Why do people buy junk Aircraft

JoseCuervo said:
It would be interesting to know what a "junk Aircraft" is, as I am in the market for an airplane, and the one I want doesn't need a glass panel, I am ok if the paint is a "5/10" and the interior is also "5/10".

Hopefully that doesn't make me one who buys "junk Aircraft".



As a side note, wth is with the random postings about some guy wanting us to call the cops in Illinois?
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This is a junk aircraft, but it is flying again.
 

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I'm a big fan of bringing old stuff (cars in particular) back to life... I'd try it with an airplane but space is a concern. Maybe someday!
 
He lived, but was seriously injured. After about two years he got his medical back and still flies Super Cubs commercially in Alaska.

No one saw the accident and he was trapped in the airplane for hours. His foot was burned, but somehow the fire extinguished itself.

If there are miracles, this is one.
 
I have a lot of respect for those that restore old machines. I have even more for those who are successful.
 
MyassisDragon said:
Flying with the same pilot?
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As a matter of fact it is. or was, he builds them for sale and this one was sold.

this is one tough old pilot, he had a heart attack on take off, spent 7 months in the UW trama center healing from 8 compound fractures below the waist, and 5 way bi-pass but he is back flying.
 
kgruber said:
He lived, but was seriously injured. After about two years he got his medical back and still flies Super Cubs commercially in Alaska.

No one saw the accident and he was trapped in the airplane for hours. His foot was burned, but somehow the fire extinguished itself.

If there are miracles, this is one.
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Karl, Pete Morgan (airport manager) was on scene in less than 2 minutes.
 
I'd buy a junk airplane, not to get it flying again, but for another project. For example, the L-13 Blanik glider looks like it would be a great candidate for a "drop tank" style race car.
 
You are more than welcome to google my name and aircraft, and you will find someone that buys such aircraft. The prices are very soft. I am looking for specific parts when I shop. If I can get a good set of 182 wings for $8400 and I need wings, there you have it. A prop strike does not make new cylinders old.

Steve Wentworth removes the parts he can readily transport and sell. There is nothing wrong with that.
 
If I was an A&P with time and a place to do all the work myself I'd totally do this. However, I'm not... so... no way to make it worth it.
 
1600vw said:
This group I speak of is located or was located in Shelbyville iL. I believe thay would buy just about any junk airplane and redo it or rebuilt it.

People like this are special people in my book. We need more of them.

I will ask the air park owner more about this group and what they did and if they still do it and post it here.

Tony
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Was this back in the 1980's and was it the spray paint engine OH guy, or the guy that had tons of wrecks, and parts?
 
In 1990, I bought a '58 182 with the wings in the rafters in the barn and chickens (literally) roosting in what was left of the back seats. But all the parts were there, and they only wanted $5K to get rid of it. Spent two years cleaning, rebuilding, and painting it up, Airtex upholstery, the whole nine yards. One day the then-wife said, "either that plane goes or I do." I sure miss her.

Spent $20K putting in new bladders, getting a country paint job, and reworking every damned bolt and fitting in the airplane. I haven't had but one or two relatively minor hiccups in 27 years. Yeah, the KX-170s are a bit long in the tooth and the steam gauges are really old, but everything on her works perfectly. And, I'm not the least bit ashamed to put her on the line at Oshkosh.

Yes, for some of us it is worth it. If you want to buy her I'd suggest that you come talk to my widow with a sackful of $100 bills because she has a real idea of what she is worth to the right person. The airplane, not the widow.

Snapshot - 2p.jpg

Jim
 
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N659HB said:
I was going to make a snarky comment about resurrecting old threads, but I'll pass.
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I started reading this, then I saw Henning posted... I feel like I just got Rick Rolled.
 
weirdjim said:
In 1990, I bought a '58 182 with the wings in the rafters in the barn and chickens (literally) roosting in what was left of the back seats. But all the parts were there, and they only wanted $5K to get rid of it. Spent two years cleaning, rebuilding, and painting it up, Airtex upholstery, the whole nine yards. One day the then-wife said, "either that plane goes or I do." I sure miss her.

