Luton Minor wanted

[poetpilot]

If anyone knows of a Luton Minor for sale, please can they email me at [email protected]
Ta

[Kingy]

There is one in the current Popular Flying, sounds good but is a bit dear at just under £5k.

I've Emailed you the details.

I may have a slightly damaged FRED for sale if thats any use!

Cheers

Kingy

[stiknruda]

Kingy,

believe that we share similar views on many things but I really must protest that "sounds good but is a bit dear at just under £5k" is a fair statement!

Forget the effort required just add up the cost of all the bits and you already are pretty close to £5K.

Anyway - I'm off to the US to buy some aeroplane bits tomorrow for my next project!

Stik

[Speedbird48]

I am afraid I can't sell you one but may I ask if G-AWIP still exists?
I flew it for about 80+ hours back in the early '70's.

Good luck in your search I had a lot of fun in the thing plus a few "interesting" moments!

[Circuit Basher]

Speedbird48 - if you look at the CAA G-INFO site (http://www.caa.co.uk/srg/aircraft_register/ginfo/search.asp), it seems that G-AWIP is still registered (to a gentleman in Doncaster). I don't believe she's still flying as the C of A Expiry is shown as 8 May 89.

[Kingy]

Hi Stik,

I totally agree that home built aircraft cost far, far more to build than they are worth on the open market. Don't get me wrong I cannot understand this and I think it makes many homebuilt types great bargains.

Minors generally change hands for around £3-4K and I was basing my comments on this.

I was reading some 5-10yr old copies of PF recently and was astonished to find than many types are selling for LESS than they were then - Very odd.

Cordially

Kingy

(PS. you're not selling a Minor are you?;) )

[Zlin526]

I'll sell you a bathtub with an old door nailed to the top for £20.00..........

Well, its almost like a Luton Minor?

Good luck

[javelin]

Mr Zlin, how rude ! I was just about to take this thread down the VP1 trail and thought better of it ! Why would someone want to buy one of these, er, creations :ugh:

[shortstripper]

How about because they fly? ... and cheaply!
Javelin,

I own a VP2, it's not sexy, it's not fast, and it climbs like a brick. BUT! it cost me £2500, It operates from a farmstrip for next to nothing and I can fly whenever I like, weather permitting. It will take off and land from from my 350m strip (hedge to hedge), which with 30 foot hedges either end is more than many aircraft. It flies at 70mph which isn't fast but is equal to "sexier" aeroplanes like J3 Cubs. It's open cockpit and a taildragger, which in my book equals fun, plus it's very easy to maintain. The Luton Minor falls into the same category but has the bonus of having delightful flying characteristics ( I was in a group operating G-BBCY ) ... so I ask you why wouldn't you want to own one of these types of aircraft?

For how much they cost to operate ... (in my case about £20/hr all in!) you can afford to treat them like a sports car sitting in the garage to use at the weekend! They might be impractical for going places, but is that all you fly for? After all, if you were honest, apart from summertime or if you're IR equipped, no aeroplane operated at PPL level is practical for travel compared to a car anyway!

Zlin ...

If a bathtub with a door was certified as airworthy, I'd want to fly it for the challenge ... but then I'm very slightly nuts. The Luton Minor is far far more civilised!

IM

[Fast Erect]

That'll be a raw nerve then, will it?:p

[shortstripper]

How perceptive ;)

IM

[poetpilot]

Thanks all for the answers and the laughs:O

It's a friend of a friend who is after one, as opposed to moi (I used to have a share in the most powerful (65hp) Luton Minor G-AYSK at Barton).

Lots of fun, and yes, having had a VP1 many years back, it does fly more nicerer than the Evans.

I reckon the best thing I can do is to get the list of registered owners out of G-INFO and mail 'em ..... there's not that many after all.

The PFA-advertised one, BTW, has been sold. I didnt ask whether he got what he'd advertised it for though.

Out of interest, the Barton Luton has six share members, and shares generally sell for around £1k. But then it's a share, not a pro rata reflection on its overall hull value. There is one share advertised in it at the moment. No, I'm not tempted, as I ain't got the dosh right now...