a bl e log-books Give preference to those with complete logs that show their entire history and speak of good maintenance

- Dont buy a questio n able over-h aul Look for familiar names in the logbook especially from the last overhaul and check up on the names you dont know

- Stick w ith popular engines Its hard to beat the A-65 Continental and its harder to support many of its peers such as the 0-145 Lycom-

ing or 90-hp Franklin They arent bad engines but should any prob-lems develop youll have more trouble finding parts and mechan-ics that understand them

- Avoid deteriorat ed a irfram es Rust rot and corrosion are good reasons to walk away from an air-plane regardless of how cheap it is Unless youre qualified to do the repairs yourself youre talking about a money pit

- Buy at the top end of that airplanes price bracket Every airplane has a price range that is driven by con-dition Lets say the price range for normal (not the super cream puffs) Luscombes is $12000 to $20000 It makes more economic sense to extend the loan out to seven years from five so you have the $20000 to buy the best one available That one will give you less problems eg cost less money to keep running and you stand a better chance of recouping your investment when you sell A dog will always bring dog prices and they usually cost more to keep flying

- Give preference to popular types if you plan on reselling Although fringe airplanes such as the Por-terfields Interstates Funks etc represent the best buys in terms of flying airplanes if youre think-

VINTAGE AIRPLA NE 15

ing about reselling remember that those airplanes are less expensive than something like a Cessna 140 for a reason the market has deter-mined its willing to pay more for a 140 than a Porterfield Keep that in mind when thinking of reselling

bull Ignore the reputations of air-planes and get the facts Aviation is rife with old wives tales about airplanes Go to the type clubs and get the facts plus get a flight in whatever youre thinking about buying A classic example of un-earned reputations is the suppos-edly squirrelly Luscombe it han-dles fine as long as youre checked out properly Its reputation stems from pilots who havent really learned to fly and they blame the Luscombe when its really the pilots fault

bull Buy on condition not appear-ance Look past the paint and in-terior to see the actual condition of the airplane You can fly with ugly paint for years but shiny paint wont make the engine last any longer or cure corrosion

bull Double check Airworthiness Di-rective (AD) compliance Some of these airplanes have gone for years without having ADs brought up to date You dont want to be the one caught holding that bag

Buying a flying airplane that needs TLC and upgrading it This is every buyers dream buy an ugly airplane spend a few weekends 16 DECEMBER 2004

cleaning and polishing and have an airplane as good as those that cost more We said it was a dream and it usually is The costs associated with fixing anything more than the most trivial cosmetic problems always drive the investment above the ac-quisition cost of the top airplanes in this bracket The chances of this working out are slim but definitely not impossible If this is to happen the following conditions absolutely must be present - Low- to mid-time engine with

good history - Basic airframe is clean with no rust

corrosion or bad dings - Exterior has only cosmetic prob-

lems like paint but fabric and metal are good

- All ADs are complied with - Instruments and radios (if any) are

serviceable and legal - Overall condition is above average

appearance is below average - Primary problems are of a hygienic

nature which a good bath and a little paint (very little) will fix This is a very iffy proposition that

requires you to really look at the air-plane closely and put a sharp pencil to the plans you have for it Too of-ten we let our enthusiasm carry us away and we would have been better off buying the most expensive air-plane of its type This concept works best when the owner can do much of the work and there are few if any parts that must be bought

Locate a project and have it restored

We can make this short and to the point this is not the way to get into vintage airplanes inexpensively and especially not for $15000 Shop rates vary wildly but $25 to $35 per hour seems to be about average which is about $250 per day Now think how many days it will take someone to do whatever it is that your airplane needs Lets say six weeks to disassem-ble cover and repaint your airplane Thats 30 working days or $ 7500 and doesnt include materials Or shop around and get prices for dif-ferent segments of it Recovering at $10000 engine $8000 so now we have spent more than our $15000 and we havent even bought an air-plane yet To put it simply you cant pay someone else to do the work and get into vintage airplane projects on the cheap

