"The Weiss Family" wrote in message ...
All,

I was recently perusing through some of the newer Trade-A-Plane listings,
and I saw tons of old Bonanzas.
Within the last 3 days of listings, there were probably 10 or more.

From previous threads in this newsgroup, I have read that the older Bo's are
expensive to maintain, typically due to the high cost on parts.
So, I was wondering why the parts are so expensive and/or hard to come by if
there are so many planes out there?

Does someone have an older Bonanza who could comment on this?

There are fewer mechanics who are very expert on taking care of the
older ones and mistakes are very expensive. So either you need a real
guru or you have to become the expert yourself to make the ownership
practical. There is plenty of info available for the enthusiast.

Older Bonanzas are NOT that expensive to *maintain.* But if they haven't
been cared for since about the 3rd owner, it will be *breathtaking* to bring
them up to snuff. So you need a very fine prepurchase.

If you keep them well lubricated and rigged, you need very few parts.

A friend runs D-1000. It has been the most economical cross country
airplane imaginable. Goes about 155kts on 8-9 gph of car gas. Always
ready to go.

Bill Hale BPPP instructor


Adam