"Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea Hawk at wow way d0t com wrote in message
news:t6Odna1iRNU0UHDbnZ2dnUVZ_rGrnZ2d@wideopenwest .com...
"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
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...
Another foolish buyer trick is buying a fixer-upper. Generally, an
airplane's value is LESS than the sum of its parts. Take a $30k C-172 or
Cherokee, add new paint @ $8k, a new interior @ $5k, a new panel @ $15k,
an engine overhaul @ $15k and you still have an airplane worth $50k or
less despite the $70k+ you've invested.

I don't know about that. My dad went through several fixer-uppers and did
just fine with them. Of course, you can't just hand the aircraft and a
credit card to someone and say "fix it".


Sweat equity wasn't included in my equation, although some owners put plenty
of it into their aircraft. In my instance, I built my own airplane, so I
know all about sweat equity. And blood equity. And bye-bye girlfriend
equity. However, many people lack the time, skills, or willpower to tackle
a job as big as painting an airplane or rewiring a panel or rebuilding an
engine. And there is nothing wrong with that.

So for those people, it is wise to buy the airplane they want, because it'll
be far cheaper than buying a fixer upper and bringing it up to their
standard.

That's all I was saying...

KB




Example - $8K for paint??? Most of that cost is prep work which you can do
yourself. I spent more then a few hours stripping paint as a kid. I
particularly remember a Navion - there's a TON of rivet heads to be
cleaned when you strip a Navion... After agreeing on how it was to be
painted (I don't remember the details, but I thing they aggreed to white
with some brown stripes) the old man flew it off somewhere to get the
paint sprayed (and I assume that he did the masking work too). It came
back in a real sharp looking maroon with cream trim paint job...

Overhaul - you have to have a mechanic that will work with you and sign
off on your work. (Pop used to be a crew chief in the Army Air Corps)

It helps if you enjoy doing that kind of work.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
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