Spent $20K putting in new bladders, getting a country paint job, and reworking every damned bolt and fitting in the airplane. I haven't had but one or two relatively minor hiccups in 27 years. Yeah, the KX-170s are a bit long in the tooth and the steam gauges are really old, but everything on her works perfectly. And, I'm not the least bit ashamed to put her on the line at Oshkosh.

Yes, for some of us it is worth it. If you want to buy her I'd suggest that you come talk to my widow with a sackful of $100 bills because she has a real idea of what she is worth to the right person. The airplane, not the widow.

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Jim
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That's a nice one you got there. I like the old straight tail Cessna's. I have been looking at getting one myself, that, or a Navion.
 
There are a lot of memorials to someone's dreams setting all over, I'm working on one now.
 
Jim, nice plane. We are geared alike. I am rebuilding a 182 that was hand propped and left without the pilot (in 1975). It will be on the line at Oshkosh this year. I cannot post a link, but it is visible if you google N2888F.

The parts plane was purchased on eBay from Wentworth and is visible under the "parts-supply" link.

Previously, I rebuilt N1901K that ended up in a flying museum in England.
 
MrGumpo said:
I gotta call BS on this one.
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Say what you want. Just because you don't know how to do this don't mean it can not be done. I would prove it again in a heart beat if on someone else's dime. But to this day people in this area I speak of, still talk about this Blue and White Chevy Monte Carlo that would tear up the roads. Not one ticket in the three years I owned it. They could not catch it.
BB chevy 454 built to turn 12,000 free reving RPM's. I out ran a motorcycle in the 1/8th mile with this heavy Chevy. The bike was a 900 Kaw drag bike. He was at my back bumper when we crossed the 1/8th mile finish line.
I should also mention I never ran this engine to 12,000 rpms. 8000 would be the shift point and how this engine made it's power. But free reving she could turn 12,000. It happened once when drag racing. The throttle stuck to the floor. I should have shut the engine down then put her in neutral. No I shifted to neutral then shut her down. The tach wrapped all the way around when this happened. 8000 RPM tach and the needle wrapped all the way around and was pointing straight up before I shut her down. The engine shucked all the belts from it and she sucked every drop of oil from the pan. I had to wait a few mins for all the oil to drip down into the pan. The dip stick showed nothing. I thought I stuck a rod through the pan. Nope all the oil was up in the engine. I put the belts back on and away we went.
Street racing at its best. Out ran a 69 corvette that day with a blower sticking through the hood.

Tony
 
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When I out ran that Vette I had taken this engine of the Monte and put it in a 67 Camaro. My thinking was if this Monte moves like this, this camaro will fly. Well I had the fly part correct. The Camaro was quick. It had a Power Glide tranny. Low and go or two speed tranny. You did not shift into drive until 110MPH. When you would shift into drive the front wheels would come up and the car would try to go over. Scared the baggeezers out of me the first time it happened. The Camaro was quick. The monte was fast.

Tony
 
The truth is almost no project or restoration makes financial sense. You do it because you either can't find your perfect airplane, have a soft spot for the type, or find it easier to invest smaller amounts of money over time versus dropping the full value all at once. Truth is I would love to restore and early Bonanza or Cessna 165 but probably never will. Experimental aircraft are just the way to go anymore.
 
Depends, for some folks a project makes sense, for others it doesn't.
 
The problem arises when one has an airplane that is a pile of parts and most of it crap but they still want the price of a flying airplane for the parts. I have a very good example sitting in my hangar. Retract gear airplane, worth if flying or airworthy condition around 60 grand. It has been sitting for 40 years. has no prop and these props are not cheap. The owner wants 60 grand for it. No one will offer him over 5 grand for it and that is all its worth in the condition it is in.

This same man has a 1956 Chris Craft Cruiser. Huge boat. Been sitting dry dock for 40 years. It would need 80 grand thrown into it to make it float again. I had it sold for 10 grand. He wants 50 grand for it.