Locate a project and restore it yourself

This has real possibilities but again only if certain things happen or are present The first move however is to evaluate yourself before you evalu-ate a project It s super common for people to get all enthused about the airplane and then when the gritty reality of restoration sets in the air-plane starts gathering dust It would probably surprise all of us to know how many classic airplanes are sit-ting in garages and barns not being worked on

Self Evaluation -Are you pro j ec t oriented When you start a project do you keep after it day after day or as the enthusiasm wanes do you let it slip in favor of other activities Be honest here

-Do you have the workspace A dou-ble garage is more than enough for most two-place airplane projects Its amazing how good a Luscombe or 120 looks sitting in a double ga-rage workshop It can be done in a single garage but only if theres

storage space available for com-pleted components

-Do you have the t ime There is no such thing as free time It all comes from somewhere and for most folks that means family and family activities get short changed This has to be examined closely More than one project has been abandoned because it was caus-ing too much unrest in the house-hold Or conversely the project continued but the marriage didnt Get the family into the project or at least make sure you arent building resentment by not being where youre supposed to be

-Do you have the skills This is a nonquestion because you can learn any skill Besides everything you do must be rechecked by an AampP anyway In fact one of the most valuable skills you can de-velop would be the ability to make friends with AampPs and convince them to come check your work in exchange for barbeque or some-thing For those skills you dont want to learn eg welding paint-ing etc you can bring the project right up to the ready-to-weld or paint stage and pay to have the fi-nal work done Most of the cost of either types of work is in the time

spent in preparation Once ev-erything is cut and fit in place two hours of actual welding is a huge amount of welding Ditto painting The cost is in the

disassembly cleaning masking and prepping Actual spraying time to paint an entire airplane probably isnt two hours including all the small parts if they are well organized and ready to shoot

Project Evaluation Deciding what makes a good proj-

ect isnt easy and price is most of-ten the least important part of the equation

-Size Dont bite off more than you can chew Luscombes and 140s are good little weekend garage proj-ects A Tri-Pacer is a little more la-bor intensive and a 108 Stinson is a quantum leap up the time and complexity scale If you opt for a bigger airplane make sure that you want that airplane more than life itself or youll run out of steam

-Condition If the airplane is a proj-ect why did it stop flying Was it damaged What kind of damage Some types of damage are easier to fix than others and much of it is outside the capabilities of a back-yard restorer How much storage damage does it have in the form of beat-up skins ribs etc What about storage conditions Was it dry or wet Is there rust or corro-sion These are hard to fix Were mice making an apartment house of the airplane complete with their nasty hygiene habits

-Type ofconstruction Differentindi-viduals have different affinities

Some like wood others are

more comfortable with aluminum or rag and tube Each material re-quires different skill sets and abili-ties and all demand a thorough understanding of FAA-acceptable repair techniques This is where a good AampP is worth whatever he or she charges for guidance

-Damage assessment An airplane that has been in a serious accident is generally better left for the pros or semi-pros unless the damage is minor or limited to rag and tube airplanes which lend themselves better to amateur repairs

-Completeness An airplane that is missing parts is an airplane that is going to cost a lot in phone calls and aggravation Plus those parts arent cheap Dont under-estimate the problems associated with replacing something fairly minor like an aileron or parts of the control system for example If the airplane is only disassem-bled into its major components (wingsfuselageengine) its easy to see what is or isnt there But if its a true basket case or a project someone has already totally dis-assembled to work on doing an inventory is a major task that ab-solutely must be accomplished before money changes hands Also if this is to be an accurate restoration as opposed to a sport flying restora-tion its critical that all the trim

pieces on the interior and cowling be accounted for This inventory will be the basis for arguing price with

the owner The price should reflect missing parts

-Engine If the engine is missing the project had better be very in-expensive if youre going to finish up for less than $lSK If it is there it has to be determined if its a use-able engine a core to be rebuilt or a bunch of mangled parts that sort of look like an engine but arent Dont be afraid to argue for pulling a jug for inspection The longer the engine has been hiding under a workbench the more likely it is to be just a parts donor A project

