New airplane owner!

Toby

Toby

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
1,068
Location
Long Island, NY
Display Name
Display name:
Toby Speed
Yes! :happydance: I am the proud new owner of a Cherokee 140. I am so happy I could burst!

I drove up to Newport today with my mechanic -- almost 5 hrs. by car and ferry as opposed to 45 minutes by airplane, but nothing we could do. We spent all day there while he probed and prodded and shined flashlights and unscrewed bolts and wrote lists of things. And read 39 years of logs. The upshot of this long, tiring day was that I had found a creampuff and that while he'd tried his best to find something important with which we could reduce the price, there was nothing unairworthy, no paperwork missing, and all in all it looked clean and well cared for. There are a bunch of things that do need to be addressed, but they are all routine maintenance matters. There is one lumpy "quick fix" that was done to the front of the cowling that needs to be redone to look better. The alternator belt should be replaced before long. Some small metal ringlike things in the engine (I don't know what they're called) are rusty and could be replaced. The compressions were 78-78-78-76.

I left a deposit, got a receipt, and tomorrow my mechanic and I are going back to Newport (this time by air!!), handing over the certified check, and he will fly my new Cherokee home while I fly the 172. I still have to get a tiedown, finalize my insurance, send in the registration application, etc., etc., etc......I am exhausted.

Here are a couple pics of N4150J for ya.

(p.s. I am double-posting this on AOPA, so no need to read it again.)
 
Toby,

She looks like a sweet bird.

Now you're gonna have fun!

:)
 
Toby said:
Yes! :happydance: I am the proud new owner of a Cherokee 140. I am so happy I could burst!
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Yay Toby!!!!!!!! Congratulations! You'll love it! I used to own a Cherokee 140 and had a lot of fun with it. Took a lot of people flying in it, including a whole bunch of Young Eagles. Made some long trips in it, too.

You need to fly it to Gaston's so we can see it!

Can you tell if it's a male or a female? Does it have a name yet?
 
Diana said:
Yay Toby!!!!!!!! Congratulations! You'll love it! I used to own a Cherokee 140 and had a lot of fun with it. Took a lot of people flying in it, including a whole bunch of Young Eagles. Made some long trips in it, too.

You need to fly it to Gaston's so we can see it!

Can you tell if it's a male or a female? Does it have a name yet?
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Thanks, Diana!

She's definitely a female. Have to think about a name.
 
Steve said:
A very Toby-esque looking plane.

Congratulation on the acquisition.

And yes, you must fly it to the fly-in. Then you'll find out if you really got a good deal.
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Thank you, Steve. I'll think about it. That airport is a little intimidating to me yet. :eek:
 
Toby,
I am just THRILLED for you, can't wait to see your beautiful bird in person! Congratulations!
Elizabeth
 
wsuffa said:
Toby,

She looks like a sweet bird.

Now you're gonna have fun!

:)
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Thanks, Bill. After my CFI checks me out in it, I am going to fly the outline of eastern Long Island.
 
EHITCH said:
Toby,
I am just THRILLED for you, can't wait to see your beautiful bird in person! Congratulations!
Elizabeth
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Thank, Eliz! I should be able to fly this up to CT in October. :)
 
Toby said:
Thank you, Steve. I'll think about it. That airport is a little intimidating to me yet. :eek:
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Toby, land at BPK and we'll all pile into Greg's 195 and fly over to see it!
 
Boo-yah, Tobes!

I have always loved the 140, always seems to have a happy "face" (if you knowwhat I mean); sort of a perfect personal plane.

Cannot wait to snag a ride from the grassy-gassy-green in Arkansas.

Anyone remember what Gordon Baxter did to "mark" his Mooney as his own when he bought it? Well, if you do the same, do *not* take photos!

Happy, happy, happy for you!

P.S.- Celia says, "GREAT!" Big grin, my hot chick representin' for the NY team.

/s/ Spike
 
Thanks, Beth, and John!

And Spike, and Celia! Really, I don't know about making a thousand-mile trip in this, but we'll see. It could be fun, though.
 
Congratulations Toby, I know you're going to love this even if it costs more than it should (just don't count it).

BTW, if I were you I'd find a Cherokee savvy CFI to accompany me and let the mechanic fly the 172 home.
 
Hey Toby!! Way to go. You got through all the back and forth with the seller and got it all worked out. It's great to hear the pre-buy went well! Now comes the fun part! Have some great memories from flyin a Cherokee. Lookin forward to seein you (and it) in person.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!

Dave
 
Awesome looking plane!
You will love it, they are a blast to fly, mine is a 74 model and it was also in great shape!!
Oh yeah and you will really love the low-wing! haha
 
Toby said:
I don't know about making a thousand-mile trip in this, but we'll see. It could be fun, though.
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Toby, it could be a wonderful adventure! Could be the subject of a book. Ya know, it's really just several short trips all put together over time.
 
Yea Toby!!!!!!! Looks great!

You owe me a ride, right? I'll collect at Gaston's. See you there.

Chip
 
gkainz said:
Cherry! Cherry Okee! :-)
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I like it!

:cheerswine: :cheerswine: CONGRATS TOBY!

