What to buy...what to buy?

Okay, I always love reading everyone's thoughts on these types of questions
so I'll post one for myself. Well, my wife finally gave me thumbs up to buy
a plane after taking a 6-year break from flying. [We all know the
story...two kids, wife staying home, private school...or some flavor of this
story.] Well, I'm pretty conservative and worry about losing my job, etc.
But darn it, it is about time to pull the trigger and get some wings. I'm
planning on taking my time 18 - 24 months to make a purchase. Once I narrow
down my model types I've got a lot of research and networking to do.



For my cyber friends, here are the base assumptions for your assignment:



$40,000 US cash in airplane fund.

ASEL VFR.

IFR training isn't out of the question but not a priority. I really enjoy
old school flying.



I live in SoCal. Tie-downs are minimum $100 per month but the weather is
good. I'm near the coast so I do suffer from marine layer moisture though.
Hangars, if one can be had, lucky find would be $400, many $800+ ...yeah,
that's a t-hanger. Go ahead and laugh most of you. I'm thinking that this
bird will be parked outside, covered from separate expense funds.



I want to start with $5000 - $7000 in reserve. I don't plan on putting away
a little each flight. It seems easier for me to hit problems in big chunks.
My accountant (wife) seems to hit me just as hard for $100 discretions as
she does with $2000 discretions. It's an event thing not a cash thing. Of
course I will embezzle every nickel I can to minimize the number of known
discretions. Not easy with an accountant for a wife. [I think that she
plays dumb because she must have some offshore accounts that I don't know
about.]



All of my training and most flying has been in Citabrias. I LOVE
taildraggers and I LOVE sticks. I have some time in Piper Archers. I have
some time in a PT-23 which was heaven on earth.or above it. Experimental or
Certified makes no difference to me. BUT, I want a certified engine-call me
chicken.



When I was flying, a lot of the time was spent alone but, everybody waves me
off of single seat aircraft. Having two sons, I'm thinking that two seats
minimum is required. Thoughts of getting the whole family into the plane
are unlikely.



I am 205 lbs. Most of my friends are 200+ lbs. Boy, Americans are fat.
Airplane must be comfortable for two adults.



I was enjoying aerobatic flying and beginning formation flying. Aerobatic
is optional. Typical mission will be the local lunch run and weekend trips.
I don't know of much backcountry flying in SoCal but camping under the wing
and fishing with my son would be a great way to spend time. See...Citabrias
seem to fit my mission pretty well.



I am all over the map on this and would love to hear your thoughts. Engine
needs to have reasonable time left on it...800 hrs+ TBO. I will probably
fly 300+ hours per year. God Bless Southern California.



Here is one candidate that I came up with:

Luscombe 8

+Taildragger

+Sticks

+2 or more Seats

+Inexpensive to Operate

+Should be good on dirt

-Low on power

-Low on speed

-Very light wing loading



Purchase Cost $30,000

Pre-buy $1,500

SQUAK $1000

Reserve $6,000

1st Insurance $1,000
----------------------------------
Subtotal $39,500
Flowers, Dinner, etc $500
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Grand Total $40,000

Feel free to deviate from some of my criteria. Other planes on my radar
include CITABRIA, SWIFT, RV, Maule, Grumman AA5, Navion, etc. but most of
these are out of my price range unless they are basket cases.

Think about it, I want some good answers.