The International Cessna^® 170 Association

First of let me say hello to all the members and thank you for any help that you might give me! I have just joined your forum to get some info on my stepdad's plane, which is a 1948 Cessna 170A tail dragger. He love's his plane and everything about flying but he has come down with some sort of brain disorder and is no longer able to fly. The disorder is affecting his short term memory and the doctors can't seem to figure it out. They just know that it's not alzheimers. Anyways the thing is his plane is currently dismanteled......the wings and rear flaps/rudder are off of it. He took the plane out of the sky about 7-8 years ago to paint it and never got around to finishing it. Now with the memory problems it doesn't look like he will be able to fly again.

Here's what I know........

*Fuselage has fresh dark green paint on it. The whole thing was stripped to bare metal, coated with self etching primer, and painted with PPG paint.

*Engine ran great and all maintance records are avaliable(he was actually a inspector for Air Wisconsin and did annuals for other guys with planes like his(can't remember what that's called)).

*Instruments are original and I am pretty sure they all worked

*Wings are not painted

*95% of the plane is there, may just need a few odds and ends to put it back together.

Now my question is.......Is it worth it for my Mother and me to have it finished being painted and have it reassembled OR should we sell it as is? My Mother would just like to be able to get the most out of it so that they can pay off some the the bills accumulating from the doctors!

Let me know if there is anything else that would help with an estimate on it's value!


Thanks again Guys and Girls!


Guy

Guy,

You have caught a lot of us at our annual 170 convention and so I imagine the forum is a bit slow which is why there has been no response to your question.

Assigning a value to something unseen is extremely difficult. And before that could even be attempted there is a bit of basic information we will need.

You have given us conflicting information. Is your fathers airplane a 1948? I ask that because you say it is a 170A model but A models were not made in 1948. They were manufactured from 1949 to 1951.

There is one easy way to determine this. If the wing has two struts on each wing it's a 48. If it has one strut per wing then it's an A model. B models also only have one strut per wing but you seem to think this is an early 170.

What we need to absolutely determine the year and model is the serial number and you can find that on the metal data plate on the pilot door jam.

Regardless of the year I would think it would be best to sell the plane as it is. This might not bring the highest price but it has the least amoutn of risk. I think it is very likely you and or your mother will spend much much more than you can recoup from the sale after your done.

I would suggest you talk to your fathers flying buddies. They likely know the plane a bit and may have the best idea of it's value in its current state.

It must be a 1949 then. It only has one strut going to the wings. My mom is contacting some people that put planes like this back together to get an estimate on the labor involved to reassemble but not paint it.

Thanks so far!

Guy

Guy, Bruce gave you good words. There is an explanation for the confusion regarding the year-of-mfr of your father's airplane.... The FAA often confused "model year" with "manufactured year". If a 1949 Cessna 170-A left the assembly line in November of 1948.... the FAA would call it a 1948 model, even tho' Cessna made it with all the features of the 1949 A-model, which it actually is. (Just like automobile makers.... Cessna produced the next year's models and presented them for sale a bit early in the Fall of the previous year.... but FAA was just hard-headed about it.) That is why SERIAL NUMBER is the important data on any aircraft.

Although significant variations in value usually occur between similar aircraft (largely due to CONDITION), a method of determining BASIC value might be to consult an aircraft appraisal program such as:
http://www.trade-a-plane.com/naaa