Your posts have J-3 written all over them. The market is full of nice Cubs right now, take advantage and go have some fun in the most basic flying machine ever made.

A Cub or Champ with electric start, but that's well beyond your 20k budget. For <20, I'd look for a Cessna 120/140 or a Cub/Champ with a partner.

OTOH, that Stinson looks awfully nice, especially at the price.......hard to buy just one.

That Stinson is awesome and great hours too but 10gph and 1200'TO and 690' landing seems a long way from a Cub/Champ. Partners would be lined up for the Stinson !

What are real numbers for the Cub/Champ ? 5gph and TO ? Landing ?

Straight wing 170 or 170A. Mid to high $20K will yield a nice airframe. Visibility can't be beat.

A local guy here is selling half a share of his pacer for $10k.

http://n9601d.weebly.com/

I recently purchased a 1965 Champion 7ECA (Citabria). This is the early one with Continental O-200 (100 hp) engine, the "no bounce" gear, and the wooden spar. Yes, there is an AD for annual inspection of that spar, but this one was never an aerobatic trainer, and the wing spar inspection was clean. Honestly, most Citabria pilots seem to prefer the wood wing because it gives a better "ride" and is more forgiving.

I purchased the plane for a price well within your budget. But I admit that I shopped Barnstormers, Controller, ASO, and Trade-a-Plane daily for many months before finding this one less than 100 miles from my home. She's not a show-plane by any means, but is an honest, airworthy airplane with a less than mid-time engine that's been flown very regularly (over 150 hours last year).

I just got my tailwheel endorsement in the plane, and had an absolute blast doing so. I chose the "early" 7ECA specifically because they are typically a good bit lighter than the later ones (with O-235) engines, and have better useful load. Mine weighed in at 1038 lbs when we weighed it as part of the pre-buy/annual. With a gross weight of 1650, that leaves 612 lbs for pilot, pax, baggage, and fuel. My CFI and I together weigh 505 lbs, so we can still carry 18 gallons of fuel (burn a 1/2 gallon taxiing out), which comes to well over 3 hours of flight time.

Yeah, she's a little slow, and gross weight climb performance is a bit anemic in our 100*F summers, but I can "fast-cruise" at 95 mph TAS (~5.3 gph), or back off a bit to burn less gas, and still get ~90 mph TAS (~4.5 gph). If I fly somewhere with my friend and his CH-750, I have to slow to 85 mph or so, at which point I'm burning about 4 gph. With a total usable fuel capacity of 39 gallons, it would definitely be a "bladder-buster"...

And all that "blazing" performance is without the wheel pants... She should pick up another 5 mph with those installed. Might even be true a "100-mph cruise" airplane once the pants go back on!

I'm a big guy, and absolutely cannot get in and out of a J3 Cub... I'll admit that it took a few "practice sessions" before I got the hang of getting in and out of the Citabria, but now it's pretty easy - just have to follow the right sequence of moves. Once in, it's a comfortable plane - plenty of elbow room, even for my "wider than average" frame... The back seat is a lot easier to get in and out of, but this plane solos from the front seat.

I'm very happy with the plane, and having a blast flying it. Winds are crazy right now, or I'd be out flying instead of BeechTalking... Dawn and dusk patrol when it's cooler in the summer is my plan.

Good luck with your choice!

With broad shoulders, a Taylorcraft, Luscombe and Chief are all going to really cramped when flying a passenger around. I think you'll find that going tandem for comfort and visibility and also sticking to your guns with the $20k budget puts you in the Champ, 7ECA Citabria, or Cub price range.

Of those choices at $20k or less, the Champ will be the nicest and the Cub will be the most "run-of-the-mill"... The Citabria will have the most creature comfort and electric start standard.

Don't forget most of these planes can have either a cruise prop or a climb prop. Some guys have one of each and a third prop that is pitched somewhere in between.

Might suggest avoiding the Luscombe, unless you're very adept with tricky tailwheel airplanes.

Neat little airplane, if you can handle that aspect of it!

Where are they? I have a kid working here who is looking for his first tailwheel plane. I would like to see him get something like a 170 that he could still use for travel and to finish up his instrument (even if he has to add a KX-155 with GS to make it possible). His funds are what you would expect of a kid and most of the 170s that we have found are in the 30's. The only ones we can find in the 20s are disassembled in the back of a barn.

I absolutely loved my little 8A with the "big engine" A-75. They really are beautiful looking and flying planes. They are also extremely easy to maintain.

The problem with the Luscombe, for those not familiar, is that the landing gear is braced with flying wires. They are extremely strong when considering loads that cause the gear to be pulled in the outboard direction. Unfortunately, many have found out that wires don't handle compression forces very well and have folded the Luscombe gear with inboard acting forces. This was corrected with the later model "silflex" landing gear which is strong enough that it generally rips out the belly of the plane prior to failure.

As above. Where are the sub-20 Champs and Cubs?

There are about half a dozen flying Champs on Barnstormers that would probably follow you home if you offered the owner $20K. There is also one old military 65-TAC Champ for $16,500. My favorite of the bunch is probably this one. http://www.barnstormers.com/listing.php?id=1064441

Cubs are obviously a different story since they always command a premium. ‎Here's a J-5 for just over the limit. http://www.barnstormers.com/listing.php?id=1106792
This one is $23K and is about as close as you are likely to get. Neither of these cubs is what you would call "nice", but if you want a flying Cub for $20, this is what you get.

That J-5 is pretty rough. Where's the J-3 located?

The Cub is in Lake Providence, LA and is not really advertised. I think it and the J-5 are running neck and neck for fit and finish

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1511611 ... =available

Where are they? I have a kid working here who is looking for his first tailwheel plane. I would like to see him get something like a 170 that he could still use for travel and to finish up his instrument (even if he has to add a KX-155 with GS to make it possible). His funds are what you would expect of a kid and most of the 170s that we have found are in the 30's. The only ones we can find in the 20s are disassembled in the back of a barn.