Jim Church
01/12/2001 18:36
All right, case #70 has been up here long enough, so here goes. It shows P-51D, s/n 44-74469, ex-Dominican Air Force FAD1919, that was brought back along with the rest of the bunch they operated (except for one which remains 'in country' on display) in 1984 by Brian O'Farrell. Before 'going south' it had been registered N7723C. Jerry Miles bought it from O'Farrell, and rebuilt it, and again registered it as N7723C. More recently it was purchased by Classic American Aircraft, of Poland, Ohio, who instigated yet another rebuild. It has been offered for sale on the BARNSTORMERS web site, and in Trade-A-Plane recently for $945,000. That price includes a '0' time cuff-bladed prop, a relatively low time -7 Merlin with -9 heads that has 70hrs SMOH, and a nicely updated cockpit. It is currently in bare metal finish (pick your own paint), and is available for inspection to prospective buyers at Chino, California. The airframe is said to have less than 2,000hrs TT, and with the prices of today's Mustangs usually well over the $1M mark lately, this seems like it could be a pretty good deal. Anybody out there want to lend me $945,000? :-)