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 17

with a fresh engine is worth a size-able premium

-Paperwork DONT BUY A PROJ-ECT THAT HAS NO PAPERWORK OR DATAPLATE This is something the pros seem to be able to pull off but the average guy isnt set up jousting with the FAA Registration Branch In the first place without a data plate the airplane has no of-ficial identity and that means you have no way of proving its yours or it hasnt been stolen Without a data plate there is almost no way you can license it Dont even think about trying to get it licensed as an Experimental aircraft The FAA wont allow a formerly certified airplane to be moved to that set of certification categories

Treat the paperwork exactly the

same as if you were buying a flying airplane and youll avoid major hassles later on And dont plan on working this out later It would be a real bummer to finish an air-plane and then find you cant li-cense it

-Proforma budget Before buying the project sit down with a pencil or better yet a computer spread-sheet and work up a budget for parts materials and outside labor Mentally walk through what you have to do to the airplane start-ing at the front and working back Make up three columns labeled Least Expected and High and put numbers in each of the columns This should give you a range If possible get your local AampP or EAA Technical Counselor

Editor Low-buck Picks Were goingto skip the obvious Luscombe120140ChampT-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some you may not have thought about that can be fit into the $15K budget

Aeronca Chief-This is a side-by-side Champ good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably wont

be in the $15K budget 65TAC-Defender-Pre-warwartime tandem pick carefully because of age

Piper J-4 Cub Coupe-A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasnt skyrocketed in

price like the J-3 Good project but rare Colt-A two-place Tri-Pacer $15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project 125 Tri-Pacer-This is an early Tripe w0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an orphan engine as far as Lycom ing is concerned

Interstate Cadet A-65-lsnt really enough power but still flies okay Some had Franklins

Ercoupe Thousands out there $15K will buy a flying airplane or super project

Funk Both pre- and post-war models a good flyer and fairly fast Has a T-bar control

yoke system A real antique in a tiny package

Cessna 150 Dont laugh The square tail pre-1963 models are true contemporary classics

but look for a good engine as the 0-200 is expensive to overhaul

Stinson lOA Hasnt caught on at all Two-place but could use more power (cant everything)

This will probably be a project

18 DECEMBER 2004

to sit down and go through it with you An extra set of eyes is well worth the effort Then add at least SO percent and youll be close to what itll cost to put it back in the air At that point youre ready to start arguing with the owner about the price

-Location Proximity has a lot to do with the worth of a project because transportation is such a problem Although the airplane that is on the other coast may be a much better project at a better price by the time you get it home it wont be much of a bargain At the same time you have to evalu-ate the balance between projects it may well be worth the time and money if a distant project will re-quire enough fewer parts and work to justify the trip

-Where t o look Trade-a-Plane is always the first place to start look-ing along with Barnstormerscom and the classified section of maga-zines including Vintage Airplane However the best deals will al-ways be found on bulletin boards at fly-ins and at local airports A lot of airplanes are in the hands of people ready to dump them just to get them out of their hair and they usually arent advertised

-Typ e club i s im p ortant The more popular the type the stron-ger the type club will be and thats important If youre restoring a Porterfield youll have a much smaller number of people to help you than if doing a Luscombe or 120140 If you have your heart set on a given type of airplane your first move should be to join that type club It would take a book the size of the

Manhattan phone directory to cover all of the bases on ways to get into vintage airplanes on a budget Weve covered some of the basics Now its up to you to spend some time bal-anCing your checkbook and talking to everyone who will talk to you about entry-level classics and con-temporaries You may be surprised what you learn

ing about reselling remember that those airplanes are less expensive than something like a Cessna 140 for a reason the market has deter-mined its willing to pay more for a 140 than a Porterfield Keep that in mind when thinking of reselling

bull Ignore the reputations of air-planes and get the facts Aviation is rife with old wives tales about airplanes Go to the type clubs and get the facts plus get a flight in whatever youre thinking about buying A classic example of un-earned reputations is the suppos-edly squirrelly Luscombe it han-dles fine as long as youre checked out properly Its reputation stems from pilots who havent really learned to fly and they blame the Luscombe when its really the pilots fault

bull Buy on condition not appear-ance Look past the paint and in-terior to see the actual condition of the airplane You can fly with ugly paint for years but shiny paint wont make the engine last any longer or cure corrosion

bull Double check Airworthiness Di-rective (AD) compliance Some of these airplanes have gone for years without having ADs brought up to date You dont want to be the one caught holding that bag

