CoastieJohn wrote:
There hasn't been any bidders. $369K maybe a little too steep. Even with the Fantasy Island fame, is it worth it?
Edit: Got this in the inbox a bit ago from someone who I sent the EBay link to.
N4453 has Assigned/Multiple Records
Aircraft Description
Serial Number: 31
Manufacturer Name: GRUMMAN
Model: SCAN TYPE 30
Type Aircraft: Fixed Wing Multi-Engine
Type Engine: Reciprocating
Pending Number Change: None
Dealer: Yes
Date Change Authorized: None
Mode S Code (base 8 / oct) 51257761
MFR Year: 1967
Mode S Code (base 16 / hex): A55FF1
Type Registration: Corporation
Fractional Owner: NO
It's French built. Machine is a SCAN 30, or more commonly known as a F-r-o-g Widgeon. Wrong engines, wrong props, wrong windshield, and priced way tooooooooooooo high.
In typical FAA style - it's OK for them to frack up the details on official documents such as registrations, but not any of us...
Of course the "manufacturer" was not "
Grumman" which was the original designer & type certificate holder; the actual manufacturer - defined as who actually "built" the airplane in question (as CJ kinda noted) was "
SCAN" - aka
S.C.A.N. - i.e.
Societe' Construction Aero-Navales - translated loosely as "Society for the Construction of Sea Planes"
Also, "
1967" was not its
date of mfg. but probably really only its date of original airworthiness certification in the US - not the same thing by a longshot but a common mistake in the "amateur" aviation community; all of the SCAN (mfg.) Type 30 (model) Widgeons were originally manufactured before 1955 - it's just that most of them were disassembled, crated, and stored because they were unable to find any buyers. 10-15 years later, many of them ended up being sold in the US and finally were re-assembled (too often with substitute engines such as these Lycoming R-680 radials) and certified under the Grumman Widgeon TC (
A-734) which per
Note 5 requires that they be identified as follows:
"Each aircraft shall have a fireproof nameplate installed. The nameplate should include the following data:
Manufactured by
Societe' Construction Airo-Navales,
under license to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation;
Model : SCAN Type 30;
Serial Number; as applicable;
Date of manufacture; as applicable;
Type Certificate No. 734."
To date, I have yet to see or even hear about even one French-built SCAN Type 30 Widgeon being properly identified with such a data tag per the requirement of TCDS A-734 Note 5.
General rule of thumb with Widgeons, although many have been wrecked or otherwise rebuilt using parts from various other models to confuse their identity, officially speaking, if the serial number is...
from
1200 to
1400, it is a
Grumman model G-44 (or former
USCG model J4F-1 or
USN model J4F-2) made during the war (WWII that is);
from
1401 to
1476, it is a
Grumman model G-44A built after the war, and
from
1 to
41, it is a French-built
SCAN Type 30 actually manufactured sometime between 1949 and 1952.