Warbird Information Exchange

Now there are two guys nickel & dimeing it with $250 increases when there's still a day & a half to go. No point in bidding until the last 5 minutes.

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

Any WIX'ers in IL? MegaMillons hit last night, one winner. Second chance tonight for you PowerBallers.

There's a lot to like about this airplane. One, it's "all there." Or at least appears to be. Two, it is registered in the Limited category; that's a plus. 3) It has tons of original items that typically were stripped out. It has the gun ports, drop tanks, shackles, all the doors and stuff that goes in the gun bays. Has the original radio racks, etc. 4) It is not a crash, partial project, or recently pulled out of a jungle. It will have corrosion and other damage but it's not a "pattern aircraft." Does that spare engine go with it?
What did that P-51 that Connie Edwards have for sale last year sale for? Would this be a comparable sale? Look at the COrsair project that just sold on Courtesy Aircraft. We all love Corsairs but it's easy to see this would be an easier project than that F4U-1A Corsair which is in boxes and loose parts.

No, the extra engine is being auctioned on its own. $16,000 so far:
http://www.cwsauctions.com/lots/1211330/detail

And this P-51 has not flown much in civilian ownership either. As far I can remember from talking to Ken back some 20+ years ago, he never flew the plane. It might have flown for a Torrance open day/ airshow by someone else around 1972. Jim Keichline flew it approx. 10hrs during the years he had it, and Lake Air Corp. very likely didn't fly it much either. This was another company Al Alson (Aero Enterprises) ran around the same time Aero went bust.

T J

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Make my day, punk!

I agree. A great project to start with all the bits. No matter who wins, 15% goes to CWS and another 9% to LA County, plus $750k for full resto. If the provo were there, then $600-$700k seems reasonable. My .02

PC

This particular airframe was originally auctioned off by the US government into the civilian market at the McClellan AFB auction of 1947 (just one of 75 ex-ANG F-51D's at this particular auction). According to the Summer 2008 magazine issue of Mustangs by Warbirds International, with 1,283 total hours on the airframe and 376 total hours on the engine at the time of the auction, it sold for $867.

Just four serial numbers away, here is what the airframe would have looked like when new from the Dallas factory in mid 1945 (all the same hardware/configuration details): http://mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/?image ... 863/5151/3

$411,750 with less than an hour to go...

WOW, what a horse race to the finish .....................

You win the pool!

Guess we'll know the new owner soon...

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Plus the 15% buyer's premium takes it pretty close to $1m

Not a done deal yet. It looks like LA County Court needs to approve the final bids ?

Right, just like they do with houses.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Regardless of what you might have read on Facebook....unfortunately, my brother and I didn't buy it.

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Does anyone know the new owner, and where it's going? There aren't many "cheap mustangs" out there. I remember a friend and his dad came to Nashville a couple years ago to look at the P-51 project owned at that time by Pony Maples. What was there was really nice but it had SO much missing. I think the asking price was $600k at that time. His dad, a former P-51 owner told him the days of buying a project on less than a rich man's budget were over." His dad had bought a flier for $90K and sold it for around $485K way back when.