Great story. Thanks for sharing. I've owned a half share of a '79
Tiger for almost two years now, and I have nothing but love for her.
Two annuals so far without major surprises. Predictably ~130 KTAS @
~9.5 GPH, which from what I can tell is about an economic optimum for
a fixed-gear fixed-pitch single. I was out just last night for a
little sunset/city lights tour, some touch-and go's at Scottsdale, and
then the requisite three stop and go's just after an hour past sunset
back at Deer Valley in Phoenix. What a beautiful way to readjust the
attitude after a tough day at work.
Your story reminded me of one numbnuts Tiger owner we encountered in
Prescott during our search. You probably saw that one too, as I see
he's still advertising in TAP two years later. My partner and I drove
up to Prescott one evening to check out what appeared to be a decent
78 Tiger (with a cool 4-character tail number appropriate for a
SEVENty EIGHT G_rumman T_iger). The owner and his wife were friendly
enough; we took the airplane around the pattern with him a couple of
times, and decided we liked the idea enough to pursue a pre-buy
inspection. He and a friend flew the airplane down to Scottsdale one
day, and while they went and played a round of golf in my car, I
looked over a mechanic's shoulder for a $550 pre-buy on his airplane.
We didn't find anything we didn't like so we made an offer on the
phone the next evening and settled on a price. After arranging
financing the next day we tried to reach the seller but strangely we
could never get the guy to answer his phone or return a call from us
again. We finally gave up trying after a week or two. I never knew
what to make of that. These days my favorite theory is that he never
really intended to sell, he just wanted to find out what the airplane
really was worth on the open market and although he never got any
paperwork from my pre-buy, he treated it as some sort of pseudo-annual
inspection. I sure would like that $550 back. Anyway, like I said
he's still advertising in TAP. Caveat Emptor.
Here's a link to my SDL broker story (and some other broker-bashing)
on Google Groups:
http://tinyurl.com/2lhcg4
Have fun with your new Grumman!
Rob, Tiger '4RL