Aw, heck, a thousand-mile XC is just ten 100-mile XC's.
Come on out to Anchorage! That's only something like 5000 miles... so that's just fifty 100-mile XC's. Just strung together, and through Canada... But hey, why not, you've YOUR OWN PLANE! Wow, that just has a cool "sound" to it, even just typing it on the keyboard. :goofy:

I am boiling over with jealousy!!

--Kath

Edit: according to airnav, it's only 2944.6 NM from KHWV to PAMR.
 
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very nice plane Toby. I'm wicked impressed....and jealous!! Congrats!
 
As my two Sons would say " That Cherokee ROCKS!!"

You will love YOUR New Flight Schedule, WHEN EVER YOU DAM WELL PLEASE !!

CONGRATULATIONS

Dogman
 
Thanks, everyone who posted! It was hard to sleep again. What a high this is. My two daughters who are home for the summer took me out to dinner last night. They are the best!

My biggest fear yesterday was that we'd get there, and George would look at the plane and come over to me and say, "Toby, I hate to say this, but you've got to walk away from this one. It's a lemon." Or he could have come up with something major that I wouldn't have caught in a million years. I think a couple things that helped, when I first went to look at it, were that I took a mechanical-type friend with me who knows airplanes and owns one himself, and I had my own mechanic on the phone with me as I walked around it, telling me to look at this or touch that.

The one snag I had was figuring out where to do the prebuy and how to handle that, since my regular guy is only available on weekends, and the seller was anxious to sell. I found a solution and took another mechanic to the seller's airport, and the seller was very cooperative and right there the whole time, answering questions and providing tools. It was very friendly all around. I also asked a lot of questions and learned about cold weather starts, leaning, and a ton of other things. I can recognize more parts of the engine now than I could before.

We ended up having an informal arrangement, btw, and it worked for us. I did the prebuy without a prepurchase agreement, just talking. Then I gave him a deposit yesterday and he gave me a receipt towards the total. And today I'll get the bill of sale. I realize this doesn't work in every situation, but in this case it simplified the whole process. I'm not sure where the thread about this is located -- maybe on the AOPA board.
 
Very SWEET, Toby! Congratulations!

You got one with the right colors and the wings in the right place :yes: ;)
 
Outstanding news, Toby!

The wings are in the right place, even if it ain't acrobatic.

Seriously, Cherokees are about as bulletproof and pilot friendly as they come. Enjoy!!
 
Thanks, Bruce and Ken. I'm sorry it's not acrobatic, too, but it will still be fun.
 
Carol said:
Very SWEET, Toby! Congratulations!

You got one with the right colors and the wings in the right place :yes: ;)
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Carol! Guess what color the interior is?? B)
 
VERY nice Toby, enjoy!! There is a nice '69 140 for sale here, if it was just Kelly & I it would be parked in my hanger.
 
Congrats Toby!!! The PA28-140 is a GREAT plane and with the 160HP its even better. I flew mine all over the east coast before I got religion and bought the Tiger. :)

Now you know that Art Madson sells some neat speed mods and slow speed handling mods. VG's, gap seals, prop mods, wing tip mods. The one gap seal I wish I had on my Cherokee was the stabilator gap seal. You get much more control authority in the flare with the stabilator gap seal. The VG's and wing tips add to slow speed handling and decrease your stall speed. The prop mod adds some thrust and aileron gap seals make the plane slicker and therefore faster and handle better. When do you want to start? :)
 
Toby said:
Yes! :happydance: I am the proud new owner of a Cherokee 140. I am so happy I could burst!
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They say a flight of a thousand miles begins with a quick hamburger run.

Toby, I will be away until September but then I have a lot of time in the books. Let's meet somewhere like Block Island and I'm buying you the celebratory hamburger... or lobster roll... or whatever you want!

All others invited, too but Dutch Treat unless you show up in a new (to you) plane! ;)

Congratulations!

-Skip
 
Carol said:
Very SWEET, Toby! Congratulations!

You got one with the right colors and the wings in the right place :yes: ;)
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DITTO! Welcome to the Cherokee fold, Toby!

We have a field neighbor who financed a ground-up restore of a Cherokee 140 that was abandoned on the field. It had bird nests in the wings. He has gotten it up to an 8500 feet for cruise at 120 knots at 8GPH (as I recall). He has flown as far as the tip of Florida. It's a great plane when you only need to fill 1 to 3 seats.

There is a Cherokee email list and Cherokee Owners club (actually magazine / web site) as resources as you look for information.

What I say is about the only reason to own is so you can have the keys in your pocket (or purse). You'll know the plane is always there waiting for YOU to put in the keys. You'll find out how cool that is now. :yes:

It's gonna take a long time for the grin to go away! On most days mine hasn't stopped yet.
 
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YEEEEE HA! CONGRATS TOBY! I am so psyched for you!!! You are going to love this plane. Just think of the freedom!! Have you begun the list of places you want to go? A hamburger awaits you ( on me ) at KLOM! I can't wait to see it in person. Post some photos of the panel!!
 
Congratulations!
 
YES! High five, Toby!!!

Is it me, or is the ownership bug biting board-members pretty hard this year?

Who's next????



-Rich
 
That's really great Toby. Add my Congrats to the long list here. There's nothing like having your OWN plane!
 
I'm so happy (AND JEALOUS) for you, Toby.

Have fun, can't wait to see more photos. What color was the interior? Red?
 
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