Buying a flying airplane that needs TLC and upgrading it This is every buyers dream buy an ugly airplane spend a few weekends 16 DECEMBER 2004

cleaning and polishing and have an airplane as good as those that cost more We said it was a dream and it usually is The costs associated with fixing anything more than the most trivial cosmetic problems always drive the investment above the ac-quisition cost of the top airplanes in this bracket The chances of this working out are slim but definitely not impossible If this is to happen the following conditions absolutely must be present - Low- to mid-time engine with

good history - Basic airframe is clean with no rust

corrosion or bad dings - Exterior has only cosmetic prob-

lems like paint but fabric and metal are good

- All ADs are complied with - Instruments and radios (if any) are

serviceable and legal - Overall condition is above average

appearance is below average - Primary problems are of a hygienic

nature which a good bath and a little paint (very little) will fix This is a very iffy proposition that

requires you to really look at the air-plane closely and put a sharp pencil to the plans you have for it Too of-ten we let our enthusiasm carry us away and we would have been better off buying the most expensive air-plane of its type This concept works best when the owner can do much of the work and there are few if any parts that must be bought

Locate a project and have it restored

We can make this short and to the point this is not the way to get into vintage airplanes inexpensively and especially not for $15000 Shop rates vary wildly but $25 to $35 per hour seems to be about average which is about $250 per day Now think how many days it will take someone to do whatever it is that your airplane needs Lets say six weeks to disassem-ble cover and repaint your airplane Thats 30 working days or $ 7500 and doesnt include materials Or shop around and get prices for dif-ferent segments of it Recovering at $10000 engine $8000 so now we have spent more than our $15000 and we havent even bought an air-plane yet To put it simply you cant pay someone else to do the work and get into vintage airplane projects on the cheap

Locate a project and restore it yourself

This has real possibilities but again only if certain things happen or are present The first move however is to evaluate yourself before you evalu-ate a project It s super common for people to get all enthused about the airplane and then when the gritty reality of restoration sets in the air-plane starts gathering dust It would probably surprise all of us to know how many classic airplanes are sit-ting in garages and barns not being worked on

Self Evaluation -Are you pro j ec t oriented When you start a project do you keep after it day after day or as the enthusiasm wanes do you let it slip in favor of other activities Be honest here

-Do you have the workspace A dou-ble garage is more than enough for most two-place airplane projects Its amazing how good a Luscombe or 120 looks sitting in a double ga-rage workshop It can be done in a single garage but only if theres

storage space available for com-pleted components

-Do you have the t ime There is no such thing as free time It all comes from somewhere and for most folks that means family and family activities get short changed This has to be examined closely More than one project has been abandoned because it was caus-ing too much unrest in the house-hold Or conversely the project continued but the marriage didnt Get the family into the project or at least make sure you arent building resentment by not being where youre supposed to be

-Do you have the skills This is a nonquestion because you can learn any skill Besides everything you do must be rechecked by an AampP anyway In fact one of the most valuable skills you can de-velop would be the ability to make friends with AampPs and convince them to come check your work in exchange for barbeque or some-thing For those skills you dont want to learn eg welding paint-ing etc you can bring the project right up to the ready-to-weld or paint stage and pay to have the fi-nal work done Most of the cost of either types of work is in the time

spent in preparation Once ev-erything is cut and fit in place two hours of actual welding is a huge amount of welding Ditto painting The cost is in the

disassembly cleaning masking and prepping Actual spraying time to paint an entire airplane probably isnt two hours including all the small parts if they are well organized and ready to shoot

Project Evaluation Deciding what makes a good proj-

ect isnt easy and price is most of-ten the least important part of the equation

-Size Dont bite off more than you can chew Luscombes and 140s are good little weekend garage proj-ects A Tri-Pacer is a little more la-bor intensive and a 108 Stinson is a quantum leap up the time and complexity scale If you opt for a bigger airplane make sure that you want that airplane more than life itself or youll run out of steam

