It will probably cost close to the advertised price to buy a flyable C-150, add a reman engine, add a glass panel, refurbish the interior and paint (including corrosion proofing the aluminum), adding all new wingtips, elevator, etc., (the plastic parts), adding strobes, modern engine instruments, etc. and turn around and make 10% 0r 12% for your efforts.
We will have to probably spend $4 or $5 thousand just to add ADS-B to ours.
We own a C-150, our second plane. Our first was a C-172. Neither of these is really a cross country machine, if that is what a person is looking for. But, I can tell you from personal experience that the 200 T hangars at our airport have quite a few cross country machines in them that spend 99% of the time sitting. A C-182 that I know of for sure flew 25 hours last year. Based on conversations with my mechanic, that is not uncommon. Burning 12-15 gallons an hour or more of $6 fuel soon starts wearing on an owner, or so it seems. The 150 we have now, I can fly an hour for about $30 for fuel. The 172 was about $54. A 182 is probably about $72 or more. I think when people start having to write checks, that they decide maybe they need to mow the yard or do something else rather than go flying. Especially if most of the flying is for proficiency/fun, as for most owners it is.
Contrary to a lot of the posters here, I don't think AOPA's idea is such a bad one. Better to do something, even if it is wrong, than do nothing and sit by and wring your hands bemoaning how GA is going down the tubes.
