Adam,
As I said, it was in the dim and distant past - mid-70s to be precise and we were looking specifically at the cost of a new Cessna Cardinal and factoring capital cost into the equation.
The 400 hour figure sticks in my head because it was a group of four and I felt that 100 hours a year for me, with a young family, wasn't workable, particularly since I was spending evenings and weekends in the summer at a gliding field!
A question for you. Does your 40-100 hours scale up to an Aerostar?