-Condition If the airplane is a proj-ect why did it stop flying Was it damaged What kind of damage Some types of damage are easier to fix than others and much of it is outside the capabilities of a back-yard restorer How much storage damage does it have in the form of beat-up skins ribs etc What about storage conditions Was it dry or wet Is there rust or corro-sion These are hard to fix Were mice making an apartment house of the airplane complete with their nasty hygiene habits

-Type ofconstruction Differentindi-viduals have different affinities

Some like wood others are

more comfortable with aluminum or rag and tube Each material re-quires different skill sets and abili-ties and all demand a thorough understanding of FAA-acceptable repair techniques This is where a good AampP is worth whatever he or she charges for guidance

-Damage assessment An airplane that has been in a serious accident is generally better left for the pros or semi-pros unless the damage is minor or limited to rag and tube airplanes which lend themselves better to amateur repairs

-Completeness An airplane that is missing parts is an airplane that is going to cost a lot in phone calls and aggravation Plus those parts arent cheap Dont under-estimate the problems associated with replacing something fairly minor like an aileron or parts of the control system for example If the airplane is only disassem-bled into its major components (wingsfuselageengine) its easy to see what is or isnt there But if its a true basket case or a project someone has already totally dis-assembled to work on doing an inventory is a major task that ab-solutely must be accomplished before money changes hands Also if this is to be an accurate restoration as opposed to a sport flying restora-tion its critical that all the trim

pieces on the interior and cowling be accounted for This inventory will be the basis for arguing price with

the owner The price should reflect missing parts

-Engine If the engine is missing the project had better be very in-expensive if youre going to finish up for less than $lSK If it is there it has to be determined if its a use-able engine a core to be rebuilt or a bunch of mangled parts that sort of look like an engine but arent Dont be afraid to argue for pulling a jug for inspection The longer the engine has been hiding under a workbench the more likely it is to be just a parts donor A project

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 17

with a fresh engine is worth a size-able premium

-Paperwork DONT BUY A PROJ-ECT THAT HAS NO PAPERWORK OR DATAPLATE This is something the pros seem to be able to pull off but the average guy isnt set up jousting with the FAA Registration Branch In the first place without a data plate the airplane has no of-ficial identity and that means you have no way of proving its yours or it hasnt been stolen Without a data plate there is almost no way you can license it Dont even think about trying to get it licensed as an Experimental aircraft The FAA wont allow a formerly certified airplane to be moved to that set of certification categories

Treat the paperwork exactly the

same as if you were buying a flying airplane and youll avoid major hassles later on And dont plan on working this out later It would be a real bummer to finish an air-plane and then find you cant li-cense it

-Proforma budget Before buying the project sit down with a pencil or better yet a computer spread-sheet and work up a budget for parts materials and outside labor Mentally walk through what you have to do to the airplane start-ing at the front and working back Make up three columns labeled Least Expected and High and put numbers in each of the columns This should give you a range If possible get your local AampP or EAA Technical Counselor

Editor Low-buck Picks Were goingto skip the obvious Luscombe120140ChampT-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some you may not have thought about that can be fit into the $15K budget

Aeronca Chief-This is a side-by-side Champ good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably wont

be in the $15K budget 65TAC-Defender-Pre-warwartime tandem pick carefully because of age

Piper J-4 Cub Coupe-A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasnt skyrocketed in

price like the J-3 Good project but rare Colt-A two-place Tri-Pacer $15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project 125 Tri-Pacer-This is an early Tripe w0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an orphan engine as far as Lycom ing is concerned

Interstate Cadet A-65-lsnt really enough power but still flies okay Some had Franklins

Ercoupe Thousands out there $15K will buy a flying airplane or super project

Funk Both pre- and post-war models a good flyer and fairly fast Has a T-bar control

yoke system A real antique in a tiny package

Cessna 150 Dont laugh The square tail pre-1963 models are true contemporary classics

but look for a good engine as the 0-200 is expensive to overhaul

Stinson lOA Hasnt caught on at all Two-place but could use more power (cant everything)

