Is this a good price on a Cherokee

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tilopa

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tilopa
A guy at the local airport where I take lessons is selling his 1965 Piper Cherokee 140 with the 150hp engine (TSMOH-1450), and TT airframe 3640. The annual is due Jan 2012, he has flown it regularly and owned it for about 15 years. The plane has spent its whole life in California but not hangered. The guy will take $15k for it but not a penny lower. I'm about to buy it but would like some input on whether that is a good price or not given the high engine hours and this time of the year.

Thanks.
 
Not a bad bad price for what you have described thus far, there is more to buying an airplane than TTAF and SMOH times. Good luck
 
If it is VFR equipped, it sounds very good compared to asking prices I've seen on online sales sites for comparables. If it is IFR equipped, please send me contact information so I can buy it!
 
Sounds like a very good price, so long as the paint and interior aren't ruined. Not even that bad if they are.
 
0. research the N number on the NTSB and other websites.
1. read the log books in detail. if he's unwilling to let you read them, walk away.
2. if you're happy with the log books, get the CD/DVD from the FAA ($2?) that lists all 337s, and such.
3. is there a history of oil sample tests? if so, get copies and read them.
4. still interested?
 
murphey said:
0. research the N number on the NTSB and other websites.
1. read the log books in detail. if he's unwilling to let you read them, walk away.
2. if you're happy with the log books, get the CD/DVD from the FAA ($2?) that lists all 337s, and such.
3. is there a history of oil sample tests? if so, get copies and read them.
4. still interested?
Click to expand...

This this this. I almost bought a 1970 Six, but the CD showed several discrepancies from what the owner said. He'd only owned it for 9 years, and didn't claim to have all the logs, but they were bad enough for my chosen pre-buy mechanic to say pass on it at that price. The owner didn't want to budge on the price so I walked.


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Thanks for all the replies.

It is a VFR panel.

Int/Ext is fair, not pretty to look at, def needs paint.

He has all logs and let me look at them. The only thing of concern was many years ago (but still since MOH) the engine compressions where low, the guy said that was because the owner at that time did not fly much. I asked my A&P and he said that could cause that.
 
JesseD said:
This this this. I almost bought a 1970 Six, but the CD showed several discrepancies from what the owner said. He'd only owned it for 9 years, and didn't claim to have all the logs, but they were bad enough for my chosen pre-buy mechanic to say pass on it at that price. The owner didn't want to budge on the price so I walked.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me what CD I need to get? Is it a CD that tells me about this specific Plane (serial number) or a CD containing AD's and SB's and such for my model?
Thanks.
 
You can find all the ADs with lots of work on the FAA website. The ADs on the engine & airframe are easy. But to find the rest of them, you have to have the manufacturer, model and sometimes the serial number of every appliance, e.g. the mags, the alternator, various avionics, etc. If you like scavenger hunts, it can be rather fun to wander thru the website.

The SBs and such are usually not published where you can get to them. They are usually issued by the manufacturer and often (e.g. Piper) you need to pay for them.

But, since it's a Piper....many of us have the SB, SL and SI downloaded from Bomar (before he was put out of business by Essco & Piper). Just ask...
 
Close enough to the annual to have the owner do it before the sale, and you can have your pre buy done at the same time saving you money. Be prepared for expensive annuals in the future.

Good luck.
 
Geico266 said:
Close enough to the annual to have the owner do it before the sale, and you can have your pre buy done at the same time saving you money. Be prepared for expensive annuals in the future.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

He's not going to pay for an annual, he knows the price is lower than what he might get if he puts it in Trade a Plane or Barnestormers. I'm local and he does not want to deal with advertising it and getting calls with a lot of questions and tire kickers, etc. So, he'll let it go for a little less if he can avoid having to put any work into it (he is very busy and does not have the time), but he won't pay for an annual.

But I get your point, and thanks for the suggestion.
 
I just thought of this, I'm wondering if you think this would be a good idea:

I'll tell this guy I'll pay for an annual and have it done right now. If there is nothing major that the plane needs then I buy for the price he is asking. But if it needs something major then I can walk away. However it is a bit of a gamble because if it does need something major I just threw away probably $1500 for the annual.

Would that be worth it, just for the peace of mind?
 
tilopa said:
He's not going to pay for an annual, he knows the price is lower than what he might get if he puts it in Trade a Plane or Barnestormers. I'm local and he does not want to deal with advertising it and getting calls with a lot of questions and tire kickers, etc. So, he'll let it go for a little less if he can avoid having to put any work into it (he is very busy and does not have the time), but he won't pay for an annual.

But I get your point, and thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

He sounds like a good salesman :D
 
tilopa said:
I just thought of this, I'm wondering if you think this would be a good idea:

I'll tell this guy I'll pay for an annual and have it done right now. If there is nothing major that the plane needs then I buy for the price he is asking. But if it needs something major then I can walk away. However it is a bit of a gamble because if it does need something major I just threw away probably $1500 for the annual.

