Want To Buy 1957 Cessna 172, price?

Dayron Nunez

Dayron Nunez

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Dayron N.
Hi folks

I'm trying to buy my first aircraft and of course thought of the beloved C172, it will fulfill my mission although there are version that will do it better or worse.
I have one aircraft that has been offered to me from someone I know, and I would like to incline towards that one but don't feel 100% sure just yet , I wanted to do some research about prices and conditions, since I don't want to let the fact that I know the prev owner be a part of the decision.

If you guys can help me to get an idea about price and if I should do it or not, it would be great. I know that there are many many factors involved and an accurate value is kind of impossible but an estimation will work. We have not talked about a dollar figure yet but I know it will be less than $20K

Just in case: I'm a private pilot with about 160hr total time, and working on mi Instrument rating right now.

The aircraft on deal is: 1957 Cessna 172 (straight tail) Basic VFR only

Instruments: Airspeed, Altimeter, V speed, Compass, Turn Coord
Engine Gauges: Oil press, Oil temp, Tach, Amps
Fuel Gauges
Transponder KT76A (classic simple one)
Radio (only Comm 1) Icom IC-A220 (Digital-New recently installed)

AC total time says 2600 (not sure how reliable that is indeed (doing some extra research on it)
Eng 280 SMOH
Prop 900 SPOH
Engine Continental O-300
Aircraft flew only 110hr in the last 2 years

Exterior and Interior I would say about 7/10

The interior is actually very nice and looks good, just the panel looks old and has a couple cracks at the bottom, but seats, doors and ceilings are in very good condition.
Exterior is painted in plain silver color, nothing fancy, not pretty but ok.

I know he is expecting less than $20K for this ac, but I'm not sure how much is about right and I've been asked to put in an offer that I consider ok

Any ideas?
 
110 hrs in 2 years doesn't sound as bad as many I've seen listed here. Are you planning to pursue that IR in this plane? If so you are going to sink some $$$ into getting it ready. I just did a solo 346 NM flight with a headwind at 7500' in my similar 172 yesterday. For my mission, it works just fine but it is slow. Are you and a pax (if any) OK with that? IOW, are you sure this plane meets your mission?
 
I'm ok with its range and speed, I will rent to finish the IFR in a better equipped Aircraft, and the idea is to use this one for time building, and XC flights with friends, of course I would love an IFR aircraft, but it is not super needed for me, I'm not going to be flying into bad WX with a 172 even if it is IFR, although it would give the option to go and land if it gets bad en-route, but I'm planing on flying to good wx or with good alternates at all times anyway.
 
The O-300 Continental is the least powerful engine in its class. Other, newer 172's came with 150, 160, & 180 hp motors. I bring this up because you will need to consider its (lack of) performance when flying with friends and/or in high DA situations. It's a compromise a/c but it does have decent range when lightly loaded & leaned. It also has six cylinders which provide a smooth running motor but there's the care & feeding of two more cylinders to consider.
 
A 172 is a great rental, but buying one? Meh
If you're really going to go 172, I'd want 180hp and /G panel at minumum

That 0-300 is probably the worst engine option for the 172.

For your price range, depending on your payload, I'd look at a nice C120/140, maybe a S108 or a 7AC or cheif
 
A 172 is a good all around airplane. I have owned a bunch of different stuff and the 172 still gets flown a bunch. I have a V35B to fly anytime I want. For short hops the 172 is more fun to fly and less pain to deal with. Mine is a 1973 with 150 hp.
I like the older O-300's, nice smooth engine.
 
The guy is talking less than 20k here! An O300 172 is perfect for cheap time building and still having 4 seats. I'd much rather have that than a 150. 180hp and /G is gonna cost double that.

The O300 does fine, we fly my uncle's in BC backcountry at 3300 msl out of a 2k dirt strip with a load and it does great. Just get to know what it can and can't do...these airframes are lighter and performance may pleasantly surprise you.

For what the OP wants a sub 20k time builder sharing with friends this would be hard to beat.

Just watch the carb ice.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I do know mine pretty well: I've had it high, low, in/out of short strips, with a load, and on long XCs. It's a great airplane for what it is but James & Aggie Mike are right in that there's much more capable A/C available - just not at this price. If I could afford more AND needed more I would do something different, but yesterday I flew home 400 nms at 7500 MSL and she flew like a dream above a scattered layer. We did spot landing contests, nerf drops, and a 3 hr, 110 nm scavenger hunt the day before and she's just as much an airplane as the 182, the 150, and the Beechcraft that did the same.

