Do you have access to a cheap hangar? If not that cuts out a lot of fabric airplanes.

Last night I saw a beautiful Baby Great Lakes bi-plane at Addison. For sale. $15,000. Less than 100 hours, and it has an O-290? engine.

At Aero Tech at Addison, should anyone be interested.

Continental 65's don't have provisions for an electric starter. AFAIK... Hand propping only. You have to look for the 85's in order to be able to add a starter and a little electric system to it.

Ask yourself a few questions.

1. Rag and tube or metal?
2. Tandem or side by side?
3. Stick or Yoke?
4. Heel brakes or (elusive) toe brakes?
5. Two seater or 4PL? Pacers and Stinson 108's are still in the wheelhouse... And come wi bigger engines

My first plane was a 1946 Taylorcraft BC-12D. It was a beautiful inexpensive classic. It always drew many nice comments from strangers at different airports. There would almost always be some "old timer" that learned to fly in one. I'm not sure what the current market is but purchase cost would be way less than a cub. Probably silimar to a C150 but with a different vintage / classic style. Fuel burn is very little as well. More fun per gallon I used to say. You will definately hone your rudder skills... It's side by side seating which is nice as long as both people aren't very large. Getting in and out of the cockpit will keep you limber but it's not difficult. Mine was beautifully restored plane that always lived inside a hangar and I never had any issues with it but I expect not all are in that good of condition. For any of these vintage tube & fabric airplanes I'd make sure the fabric and structure are in good condition. The labor cost in a full recovering job (if you have to pay somebody to do it) could easily cost more than no the purchase price of some of these planes. I used a handheld radio with an external mounted "real" antenna and an ICS with radio PTT and headset adapter. It worked great. If you go with a portable radio definately get the headset adapter and PTT.
Good luck!

BTW, I flew this old plane from CA to VT. What a great trip and an awesome experience!

Bill

If you are a fixer upper kind of guy you will read this ad...

1947 CESSNA 120 • $6,000 • FOR SALE BY OWNER • Garage plane. Great project piece includes all major parts plus a few extras. No logs. • Contact William Bumgarner, Owner - located Port Townsend, WA USA • Telephone: 206-777-5639 . • Posted June 30, 2016 • Show all Ads posted by this Advertiser • Recommend This Ad to a Friend • Email Advertiser • Save to Watchlist • Report This Ad

Lots and lots of fabric planes live outside. Its not as hard on them as people on this forum seem to believe.

In your price range I think you have the possibilities already. If I were you though I'd go take a really serious look at Drew's plane. Easy to fly, comfortable, reliable, flexible (4 people!), pretty and inexpensive. Hard to beat that combination.

Luscombe 8-Series ... I am only 6'1" and it was cramped inside when I was 70# lighter and 44 years younger. Main gear is narrow and it does not indulge those who cannot dance.

Some serious AD's re: castings. Insure that they have been complied with.

Only after I sold my first plane, a '47 Luscombe 8E, did someone tell me how to fly it in Alaska with all those clothes and bunny boots on.

Sit in the middle. Use the left rudder pedal on the pilot's side, and the right rudder pedal on the co-pilot's side. The heel brakes don't really do anything, so don't worry about them. You aren't going to take a passenger in it during an Alaska winter, anyway.

T-Crafts are a challenge to mount.

Depending on the location you can make fabric last 10 years or 1 outside. Linen, cotton, and the other natural fiber coverings don't last as long. Some planes were covered with fiberglass "Razorback" which is a lifetime fabric. Ceconite lasts 10-20 years properly maintained, but won't last long outside. Friend of mine ran a flight school at North Perry in the 60s, and he had to recover his pacers every year when he used cotton.

