Old Engine = Runout Engine ?

[Ernie Martin]

While I don't disagree with the above comments that you should value the plane as if it had runout engines, my own experience suggests you might be pleasantly surprised.

My first Skymaster was a 1969 337D that sat in New Orleans for like five years without being started. And then spent another 10 years with negligible use.

I'm a mechanical/aerospace engineer with a Master's from Caltech, so I was leery about this aircraft. Because all the records had been lost (yep, unused engines and no records) I spoke to the prior owners back to the guy who bought it in New Orleans. He actually saw the airplane land in NO, when a hippie-looking couple walked away saying they'd be back in a couple of days. Three years later the Sheriff sold it at auction (the buzz was that the couple who abandoned it were drug traffickers). The buyer I spoke to bought it from the Sheriff -- grass growing all around it -- with plans to refurbish it to a serviceable condition (the engines were at about midlife, and he found evidence of the overhauls done about 5 years before landing in NO), but it never happened and two years later he sold it to a a dealer who reurbishes abandoned airplanes. Two owners later -- who rarely used it -- and then I bought it for a song.

Because the engines had good compression and low oil consumption/leakage, I decided to run them. And for two years they performed flawlessly, mostly over Bahams waters. When I eventually sold it, the engines were running good.

So, that's my story. Buy it for a song and run them out, that's my advice. And you might be surprised.

Ernie