Thorp Air Command - T18.net

I'm guessing that many of us have already seen this T-18 in Trade-a-Plane, but the thing that struck me was the asking price - $59,900.

"ENGINE: LYCOMING 0-360 AID, 180 hp, S/N L-1791-36.
PROPELLER: Hartzell Constant Speed, Model HC-F2YR-IF, S/N CM12223B
The Thorp has always been and is now kept in a heated hanger at the Kenosha, Wisc. Regional Airport (ENW)."

https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?ca ... e=aircraft

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

I guess that you are commenting on the listing price. If this is so, the asking price is whatever the owner feels it is worth not necessarily the buyers.

Just as in real estate sales, the listing price is often way more than what the market is willing to pay. All you need to do is look at Trade A Plane or Barnstormers, the prices of experimental and commercial planes have gotten IMHO, way out of hand. Don't really understand why, but until the buyers say "enough", the cost of purchasing a plane will continue to be high, sometimes obscenely so...

Seems pretty reasonable considering the going price of an RV7

If I read the Ad correctly it appears a AC broker/seller is selling the AC not the owner . It would be interesting to see exactly how much it goes for ? Much like Cal Worthington and his dog Spot selling cars !

RB

I hope they get it. Our planes have been undervalued for years. I've seen many planes go for equal to, or less than the price of the engine alone.
Cubes

Ain't that the truth ! We sold John Kerr's T-18 for 24K . I told prospective buyers if they bought the engine I would throw in the rest of the plane !

RB

took the words outta my mouth.

Anyone thinking of buying that aircraft needs to do a very thorough AD search on that prop. I see 8 ADs, 7 of which deal with failures, hub cracks and blade separations. It is possible none of them apply to this prop but if any do it will be expensive to fix.

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

I mentioned a couple of years back or so that I thought my Thorp was worth $50ks and someone in the forum literally had a cow. I agree that the price is typically set by the seller. If buyer wishes to pay more, then, more power to the seller. Hope he gets it.

What ever the market will bare . I suppose if I had a "Bag-o-Crap" I could find at least one person out of the 7 billion on this planet to pay my asking price if they were really in love with it and had to have it !

RB
Distant Cousin of PT Barnum

That's right Rich.

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In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day
NX18DD

That's right Rich.

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In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day
NX18DD

Thanks Don...remember I am always right at least 50% of the time !

RB

This may or may not have merit but, for me, what brought me to the Thorp is the market value. If you are comparing the RV series against the Thorp I am afraid the Thorp comes up short. Performance is pretty close but even the S-18 is narrower than the RV-7. The entire RV line has had continuous support from the same people since the beginning. I can order something from Van's and have it in hand the next week. The Thorp simply does not have that kind of backing. In fact, the T-18 rights changed hands a while back and I still haven't seen anything about it other than a post I made in a different thread. Last but not least, RVs are everywhere so help in person is plentiful. Don't get me wrong, I love my Thorp (treating it to electronic ignition next week) but I think the market is what it is for good reason.

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Thorp T18
O-320-B3B (160 HP)
68x74 Sterba Propeller

"The joke in aviation is, 'If you want to make a million, you'd better start with £10m.' " -Bruce Dickinson

I agree that the Thorp doesn't have the kind of backing that RV's do - but do we need a factory for that? Is the PROBLEM and price differential due to builder support? I buy my hardware from Aircraft Spruce, and that's fine. I doubt that Cubes wants to keep that kind of little stuff in inventory anyway. But, when I needed some Thorp-specific part like rubber gear shocks, he's had them and the price was great. I wouldn't care to take the time to source elsewhere. I have no idea who has the rights to the Thorp, but I don't really care. I just care that if bend my gear or crack my canopy that I can call someone who will source them and get the parts shipped out as soon as they can. Being a new owner of a used Thorp, I don't really feel at much of a disadvantage. Having Cubes and the other folks on this Forum available to us helps keep all our planes' value higher.

I'm telling ya, I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS YEARS AGO. If I would have known that I could get this much aircraft for not a whole lot of money, I would have been paying attention long ago. I know of several others who wish they had a Thorp. Perhaps the SOLUTION is to encourage and educate people on the T/S-18 mission and create a virtual sales/support program and formalize it. We could standardize how used Thorps are listed, provide pre-condition inspection checklists, describe how support is handled, define what parts are sourced where, and maybe publicize this new program in articles and at SNF and Oshkosh. All it might take to start is a downloadable information packet on the Thorp. Just a theory, but interest and safety should increase, Cubes and others would have a more viable support business and resale values may increase. Just some thoughts. There is so much available in this Forum, we would just have to package it. FAQ's, POH, W&B, electrical schematics, equipment lists, etc, are all here but it takes months to find them from what I see.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)