The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I agree with Russ. Wings look metalized. Restoration to complete original looks to me to be the only reason to even think about buying it, and the metalized wings would just be too much to consider. If a guy had a burning desire for a massive project, a low ball bid might be in order. If you want an airplane to fly, don't even think about it.
If you're thinking about a flyer, you can buy Don Harrells beautiful '55 B model for less than you'll wind up in restoring this airplane. His is full IFR too, including LOC and GS. Asking price is $55,000.

blueldr wrote:..., you can buy Don Harrells beautiful '55 B model ...

Don Harrell... now THAT's a pleasant memory! A true gentleman and good-fellow.

And a helluva nice airplane too.

blueldr wrote:And a helluva nice airplane too.

Is it listed/posted/pictured somewhere?

Don Harrells airplane is listed for sale in the Trademart Forun under my name as a contact. I don't have a picture of it and I don't know how to post one anyway. I guess if it was really necessary I could get some pictures one way or another. This economy is certainly not condusive to rapid aircraft sales so I haven't done much more than let it be known that it's available.

Well BL you know if you or Don came up with a few pictures and sent them to George or me, we'd scan them and post them were they need to be.

True you'd think the economy would preclude folks from buying airplanes. But doesn't seem to be the case. We've had a flurry of folks looking to buy recently. True airplanes aren't selling for what they were but those sellers willing to adjust a little will sell their plane. It is very much a buyers market though.

A little more info on the original plane in this thread. I talked to the sellers representative today and he said the wings are still fabric covered. That suction gauge that Russ mentioned is a fuel pressure gauge which is required equipment on a 48. He said the plane has been in an open hangar which faces South up untill about a week ago. As of today I could not get permission to land at the private strip because of soggy conditions. I have to call back the morning of the sale. Since the field has been sod for years I have a hard time imagining it would be a problem but I will be surprised if he grants permission. I will take some more pics and report back to you guys if I go. Bill K

Bill, if it looks like you'll fly out give me a call and maybe I'll join you and share the expense. The sale starts mid afternoon so unless the airplane sells first I can't afford to wait for it to actually sell because I need to be at work by 6:00.

On the other hand if I drive might you want to join me?

Here's the pics from the other website...just to ease the conversation about it.

Bruce I will talk to you friday morning. You are welcome to ride up with me. I could likely pick you up in Quakertown or Limerick if that helps. I need to see if theres a way to get from York to New Oxford if this fellow won't let us land at New Oxford. He seems to be quite concerned that the field will be too soft. I have been into some quite soft sod before without any problems but he has the advantage of actually seeing the condition of the field which I don't. I will keep you posted. If I drive I could pick you up in York as I would go right past the airport. According to the Lancaster Farming paper the sale starts at 2:30 and will be quite short. Bill K

OWD WULLEY HESA FERGOT THAT DUSSY OLE PLAIN AN HESA FIR SHORE SLOBBRIN BOUT THAT SLIK LIL JEEP MEBE HESA GIT BRUCE TU BID A BUK ER 2

Well just a quick report. First Bill Kelsall (3958v) and I flew out to York PA in his very nice '48. We drove over to the farm in the airports courtesy car that Bill had arranged. Brad meet us there.

The plane is about what it looks in the pictures. It needs a total strip down and inspection. The engine in my opinion needs an overhaul. It has what might be the original fabric but at the least the fabric does not appear to be Ceconite (Dacron cloth) so it is probably some type of cotton. If you wanted a project to dump twice what the finished aircraft would be worth, this looked like an excellent start. It was original to the max to include a Scott 3-24B tail wheel. The pancake mufflers looked new under the crud. The original door gaskets were intakes and very serviceable. The door latch mechanism worked flawlessly with no slop, no detectable wear.

The interior though is absolutely original and in nearly perfect considering it's age. Ok the headliner was moth eaten but it is 63 years old. The interior is green, not blue as it looks in the pictures from the auction site. All the carpet matches and is in pretty good shape. The aluminum heel protectors are nearly perfect. The center plexi had one minor flaw in the painted back ground that most wouldn't see. All of the fuse holders and switches are in original and in position. The two large decals on the raised panels are yellowed which is why they look so dark. It was simply amazing to look at and Bill and I had a hard time taking out eyes off of it and taking pictures of everything.

It was well worth the expense of the trip to see this plane. And I guess about 60 other folks thought the same thing. This was not a big auction. The entire thing took about 45 minutes start to finish. There was very little else for sale with maybe the exception of a very beat and rusted 50s Willy's Jeep to sell.

So after starting the bidding at $15K the auctioneer finally got a bid at $3500. It moved pretty quick to near $5000 when the bidding died. But a late bidder then took it to $6300 and dropped out with the winning bid being $6400. I think there were only 4 people who placed a bid out of the crowd there.

I'm at work as I type and will post pictures in a few days.

Bruce:
Thanks for the update and thanks for documenting it. Can't wait to see some good photos.
Dan

The only thing I might add is that the plane had a bullet hole in one side and a scar on the other side where it failed to exit. I found it interesting because the interior side panels matched the fabric patern and stiching that are on my plane except for the color. The color was different because the original trim color of this plane was green Due to this very unfortunat fact I had to abstain from bidding I guess you had to say that for a plane that had sat for 25 years it really was in pretty nice shape. Bill K

OK...so... lesseeenow....

$6400 purchase, plus $hipping it home, plus $15K for an engine ovhl, $5K-$7K for paint $1K interior work, $3K-$5K for basic radios, and $5K for the wing recover/rebuild, plus $2K for an annual with deferred maintenance issues... and if the instruments still work (that T&B at least is shot and probably the pitot/static/altimeter/tach too)...makes this an easy $41,000 airplane by the time it shows up flying anywhere....ASSUMING nothing shows up during rebuild like cracked crankcase/sump/crankshaft or corroded wing-spar carry-thru or other wing internal issues... then another $5K can easily be added making it a $46,000 ragwing..... then that plexiglass probably needs replacement which is another $1500, and carb/generator is another $2K....and if those pancakes don't pass...toss in another $2K plus....can you imagine a $50,000 ragwing...?

But if done-up right...it could be an Oshkosh Winner..