Project,,,58 Beech Travelair

LowanSlow

LowanSlow

Pre-Flight
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Jul 27, 2015
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Missouri
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Midmoflyer
Hey all,
well im looking for the opinions of the more experienced than I. I recently started to look into a project airplane which would be my first , a 1958 Beech 95 Travelair w/ O-360-A1A's. The plane has sat for a long time ( around 15 years) and is not airworthy and hasn't been in annual in 14 years, which makes me kinda nervous but I am an A&P student and am good friends and work with several A&P IA's often that know beechcrafts real well, which helps. The previous owner passed recently and the family (non-aviation) are selling his airplanes. I'm interested in the Travelair as I have looked at maybe parting it out if worse came to worse, its unfortunate as the airframe has always been hangared and is very straight and has very little corrosion, but the engines on the other hand are bad, no compression, high time, ect. If i do get the airplane and part it out, the airframes in great shape, but the engines are cores, I have no idea on what either airframe or engines are worth? My question is what would be the worth of the airplane? I know without pictures its hard to judge but ill hopefully have them by tomorrow and will post as I know you all like looking at airplanes just as much as I do. Also if I were to part it out, has anyone had experience dealing with that? I have an offer in mind but id hate to low ball the family but im not going to spend a fortune on an airplane that's needing the work it needs and might be parted out anyways. Any opinions are appreciated whether good or bad.
 
You gotta figure the price of new engines into how much you are willing to pay. That's a lot of $$$...
 
The props may have an expensive ad ,plus overhaul of the engines,make for an expensive aircraft,avionics are most likely old and useless. Not a good investment unless you intend to keep it forever.
 
If you look at the twin market, it's not all that healthy, particularly for the older twins, and the Travel Air falls into that group. The asking price a a decent flyable TA can be less that $50,000, I would assume the selling price would be somewhat less. I keep hearing that many of the older airworthy airplanes are worth what their engines are worth, and from what I can see that's not far from the truth.

In addition to needing engines, as frfly172 said there may be an AD on the props, undoubtedly some or all of the flight instruments and avionics need repair or replacement as well, and what condition is the fuel system in? From what you're telling us, the airframe is in good condition, but that's the least valuable part of a Travel Air. I'd pass on this one.
 
Travel Airs are pretty worthless airplanes. If you can get it for a song and rebuild it for parts (and minimize the parts used, which you probably could as an A&P student), you might be able to make money on it, but it's hard to say without more information.

Now if you wanted a cheap twin for yourself, I think it'd be a great option. I've flown Travel Airs and love the things.
 
Good points and I totally agree with everything said, yes there are a few ad's as mentioned that are/could be a problem. Honestly if i decide to actually fix the plane ill be keeping it long term, ive always been a beechcraft fan and like the the looks of the travelair and other early beechs. On the other hand the restoration ideas are probably a pipe dream and if i do get it ill part it out, i know i can get the aircraft for less than a grand, hopefully it will salvage for slighly more, on a side note, the aircraft was owned by an A&P IA-long time airline pilot and was kept in good shape other than left to sit in his hangar once he got to old to fly them sat next to cubs and a fairchild ,,, really unfortanate that people do that to nice planes.
 
My opinion, if you can get it for a song and you want a Travel Air for yourself - get started on the annual. If you find any show-stoppers, then part it out. If you don't, then get it airworthy and keep it for yourself. It's probably the cheapest twin you'll be able to buy and operate.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My opinion, if you can get it for a song and you want a Travel Air for yourself - get started on the annual. If you find any show-stoppers, then part it out. If you don't, then get it airworthy and keep it for yourself. It's probably the cheapest twin you'll be able to buy and operate.
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:yeahthat:

The Travel Air is a good, reasonably economical "personal" light twin. They are still in reasonably high demand as trainers up here - I know someone who just bought two for his flight school a couple of months ago. Beech built a good airplane and it would be a shame to see a sound, damage-free airframe dismantled. At that cost of entry, if it checks out, I suspect some "creative scrounging", some sweat equity combined with patience and perseverance will ultimately result in a very nice airplane for you to own and fly for many years.
 
Start a youtube channel and document the whole project - you can accumulate tens of millions of views if you update regularly and have some decent quality "shop video" (such as abonm79, keith fenner, etc.). You won't make enough to pay for the parts, but it will at least cover your beer money if your channel "catches on".

If.
 
@JHW has a Travel Air, similar to what you're talking about. He basically bought it as a cheap twin for his family of 4. You might want to try to get in touch with him for thoughts, he's also an A&P and has professed how inexpensive the plane has been for him. I think he did it right.
 
Ted Dupuis, thank you, i will have to het a hold of him, as promised i have pictures of the plane as of this morning, im talking to the owners today and will see where it goes, the more i look at it the airframe is really clean , i terior is not good and avionics are kings radios, my biggest fear are the engines and the prop AD concerning the hubs, both big expenses
 

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Prop ADs are usually an inspection. Engines, if you're an A&P you can rebuild them yourself.
 
Very true, i know the props are most likely no good and the AD does apply to these props anyways, as far as engines go, granted this wont tell me the exact condition of the engines internals but i plan on pulling the jugs to see if there are any obvious problems, still if the plane turns out to not be worth fixing, i will part it out even though i hate to do that, sorry to sound like such a newb, ive been around aviation my whole life, but have never have dealt with a project planes of this magnitude.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Prop ADs are usually an inspection. Engines, if you're an A&P you can rebuild them yourself.
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If that plane has sat for fifteen years anywhere other than the desert I wouldn't count on the cranks and cams being good.
 
Norman said:
If that plane has sat for fifteen years anywhere other than the desert I wouldn't count on the cranks and cams being good.
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I would agree, but I've also seen stranger things.
 
all planes need the same things that this plane will need. This one just needs it all at once. new tires on up. Inspect the airframe for corrosion If it passes then decide on a price and create a list and start knocking things off the list. If it don't pass the corrosion test then it is worth the price of how many coke cans it can be recycled into
 
There are two AD's that would affect your propellers if they are the older, steel hub props. Both of those AD's require an inspection. If the props are really bad, there's a newer style prop (with aluminum hubs, rather than steel) that you can install. The cost of the PAIR of the aluminum hub props is significantly less than purchasing ONE of the old steel hub props.
 
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