This will probably be a project

18 DECEMBER 2004

to sit down and go through it with you An extra set of eyes is well worth the effort Then add at least SO percent and youll be close to what itll cost to put it back in the air At that point youre ready to start arguing with the owner about the price

-Location Proximity has a lot to do with the worth of a project because transportation is such a problem Although the airplane that is on the other coast may be a much better project at a better price by the time you get it home it wont be much of a bargain At the same time you have to evalu-ate the balance between projects it may well be worth the time and money if a distant project will re-quire enough fewer parts and work to justify the trip

-Where t o look Trade-a-Plane is always the first place to start look-ing along with Barnstormerscom and the classified section of maga-zines including Vintage Airplane However the best deals will al-ways be found on bulletin boards at fly-ins and at local airports A lot of airplanes are in the hands of people ready to dump them just to get them out of their hair and they usually arent advertised

-Typ e club i s im p ortant The more popular the type the stron-ger the type club will be and thats important If youre restoring a Porterfield youll have a much smaller number of people to help you than if doing a Luscombe or 120140 If you have your heart set on a given type of airplane your first move should be to join that type club It would take a book the size of the

Manhattan phone directory to cover all of the bases on ways to get into vintage airplanes on a budget Weve covered some of the basics Now its up to you to spend some time bal-anCing your checkbook and talking to everyone who will talk to you about entry-level classics and con-temporaries You may be surprised what you learn

storage space available for com-pleted components

-Do you have the t ime There is no such thing as free time It all comes from somewhere and for most folks that means family and family activities get short changed This has to be examined closely More than one project has been abandoned because it was caus-ing too much unrest in the house-hold Or conversely the project continued but the marriage didnt Get the family into the project or at least make sure you arent building resentment by not being where youre supposed to be

-Do you have the skills This is a nonquestion because you can learn any skill Besides everything you do must be rechecked by an AampP anyway In fact one of the most valuable skills you can de-velop would be the ability to make friends with AampPs and convince them to come check your work in exchange for barbeque or some-thing For those skills you dont want to learn eg welding paint-ing etc you can bring the project right up to the ready-to-weld or paint stage and pay to have the fi-nal work done Most of the cost of either types of work is in the time

spent in preparation Once ev-erything is cut and fit in place two hours of actual welding is a huge amount of welding Ditto painting The cost is in the

disassembly cleaning masking and prepping Actual spraying time to paint an entire airplane probably isnt two hours including all the small parts if they are well organized and ready to shoot

Project Evaluation Deciding what makes a good proj-

ect isnt easy and price is most of-ten the least important part of the equation

-Size Dont bite off more than you can chew Luscombes and 140s are good little weekend garage proj-ects A Tri-Pacer is a little more la-bor intensive and a 108 Stinson is a quantum leap up the time and complexity scale If you opt for a bigger airplane make sure that you want that airplane more than life itself or youll run out of steam

-Condition If the airplane is a proj-ect why did it stop flying Was it damaged What kind of damage Some types of damage are easier to fix than others and much of it is outside the capabilities of a back-yard restorer How much storage damage does it have in the form of beat-up skins ribs etc What about storage conditions Was it dry or wet Is there rust or corro-sion These are hard to fix Were mice making an apartment house of the airplane complete with their nasty hygiene habits

-Type ofconstruction Differentindi-viduals have different affinities

Some like wood others are

more comfortable with aluminum or rag and tube Each material re-quires different skill sets and abili-ties and all demand a thorough understanding of FAA-acceptable repair techniques This is where a good AampP is worth whatever he or she charges for guidance

-Damage assessment An airplane that has been in a serious accident is generally better left for the pros or semi-pros unless the damage is minor or limited to rag and tube airplanes which lend themselves better to amateur repairs