Would that be worth it, just for the peace of mind?
Click to expand...

Would you rather pay $1,500 now or $15,000 later?

You do realize you are buying a project?
 
tilopa said:
I just thought of this, I'm wondering if you think this would be a good idea:

I'll tell this guy I'll pay for an annual and have it done right now. If there is nothing major that the plane needs then I buy for the price he is asking. But if it needs something major then I can walk away. However it is a bit of a gamble because if it does need something major I just threw away probably $1500 for the annual.

Would that be worth it, just for the peace of mind?
Click to expand...

He is selling the aircraft "AS IS Where IS" there is only one person who knows what it is really worth, and that is you.

you need to ask YOUR mechanic how much the NEXT annual will cost by him.
 
Tom-D said:
Would you rather pay $1,500 now or $15,000 later?

You do realize you are buying a project?
Click to expand...

Are you saying it is a project because it is 46 years old, or because the price suggests there is something particularly wrong with it?
 
I think this is a pretty decent price as advertised, although I wouldn't commit to it until you or a mechanic looks it over. The Cherokee's are solid birds, and fairly low cost to operate and maintain. The engine hours seem pretty good, so as long as the compression's are still good, the engine should hopefully give you many more trouble free hours. My dad had a Cherokee that he ran the engine to almost 3,000 hours, well beyond the recommended TBO. The compressions were still amazing (70's) every annual and there was minimal metal in the oil samples that were pulled ever 50 hours.

It really is difficult to tell if the asking price is a good deal or not until you can get it checked out. Most of the AD's for the Cherokee are easy to complete and most have probably already been complied with. The few repetitive AD's are easy and inexpensive.

I wish you luck in your purchase and hope you find this airplane to be sound and a great addition to your family.
 
Thanks all.

My biggest concern with the plane is safety. I don't want something with corrosion so bad the wing comes off in mid air, and an engine that fails on me. Maybe in the inspection I should have my mechanic do a compression test. If it's all above 70 is that a go?
 
That's very low total time, perhaps this bird has not spent too much of its life in a flight school. Six hundred hours to TBO, and these motors will usually go well beyond 2000 hours. This is a very good thing.

If it passes a pre-buy then $15K is very reasonable. Lots of used motorcycles go for more than that!

Like any new to you airplane, budget several thousand dollars to get it through the first annual, especially if the annual is from a different shop than the current owner uses.
 
tilopa said:
Thanks all.

My biggest concern with the plane is safety. I don't want something with corrosion so bad the wing comes off in mid air, and an engine that fails on me. Maybe in the inspection I should have my mechanic do a compression test. If it's all above 70 is that a go?
Click to expand...

Even one cyl dropping compression might not be a huge deal. I looked at a plane that was discounted well because it had low compression on 1 cyl. $800 buck estimate to fix it, which is money but not a ton.

My advice to you is find a nearby A&P ask him to do a Pre-Buy, inspection on it. It won't be as thorough as an annual inspection, have him look over the logs and talk it over with him if you still don't feel like this is a good move, walk away. Sub 20K Cherokees are around, this isn't the only one don't get persuaded into a quick decision.
 
Unless a pre-buy inspection finds a big problem, that sounds like a very good price. That is what I paid for my 71 in 1992 with 1400 SMOH. I've never regretted it.
 
tilopa said:
I just thought of this, I'm wondering if you think this would be a good idea:

I'll tell this guy I'll pay for an annual and have it done right now. If there is nothing major that the plane needs then I buy for the price he is asking. But if it needs something major then I can walk away. However it is a bit of a gamble because if it does need something major I just threw away probably $1500 for the annual.

Would that be worth it, just for the peace of mind?
Click to expand...

How 'bout this; "I'll pay for the annual inspection,(~$600) and you(seller) will pay for the repairs of any airworthyness discrepencies found, and I'll buy it at your price."

Make certian that you use your A&P.
 
Graueradler said:
Unless a pre-buy inspection finds a big problem, that sounds like a very good price. That is what I paid for my 71 in 1992 with 1400 SMOH. I've never regretted it.
Click to expand...

How many hours SMOH did you make it before you had to pay for something along the lines of a MOH?

I'm also in the market for a plane... I just know next to nothing about owning one. :confused:
 
bluerooster said:
How 'bout this; "I'll pay for the annual inspection,(~$600) and you(seller) will pay for the repairs of any airworthyness discrepencies found, and I'll buy it at your price."

Make certian that you use your A&P.
Click to expand...

That's the way it's normally done... If its not airworthy, nobody else is going to buy it either, so it is in his best interest to resolve those issues. Also you should consider using an escrow company to do a title search, file documents, and disperse funds.
 
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It's been 3 weeks since the first question was posted. What has developed with this transaction? Note that 600 hours until TBO is nearly 12 years of flying for most GA private pilots.
 
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