It's true that a Piper (?) doing 150+ knots ran past me somewhere over Indiana but he got home something like 10 minutes ahead of me - not significant on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
 
I love my 59 straight tail. And the price sounds right.


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Hi Dayron.

It sounds to me like you have a realistic expectation of what you will do with the airplane. We had an O-300 in a 1968 C-172, and it was a good engine. At the price you are talking about, I would go for it.
 
I challenge you to find a 150/152 in that price range with that airframe and engine time (you probably won't). If nothing breaks (it is after all a 60 year old plane), it's a good 172 deal and you should be able to sell it for what you bought it for, or close to it. You'll be flying for free (plus fuel, insurance, hangar/tie down).
 
Yeah, don't hate on the 172, it's a good plane for a lot of missions. Unbeatable for some.
 
Thank you guys very much, it does help to read the comments, and kind of give me some security as to what I am trying to do, I am realistic and do know what the airplane is, I'v flown the new 172g1000 I've flown 182s and Diamond, I knot this has nothing to do with those, but I also flew older 172s and 150, this planes flies nice, and it did felt smooth on a test flight for 2hr, not huge engine, but it climb ok and flew ok at 6500 over the las vegas valley on a 107 F crazy hot afternoon.
I like that it seems to be affordable, and of course I would like to have a better equipped aircarft, but the price difference is very important, a 150 IFR is usually around 24k or more at least on Trade a plane.com, and just give a 2 seater or 1 and a half if you need full tank, this aircraft could use some improvement but can be done with time and still be able to build hours, I'm looking to get my commercial and my goal is to make an aviation career, I hope to eventually upgrade and get a bigger bird, but also think this one could help bust up the experience and frequently flying will definitely help me, rather than just been able to fly 1 or 2 hr a month on my local school, and some times I have to skip one month, cheaper ac in my local school is a 1970s C172 and goes for $145/hr, the C172 IFR goes for $165, and then a C182 or DA40 for around $210/hr
 
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Go for it man, an O-300 172 for under $20k if it all checks out fly the snot out of it and sell it for the same possibly more.

DA42 for $210/hr wet? dang that's pretty good...did you mean DA40?
 
HAHA yes man I mean DA40, I wish it was a 42 but that would be to nice to be true!
 
3 in the green said:
Go for it man, an O-300 172 for under $20k if it all checks out fly the snot out of it and sell it for the same possibly more.

DA42 for $210/hr wet? dang that's pretty good...did you mean DA40?
Click to expand...

This is what I did. I had a '56 with an O-300. I bought it for a bit over $20k (mine had a 430 non-waas in it). I flew it for a few years, then I got deployed. Prior to deployment I sold it for almost the exact same that I bought it for and used that money as a down payment on my Mooney (I was tired of slow and was okay with the same payload as the 172).
 
The O-300 is a bit of a pig, but boy is it smoooooooooooth.

Hard to go wrong with <$20K if the airframe/engine is otherwise solid.
 
I used to fly a couple of 0-300 powered late 50s 172s when I lived up high in New Mexico. They did very well with the "underpowered" engine and as noted its a smooth runner. The early 172s are light, easy to fly and seem to handle the lower power with no issues as long as you keep them in mind. I figure if I could fly one with a passenger or two and fuel from a 6001 foot high field it should be great down in the air. Costs are probably no more for maintaining these old continentals than for newer lycomings though parts may be harder to find. Any AD's are likely to have been issued long ago and complied with and I don't think you can go wrong for the money.

Frank
 
BiffJ said:
I used to fly a couple of 0-300 powered late 50s 172s when I lived up high in New Mexico. They did very well with the "underpowered" engine and as noted its a smooth runner. The early 172s are light, easy to fly and seem to handle the lower power with no issues as long as you keep them in mind. I figure if I could fly one with a passenger or two and fuel from a 6001 foot high field it should be great down in the air. Costs are probably no more for maintaining these old continentals than for newer lycomings though parts may be harder to find. Any AD's are likely to have been issued long ago and complied with and I don't think you can go wrong for the money.

Frank
Click to expand...

Most parts are easy, it's just an "extended" O-200.
There are a few parts that are scarce, but they normally are only a concern during an overhaul.
 
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