-Completeness An airplane that is missing parts is an airplane that is going to cost a lot in phone calls and aggravation Plus those parts arent cheap Dont under-estimate the problems associated with replacing something fairly minor like an aileron or parts of the control system for example If the airplane is only disassem-bled into its major components (wingsfuselageengine) its easy to see what is or isnt there But if its a true basket case or a project someone has already totally dis-assembled to work on doing an inventory is a major task that ab-solutely must be accomplished before money changes hands Also if this is to be an accurate restoration as opposed to a sport flying restora-tion its critical that all the trim

pieces on the interior and cowling be accounted for This inventory will be the basis for arguing price with

the owner The price should reflect missing parts

-Engine If the engine is missing the project had better be very in-expensive if youre going to finish up for less than $lSK If it is there it has to be determined if its a use-able engine a core to be rebuilt or a bunch of mangled parts that sort of look like an engine but arent Dont be afraid to argue for pulling a jug for inspection The longer the engine has been hiding under a workbench the more likely it is to be just a parts donor A project

VINTAGE AI RPLANE 17

with a fresh engine is worth a size-able premium

-Paperwork DONT BUY A PROJ-ECT THAT HAS NO PAPERWORK OR DATAPLATE This is something the pros seem to be able to pull off but the average guy isnt set up jousting with the FAA Registration Branch In the first place without a data plate the airplane has no of-ficial identity and that means you have no way of proving its yours or it hasnt been stolen Without a data plate there is almost no way you can license it Dont even think about trying to get it licensed as an Experimental aircraft The FAA wont allow a formerly certified airplane to be moved to that set of certification categories

Treat the paperwork exactly the

same as if you were buying a flying airplane and youll avoid major hassles later on And dont plan on working this out later It would be a real bummer to finish an air-plane and then find you cant li-cense it

-Proforma budget Before buying the project sit down with a pencil or better yet a computer spread-sheet and work up a budget for parts materials and outside labor Mentally walk through what you have to do to the airplane start-ing at the front and working back Make up three columns labeled Least Expected and High and put numbers in each of the columns This should give you a range If possible get your local AampP or EAA Technical Counselor

Editor Low-buck Picks Were goingto skip the obvious Luscombe120140ChampT-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some you may not have thought about that can be fit into the $15K budget

Aeronca Chief-This is a side-by-side Champ good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably wont

be in the $15K budget 65TAC-Defender-Pre-warwartime tandem pick carefully because of age

Piper J-4 Cub Coupe-A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasnt skyrocketed in

price like the J-3 Good project but rare Colt-A two-place Tri-Pacer $15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project 125 Tri-Pacer-This is an early Tripe w0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an orphan engine as far as Lycom ing is concerned

Interstate Cadet A-65-lsnt really enough power but still flies okay Some had Franklins

Ercoupe Thousands out there $15K will buy a flying airplane or super project

Funk Both pre- and post-war models a good flyer and fairly fast Has a T-bar control

yoke system A real antique in a tiny package

Cessna 150 Dont laugh The square tail pre-1963 models are true contemporary classics

but look for a good engine as the 0-200 is expensive to overhaul

Stinson lOA Hasnt caught on at all Two-place but could use more power (cant everything)

This will probably be a project

18 DECEMBER 2004

to sit down and go through it with you An extra set of eyes is well worth the effort Then add at least SO percent and youll be close to what itll cost to put it back in the air At that point youre ready to start arguing with the owner about the price

-Location Proximity has a lot to do with the worth of a project because transportation is such a problem Although the airplane that is on the other coast may be a much better project at a better price by the time you get it home it wont be much of a bargain At the same time you have to evalu-ate the balance between projects it may well be worth the time and money if a distant project will re-quire enough fewer parts and work to justify the trip

-Where t o look Trade-a-Plane is always the first place to start look-ing along with Barnstormerscom and the classified section of maga-zines including Vintage Airplane However the best deals will al-ways be found on bulletin boards at fly-ins and at local airports A lot of airplanes are in the hands of people ready to dump them just to get them out of their hair and they usually arent advertised

-Typ e club i s im p ortant The more popular the type the stron-ger the type club will be and thats important If youre restoring a Porterfield youll have a much smaller number of people to help you than if doing a Luscombe or 120140 If you have your heart set on a given type of airplane your first move should be to join that type club It would take a book the size of the