This short video shows the boat and you can see the green and white airplane in the background.

 
I restored my 1962 Willys truck to drive to my plane and occasionally to work. I could sell it for what I got in it (minus labor) but I won't. I would never attempt anything like that on an airplane.
 
I had a T-Craft that I had flown it for some years, then took it apart and brought it home to restore... where it sat in the garage for 10 years, perpetually "gonna work on it next year". Sold it about 15 years ago when I realized that "next year" was never going to come. A guy from Maine bought it for what I'd paid for it as a flyable plane 15 years earlier, said he'd restored several T-Crafts already, was going to put mine on floats. An N-number inquiry still shows me as the registered owner.

OTOH, I bought this, which had been sitting in this trailer unflown for 10 years:
IMG_20140520_185434_531.jpg
Thought I'd have it flying in a few weeks, took 6 months to get to this:

P6161945.JPG
 
.

1600vw said:
Say what you want. Just because you don't know how to do this don't mean it can not be done.
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.

That little switch on the back of your Autozone tachometer was supposed to be set for eight cylinders, not four.
 
1600vw said:
Say what you want. Just because you don't know how to do this don't mean it can not be done. I would prove it again in a heart beat if on someone else's dime. But to this day people in this area I speak of, still talk about this Blue and White Chevy Monte Carlo that would tear up the roads. Not one ticket in the three years I owned it. They could not catch it.
BB chevy 454 built to turn 12,000 free reving RPM's. I out ran a motorcycle in the 1/8th mile with this heavy Chevy. The bike was a 900 Kaw drag bike. He was at my back bumper when we crossed the 1/8th mile finish line.
I should also mention I never ran this engine to 12,000 rpms. 8000 would be the shift point and how this engine made it's power. But free reving she could turn 12,000. It happened once when drag racing. The throttle stuck to the floor. I should have shut the engine down then put her in neutral. No I shifted to neutral then shut her down. The tach wrapped all the way around when this happened. 8000 RPM tach and the needle wrapped all the way around and was pointing straight up before I shut her down. The engine shucked all the belts from it and she sucked every drop of oil from the pan. I had to wait a few mins for all the oil to drip down into the pan. The dip stick showed nothing. I thought I stuck a rod through the pan. Nope all the oil was up in the engine. I put the belts back on and away we went.
Street racing at its best. Out ran a 69 corvette that day with a blower sticking through the hood.

Tony
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Calculate your piston speed. You're wrong. What was your CA50 angle?
 
3393RP said:
.



.

That little switch on the back of your Autozone tachometer was supposed to be set for eight cylinders, not four.
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Autozone was not even a dream when I built this engine.
 
Hot rod mag. did an article on this back in the 80's. I lost my copy years ago.
 
1600vw said:
Autozone was not even a dream when I built this engine.
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When you would shift into drive the front wheels would come up and the car would try to go over.
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So it pulled the wheels up at 110 MPH? With a Powerglide? I should have just come out and said you're full of crap. A big block Chevy with a flat tappet cam and stock 49.9 mm cam bearing journals will not survive at 8,000 RPM. I could go into other reasons it would blow up and talk about the splayed pushrod geometry, valve spring technology and valvetrain harmonics that were present in the cylinder heads of the GM Mark IV engines of 30 or 40 years ago, but it would be a waste of my time.
 
3393RP said:
So it pulled the wheels up at 110 MPH? With a Powerglide? I should have just come out and said you're full of crap. A big block Chevy with a flat tappet cam and stock 49.9 mm cam bearing journals will not survive at 8,000 RPM. I could go into other reasons it would blow up and talk about the splayed pushrod geometry, valve spring technology and valvetrain harmonics that were present in the cylinder heads of the GM Mark IV engines of 30 or 40 years ago, but it would be a waste of my time.
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Simple math proves his numbers wrong, I just wanted to see him run the numbers, but I guess that was expecting too much of that guy.
Piston speed @ 11k and CA50 angle...
 
Like I said..Hot rod mag. did an article on this back in the early 80's.
 
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