PA-28/Cherokee

Bill

Bill

Touchdown! Greaser!
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What year did the Cherokee fuselage get stretched? Did they still have Hershey bar wings at that point, or did the longer fuse and taper wings come in the same year?

(I seem to think it was the original Archer that introduced the taper wing???)
 
The Cherokee 180 fuselage was stretched in 1973. They called the plane the Challenger. It still had the Hershey bar wings, though they had a longer span, as did the horizontal stabilizer. The original Archer came out in 1974, and was the same plane. Stretched fuselage and Hershey bar wings. Most of the extra fuselage length went to increased leg room for the back seats. The Challenger I flew was comfy front and rear, and was a plane I really enjoyed. Had a good useful load, too. Close to 1000 lbs.

IIRC, the tapered wing came out on the '75 Archers, but I can't swear to that.
 
I think joe has it, and the tapered wings were called Archer II's and had a PA28-181 designation
 
Joe Williams said:
The Cherokee 180 fuselage was stretched in 1973. They called the plane the Challenger. It still had the Hershey bar wings, though they had a longer span, as did the horizontal stabilizer. The original Archer came out in 1974, and was the same plane. Stretched fuselage and Hershey bar wings. Most of the extra fuselage length went to increased leg room for the back seats. The Challenger I flew was comfy front and rear, and was a plane I really enjoyed. Had a good useful load, too. Close to 1000 lbs.

IIRC, the tapered wing came out on the '75 Archers, but I can't swear to that.
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I thought the Cherokee Challenger was the 235, for the one or two years between being the Cherokee 235 and being the Dakota "236". The Dakota got the tapered wing and only two fuel tanks.

I have my Piper book buried somewhere.
 
mikea said:
I thought the Cherokee Challenger was the 235, for the one or two years between being the Cherokee 235 and being the Dakota "236". The Dakota got the tapered wing and only two fuel tanks.

I have my Piper book buried somewhere.
Click to expand...

The 235 was called the Pathfinder for a couple years between being the 235 and the Dakota.
 
The 1973 PA-28-180 was "Cherokee Challenger" and the PA-28-235 was "Cherokee Charger." Those names were used in 1973 only. (I think I heard somewhere that Chrysler Corp. had problems with Piper using the names of its muscle cars.) For 1974 they were "Cherokee Archer" and "Cherokee Pathfinder", respectively. The "Cherokee" name was dropped after the 1977 model year.

1973 was the first year of the stretched -180 and -235. The Arrow stretch ("Cherokee Arrow II") came in 1972.

The first taper-wing PA-28-181 "Cherokee Archer II" was 1976; Arrow got the taper wing, with larger fuel tanks, in 1977 (PA-28R-201 "Cherokee Arrow III"), same year the Turbo option was added.

The Pathfinder was dropped after the 1977 model year. Dakota was introduced for 1979, so there was no 235-hp model in the 1978 lineup.

-- Pilawt
 
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tonycondon said:
I think joe has it, and the tapered wings were called Archer II's and had a PA28-181 designation
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Yep he's right, Archers got the taper wing in '76 with the Archer II. The Warriors had the taper wing in '74

Don
 
Joe Williams said:
The 235 was called the Pathfinder for a couple years between being the 235 and the Dakota.
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Right. Doh!

I confused Pathfinder and Challenger.
 
Pilawt said:
The 1973 PA-28-180 was "Cherokee Challenger" and the PA-28-235 was "Cherokee Charger." Those names were used in 1973 only. (I think I heard somewhere that Chrysler Corp. had problems with Piper using the names of its muscle cars.)
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Too bad, I would have really gone for a Piper Roadrunner!!!!
 
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