Still have not had a chance to visit the plane in person, but spoke with the broker and owner a couple weeks ago.
I hate to post this on a public forum, but I am curious if other people have experienced this as well. It almost seems that the broker and owner are either hiding something, or don't know very much about the airplane they're selling. When asked about the weight and balance of the airplane, the broker replied "oh well.....it should be pretty close to standard, since it hasn't had very much added to it". When asked if the airplane has been weighed, he replied "I'm not sure". When asked about any other gripes with the aircraft, the person said something to the nature of "It's just.....is what it is, it's a used airplane, and we're asking $17,500 firm". When asked about the cylinders, he didn't know any information about it either.
When I spoke with the owner directly (after tracking down his contact information) I asked about the serial numbers of the engine, carb, mags, and prop to do an AD search, which got me a reply of something like "Ummm....I'd have to check, why do you need those again?" "To do an AD search sir, because a mechanic I know was interested in doing a pre-buy and asked for those". "Well tell your mechanic that it just had a fresh annual, so all the ADs are complied with. If you still need them I can get them, but it might take me some time as I have to go through the logs". When asked about the cylinders and what was done on the top overhaul "again, I'd have to check the logs, I'm honestly not sure".
Eventually, I emailed them a few days later to follow up with both of them (The broker and the owner), and did not get a response. Eventually I sent another email with "if I can get the information on the cylinders and the serial numbers, I may purchase the airplane as long as the pre-buy checks out okay". Nearly 2 weeks later, I still have not received an answer from either of them.
Is this normal for aircraft sellers? Call me naive (again, first time buying), but I always envision that a good aircraft owner/seller would say something like "oh yes, those are the older style TCM cylinders, the useful load is 497 lbs with the wheel pants. If you take them off, then its 510 pounds, and we actually just had it re-weighed in 2013. It uses roughly 7 gph, it can absolutely run on car gas, the top overhaul had the TCM cylinders overhauled, but not replaced, and since they're old, the timing still has to be turned down. Any other questions?"......something to that effect. Saying "I don't know" for just about every basic question asked is not acceptable in my eyes.
For the record, those are not the actual values of this plane, but I was just using them as an example.
Will try calling one more time today or tomorrow to see if anything is changed. If I ever actually get the chance to go see the airplane in person, I will and will keep you posted. I hate to lose interest in this airplane because it is one of the better looking ones for sale, is close to me, and is fairly reasonable in price, but I can't help but think "what are they really hiding". Of course, c08joseph may come snatch it from me if I'm too slow haha.
Would you mind if I sent you a PM?
