Sharp ride Tom. Those 180s and 185s with big engines are awesome. One of the most impressive things that I ever witnessed in aviation was a max effort take off in a hopped up 185 owned by Tommy Rose (who later lost his life in a Questair Venture at the Reno Air Races). Tommy took off from this grass strip in Mississippi at an independence day fly-in. He rolled about 300' before pitching up to a rediculous climb angle that looked from my vantage point to be nearly 45 degress nose up. He clawed his way to about three or four hundred feet like that, then leveled off and accelerated down the length of the runway which was probably about 3000'. At the far end of the strip, he pulled up into a perfect immelman that must have topped out at around 1000'! I don't know how much fuel was on board but there were two full sized men in there. He didn't even loose a foot of altitude when he rolled upright on top. He also ran somewhere between 210 and 225 mph in the Sun-N-Fun "Sun 60" air race in the same plane.

+1
By the time you find a C170B with 180 hp conversion you have the price of a C180. Thats when Cessna had it right.
One other option is a Maule, look for a 235 Lycoming.

Tom could you tell us some of the performance numbers of this plane?

Here is my 1980 C185, 300 hp IO 550 conversion, Mac 401 86" prop. It cruise at 140 kts with the cargo pod, wing ext and 800 tires. 1600 ibs useful load. A C185 as 3350 GW or 3525 with wing ext. Flies like a dream, fully IFR with G430W / Stec 55X / Sandel 3308 HSI. Flies exactly 1/2 the speed of the TBM on 1/4 the fuel.

I have about 500 hours in a 170.

They are not cheap.

A "good" 170 will cost you about $50,000.

That's what I sold mine for.

A nice 170 with the 180 HP upgrade will be $75,000.

My 170B model, with the Continental O-300, 145 HP engine was a a great two-place airplane, and a comple dog at at anything like near gross weight.

Having owned both, I can tell you that any model Bonanza or Deb that you can afford is money well spent.

I owned a stock 1953 Cessna 170B for ten years. A great airplane but, as several other posters have mentioned, with the 145hp engine is underpowered and really a two place machine. Additionally, I found the shoulder room to be somewhat narrow and I am not a large person. I flight planned for 9 gph with a tas of 105 knots. Only the B model had the large "Para-lift" flaps which are a definite plus. I think that '54 thru '56 year models would likely be the most desireable. Several engine conversions became available over the years with the 180 hp Doyn being one of the more popular ones. Performance is greatly enhanced especially, short field. Still, it is the forerunner to the C-172 and after flying a Bo will seem pretty slow if x-country is to be considered. I had previouusly owned a C-140 and before that, a C-120; I found the 170 much easier to fly and more comfortable than either of the others. Likewise, the Cessna 180/185 series seemed to be great improvement over the 170. Would suggest that you join and seek more info from the International Cessna 170 Association before zeroing in on that model.
Some desirables to look for would be 180 gear, solid axels, luggage door, pull handles, & alternator conversion. The C-145/O-300 series (except the O-300-D) did not have a vaccuum pump pad so gyros were driven by externally mounted venturis. Almost forgot, there was an Airborne belt driven conversion but, haven't seen too many of these. Would also check for particular areas that might have corrosion issues as the last of these were manufactured in 1956. All this being said, the only thing wrong with my Bo is that Walter put tailwheel on the wrong end!

If you think you are going to have time to do anything after the twins get here you are kidding yourself. Mine turn 5 in Oct. Raising them was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. They started to get easier around 3 but it's a handful. The first few months are really bad. Good luck.

Cool thanks Mark!

Any trail-dragger will do. The 170 is light and nice. Some later 180/185 are heavier on the controls.

This is Clements old 170 when I flew it to OSH and the 170 convention.
My first grass runway landing.


Trinidad, CO (has big planes...?)


Whiskey pass, Westbound, real early.


at...

I would also like to recommend the Pacer as a suitable candidate for your mission and price point. You can probably find a good one for less than a comparable 170 and they are fun to fly. Nothing wrong with a 170 or early 180, though.

Regards,

Bob

If you are looking at 40k you could buy a Debonair. I was looking at Stinson but ended up with the Deb. I toy with the idea of selling mine but I don't know that I can swing a bigger a/c so I'm trying to love the plane I'm with.
Russell

Thanks again for the input everyone. This one isn't meant to be a super capable traveling machine for me, just something fun and somewhat economical for me to take up VFR and enjoy the fun of flight. Burger runs, fly-ins, and occasional runs to Dallas and Lubbock to see friends. There's a great flying club at my home drome that I used to be a part of and that probably makes more sense, but as many of you know it's just not the same as owning one with 2-3 flying buddies.

I'm planning to transition back to a Bonanza when the kids are a little older and can start enjoying family trips. Most of the guys I'm approaching as potential partners have other, more capable airplanes to travel in. That's why I'm looking at taildraggers. Fun planes for them with a lot of cool factor for the money, and a good plane for me to go up in on the rare occasions that I can fly with little ones at home taking up most of my time.

I do like the piper pacers as well, but have found a few nice 170B models in the 35-40amu range that look like nice candidates. Still working on the exact partner arrangement too, so nothing is set in stone at this point.

Transition back?

There are a lot of Bonanzas in the 40k range (some in the 20k range). Airworthy and flyable right now.

Our daughters are 3 years apart. We got the A36 right before the oldest turned 4.

We traveled as a family everywhere in that airplane. Still do 22+ years later.

Before then we had a '78 Piper Arrow III and we traveled long distances in that as well. My children were passengers within weeks of being born. They have always flown, as long as they can remember.

When they were young it was for trips to see the Grandparents, Disneyland, San Diego, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc.

For the most part short and very comfortable.

They tend to sleep a lot in the airplane; nothing wrong with that.

170's, 180's, Pacers, etc. are all good. I'm a fan of airplanes.

But when it comes to traveling it's hard to beat a Bonanza. Lots of bargains out there right now.....

Good luck.

If you think you are going to have time to do anything after the twins get here you are kidding yourself. Mine turn 5 in Oct. Raising them was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. They started to get easier around 3 but it's a handful. The first few months are really bad. Good luck.

I agree, Jim. Definitely some bonanzas out there that would fit the bill. The main reason I'm looking at going this route is because of the friends I have who are interested in being partners on a taildragger. They've already got serious travel planes, so they're not interested in a Bo at the moment. Given my limited time to fly and manage a partnership, I'm leaning towards the best partners rather than the best plane at this time. If the group doesn't solidify and I'm out looking for strangers as partners, I'll probably hold off for a while and then it'll be on a bargain 35 model.

Scott & Kevin - Good to see that you guys survived the experience. I've got an awesome bride and a small army of support staff within 30min of my house with 3 sets of grandparents and 4 sisters/cousins for whom these will be the first little ones. I'm optimistic that this will afford me some flying time. I'm also aware that I may be delusional, but I've got to hang on to something