In your price range, the Stinson is the most docile of the 4-seat bunch but is amongst the slowest four placers; Franklin engine parts are difficult to come by. Taildragging pacers are the fastest for the power and 160hp versions will perform comparably to a Cherokee 180 in terms of speed and payload. They're amongst the touchiest TDs and the yoke placement restricts pilot height; I hit my knees with the yoke. Piper clippers are definitely worth looking at, and are in your price range even if the asking price isn't there. They're a more docile lightweight pacer with full wing ailerons, stick controls instead of a yoke, and Lycoming O-290 instead of the more common O-320. Parts support for both airframes is provided by Univair. You may be able to find a Maule, they're effectively reengined Pacers with longer wings and larger rudder surfaces. A short wing M4-210C will cruise at 126kts, pacers will do 120kts all day, and Stinsons with Franklin engines are good for about 105kts. Cessna 170s can be had in the range, I don't know much about them (haven't flown one) aside from they are basically a tail dragging early 172. All of these planes have ample engine conversion STCs if you don't like the power plant you have. Planes that have been converted will have higher asking prices as these planes are still used for bush flying.

Respectfully, I have never had any difficulty locating Franklin parts. These guys are excellent promoters and supporters of the brand: http://www.franklinparts.com/

Wow, lots of info. Much appreciated.
That Stinson is beautiful and I love pretty classic clean airplanes but it's more than a basic airplane which is what I think I'm looking for. If going that route I would be looking at Citabria's etc. I think the less stuff on the panel, smaller the motor ..... Say 200ci or less, the better. Big motor = heavier, higher stall, etc. etc (correct me if I'm wrong)

I see a lot of speeds mentioned, slower, at least landing speed is better. If I need fast and more than two seats I'll take the Mooney. I want a large gap between the Mooney and another airplane otherwise it doesn't make sense (like any of this does )

I flew to a breakfast yesterday and got to see quite a few taildraggers. Also found out there is a 140 at my field. I'm going to check it out and talk with the owner. There is also someone...A very knowledgeable Cub person 30 minutes up the road (gave me a low and slow ride 20 years ago when I was a new pilot, or maybe even a student. Too long for me to remember much)

Edit for the size question. 175lbs, 5'10" but do have a little broad shoulder. Fairly good shape so I'm not concerned with entry and exit problems. 54yo but fit. (Looking for slow, reliable companionship. A big tail (wheel) a plus. Romantic strolls on the grass :-)

1. Yoke vs stick, right now I don't have a preference.... zero stick time.
2. Side by side vs tandem...... No preference but for sight seeing I imagine it's really really hard to beat tandem.
3. Electric start is not a "have to have" but it's very high on the list. Like worth paying a lot more.

I saw the one in Canada and saw the fixer upper in Washington state. I'm in Georgia and I'm not opposed to....in fact it sounds like an adventure flying one back across the country. But bringing one from Canada ehh or a fixer upper on the left coast sounds like a lot of work not to mention...or well, to mention :-) it's hard to look at planes long distance.
From what I have been able to find, it might take some work to have one of these older airplanes checked out, prebuy. Yea it's cheap but still needs to have someone in the know check the common gotcha places on each type and someone that knows fabric. Almost need an expert on each different type airplane.

I'll read back thru all these posts. A lot of info. Thanks again !

P.S. Interesting that the 140 parked beside me yesterday for a photo op must be a sign !

Even in these airplanes, speed matters at least a little. You won't want to spend more than an hour in one without stopping. To most people, a fly-in breakfast 120 miles away is easy. To a guy in a Cub it's a big deal -- the kind of thing that makes you say, "I'll have to leave at 0600 to get there before the pancakes are cold. Meh. Maybe next time."

How far do you go to fly for food? Get an airplane that'll go that far in an hour or you'll start finding excuses not to go. When my Cub partnership fell apart, I bought a C140 for that reason.

Excellent point. The fartherest I fly the Mooney for a typical Saturday breakfast is 109 miles. Most are 60 miles or less. All kinds of little mountains and sparsely populated areas 20 - 40 miles away. I'm at the south end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Which airplane do you like best for just tooling around and hitting a few grass strips ?