150 C/S Decathlon for sale

See that shiny piece with the blue outline? They are sun guards, and have disintegrated, leaving little silver fragments on the seat and carpet. May vacuum them out when I get the incentive.

Also note the seat belts. Hooker in front, airline type in back.

Included the aileron shot, because as I understand it there is a new design aileron. Not sure these are they.

Also brought the logbooks home - have not reviewed them yet; feel free to ask questions.
 
I should mention - current list price for metal spar wings, two colors, plus ailerons, and not including shipping or crating, is now $40,550. They tell me I could pull the engine and get $7500 for it as a core, so long as the crank is ok. If I were younger and felt like fooling with it, I think I would be tempted to part it out. But really, engine IRAN and fuselage fabric would put this thing right on up there in the $70K range. If you are like Ed and can do fabric work while working full time and still be ready for contests, this one is a winner.
Of course if you go to the wrong spot for engine IRAN you might be looking at 50 grand for that - better to buy a factory engine.
If you cannot do most of the work yourself, you are way better off with a creampuff.
 
That interior looks in great shape. A little bit of vinyl cleaner on the seats would knock off the dust and bring back the shine.
 
I have the logs. Only damage history was hail damage to the old wings. Metal spar wings installed in 1998.
Surprise! Tires stayed pumped up overnight. Gyro instruments have less than 200 since overhaul. They might be electric - I shall look.

I will not have to post this on Barnstormers - there are four very serious potential purchasers, including the guy who did the last annual. I do not know if there are liens, but I suspect not. Mine came with four liens, and I managed to clear them myself, at no cost.

I must have seriously underpriced it. Battery will be tested/charged manana.
 
Sold. I had four serious suitors. I never quite got to Barnstormers, but I feel pretty good about the value I am transferring - I think it was priced correctly.
Battery came up to 28% on very sophisticated test equipment - so don't let your new $400 battery sit for long periods of time. Tires are still pumped up. Annual starts Tuesday.
 
Congrats. Not surprised at all that it sold so quickly. Very much a buyer's market. That airplane is a great find, especially with the metal wings. The cover and engine are relatively easy to deal with in a cost effective manner.
 
Ed asked sale price - $30 grand.
As I said above, I think it was worth 35, and had I taken the time and put it on Barnstormers for $40 it might have sold for that.
For newbies just entering the aircraft market this would have been a horrible deal. But for other locals with A&Ps, it would have been a bargain. It went to a guy who has a flying Cub, two antiques being restored, a mechanic apparently on his staff, and enough bucks that this won’t be a burden.
If you are not a mechanic, or inclined like our forumites to do your own work, always look for good structure, fabric, and recent engine overhaul by a reputable engine shop. Interiors are easy - do not judge an old aircraft by the instrument panel or the seat cushions. Buying that way (with the expensive parts already done) is the most cost-effective, if you are depending on mechanics you do not know.
There is a certain level of pain for us non-sales types. In this case it was related to my trying to be as fair as possible with all comers, while not letting anybody get burned with an aircraft beyond their ability. I would like to say I succeeded, but there are disappointed parties.
 
Well, I did help a friend, and she overcompensated me (I offered to do it all free). Then its new owner sounded like a good guy, so I tried to help him get it to its new home. There was some corrosion on the leading edge of one wing, approaching a linear 45% ( an ACA service bulletin says up to 50% is ok). So nobody would touch it Not one shop on the airport, and not even the guy working out of his trunk. I knew it was at least a safe aircraft, and that it had been well maintained except for sitting outside, so I pulled it over to my hangar, gave it a careful inspection, drained about two gallons of fuel with no evidence at all of contamination, signed it off (with the new owner's promise to re-annual it before it was flown again) test flew it, got a special ADS-B document for flying it through the LAX class B without ADS-B (easy), and delivered it to its new hangar. I got generously taken care of for that effort.

The only glitch - just above VNY the lady on approach control said "contact SoCal on 124 mblft." I said "124.2?" She said "Nom 124 mpvflt." I said "124.3?" We finally got there, but my fourth guess was correct. That is it! The thing purred like a kitten, and got me there in my flight planned time of exactly two hours. It did have a heavy wing, but that is not something most pilots would even notice - it just meant that I had to keep one finger on the stick.

Safely in a hangar, and one more potentially derelict airplane saved! Now it is on to that Taylorcraft L2.
 
This is probably the best place to add this -
Because of the leading edge corrosion (within limits per ACA) no shop would touch it. Even one of those traveling IAs who work out of a pickup truck backed out when he saw it.
I am careful about what I sign, but I thought I was on pretty solid ground - so rather than getting a ferry permit (which would subject me to exactly the same kind of liability) did the inspection myself, with the proviso that somebody else would sign it off when it got to its new home.
The IA who was going to do that decided against that, presumably because of the corrosion, so it is being disassembled.

The moral of the story - if you are buying, be sure your IA is happy with that service bulletin if you go for early metal spar wings. And of course, look out for those aluminum strut fittings! Yow!
 
Responded yesterday.
As you can see from the above, it lasted about a week -

But a caution: if you find an aircraft here or anywhere else that was advertised for sale a half year ago, and has not sold, either there is something seriously wrong with it, or it is way, WAY overpriced.
These days, good deals last about a day and a half.
 
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