Manhattan phone directory to cover all of the bases on ways to get into vintage airplanes on a budget Weve covered some of the basics Now its up to you to spend some time bal-anCing your checkbook and talking to everyone who will talk to you about entry-level classics and con-temporaries You may be surprised what you learn

with a fresh engine is worth a size-able premium

-Paperwork DONT BUY A PROJ-ECT THAT HAS NO PAPERWORK OR DATAPLATE This is something the pros seem to be able to pull off but the average guy isnt set up jousting with the FAA Registration Branch In the first place without a data plate the airplane has no of-ficial identity and that means you have no way of proving its yours or it hasnt been stolen Without a data plate there is almost no way you can license it Dont even think about trying to get it licensed as an Experimental aircraft The FAA wont allow a formerly certified airplane to be moved to that set of certification categories

Treat the paperwork exactly the

same as if you were buying a flying airplane and youll avoid major hassles later on And dont plan on working this out later It would be a real bummer to finish an air-plane and then find you cant li-cense it

-Proforma budget Before buying the project sit down with a pencil or better yet a computer spread-sheet and work up a budget for parts materials and outside labor Mentally walk through what you have to do to the airplane start-ing at the front and working back Make up three columns labeled Least Expected and High and put numbers in each of the columns This should give you a range If possible get your local AampP or EAA Technical Counselor

Editor Low-buck Picks Were goingto skip the obvious Luscombe120140ChampT-craft mainstream

aircraft and talk about some you may not have thought about that can be fit into the $15K budget

Aeronca Chief-This is a side-by-side Champ good Super Chiefs (85 hpj probably wont

be in the $15K budget 65TAC-Defender-Pre-warwartime tandem pick carefully because of age

Piper J-4 Cub Coupe-A side-by-side Cub that for some reason hasnt skyrocketed in

price like the J-3 Good project but rare Colt-A two-place Tri-Pacer $15K should buy a reasonable flying airplane or

build a good project 125 Tri-Pacer-This is an early Tripe w0-290 but look for a good engine and

prepare to do some welding Check the engine carefully-the 0-290 is an orphan engine as far as Lycom ing is concerned

Interstate Cadet A-65-lsnt really enough power but still flies okay Some had Franklins

Ercoupe Thousands out there $15K will buy a flying airplane or super project

Funk Both pre- and post-war models a good flyer and fairly fast Has a T-bar control

yoke system A real antique in a tiny package

Cessna 150 Dont laugh The square tail pre-1963 models are true contemporary classics

but look for a good engine as the 0-200 is expensive to overhaul

Stinson lOA Hasnt caught on at all Two-place but could use more power (cant everything)

This will probably be a project

18 DECEMBER 2004

to sit down and go through it with you An extra set of eyes is well worth the effort Then add at least SO percent and youll be close to what itll cost to put it back in the air At that point youre ready to start arguing with the owner about the price

-Location Proximity has a lot to do with the worth of a project because transportation is such a problem Although the airplane that is on the other coast may be a much better project at a better price by the time you get it home it wont be much of a bargain At the same time you have to evalu-ate the balance between projects it may well be worth the time and money if a distant project will re-quire enough fewer parts and work to justify the trip

-Where t o look Trade-a-Plane is always the first place to start look-ing along with Barnstormerscom and the classified section of maga-zines including Vintage Airplane However the best deals will al-ways be found on bulletin boards at fly-ins and at local airports A lot of airplanes are in the hands of people ready to dump them just to get them out of their hair and they usually arent advertised

-Typ e club i s im p ortant The more popular the type the stron-ger the type club will be and thats important If youre restoring a Porterfield youll have a much smaller number of people to help you than if doing a Luscombe or 120140 If you have your heart set on a given type of airplane your first move should be to join that type club It would take a book the size of the

Manhattan phone directory to cover all of the bases on ways to get into vintage airplanes on a budget Weve covered some of the basics Now its up to you to spend some time bal-anCing your checkbook and talking to everyone who will talk to you about entry-level classics and con-temporaries You may be surprised what you learn