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Your opinions of the Super Cubs future

Alex Clark

Registered User
Life Long Alaskan
What do you see as the next 15 years in Super Cub type planes?

What do you think will be the HOT SELLER for the next few years replacing aging Cubs?

Cub Crafters ???

Dakota Cubs ???


Super 18 ???


Legends ???



Alex
 
My personal opinion is that the market in high end Super Cubs is shrinking. That's why CC has put so much stock in their Sport Cub. The leaders in the coming years will be the utilitarian Super 18. A great airplane from great folks. For beautiful showstoppers folks will go to quality rebuilders like the Warrens.
Alot of the high end buyers that had to have a Wah-Wah Super Cub in the past are now finding versatility of the Husky and other airplanes more to there liking. They don't need the out and out performance of the SC and they like what the other airplanes can do.
 
SuperCubs

Like alot of collector cars, the original Supercubs are pricing themselves out of the market. I believe the Experimental Cubs will be more attractive for several reasons. Quality is there, price is good and resale is going up. Performance is better in alot of cases and alot of the parts are much better than original parts. Just my opinion, but what do I know?

Bill
 
The future of Cubs sucks.
For this reason I will offer you $197.00 for your PA18 sight unseen.
PM me now before I am forced to withdraw this offer as the market
beomes saturated.
 
The future of Cubs....5 years from now...
Hmm Legend will do fine, Rans will become a player and lets see....Cub Crafters will still be promising a better Sports Cub..
Jim Richmond will be living happily ever after in Mexico.......



Sam

PS How do the August and September waiting list folks like their new Cub Crafters Sports Cubs...????? Maybe the can have a reunion after the first of the year.....




8)
 
The guys who need a simple, rugged utility airplane to work for a living will start voting with their checkbooks, at some point.

Husky already has a foot well in the door. Huskies do enough of what a Cub does, and is a current production airplane with a dealer network and factory support, to make bean counters happy. It doesn't do what it does enough like a Cub to make the purists happy. If the Super 18 can make the bean counters and the purists happy, it won't take long for that airplane to give Aviat a run for it's money.

The guys with a poor ratio of brains to money may wander off in search of other forms of male enhancement. If that happens, there will be a bunch of 150K Cubs for sale for 75K.

If the folks who need working airplanes start buying new, and the guys playing dress-up lose interest, the price of a decent 40 or 50 year old Super Cub may get down to the price range of those of us who are merely middle class. I own a -22. I would like to own an -18. Neither me personally, nor my small business can justify the 60K-80K price of admission for a 50 year old Super Cub going on its third rebuild, even though such an airplane would suit my purposes.

I'm kinda hoping CajunJoe is right........ :D

Mark
 
I think you will see a wider gap of show airplanes and working airplanes. Drive around Anchorage and you see it now. Guys with metal liners all beat up and dented from hauling all kinds of loads and guys with prestine, clean cubs that are polished and kept in hangars.

So where does the sport cub fit? Beats me.

Either a person wants a plane to fly and really work the abilities or they want a flying dream machine to fly into friends 1500 foot grass strips.

At least thats the way it seems around here.
 
100_1167.JPG


Need I say more !!!
 
There is always going to be a market for the Gucci loafer group who want shinney airplanes with clean interiors. And CC will fill that gap with their plastic and polish. And there will be those of us who want utility. So for the next five years Super cubs will continually increase in value because the available numbers will be declining. So buy your cub now and hang onto it.
 
Amateur built IS the future. We have more availability of high quality, high performance airplanes now than we've ever had. The FAA has provided us a category that allows us more freedom than we've ever had.

The tide isn't turning....it's turned. Certified airplanes' futures are in the fleets of commercial operators. The rest of us can enjoy the flexibility offered by the experimental category.

The future of Cub-type airplanes is bright. We need young pilots to want to fly these airplanes or the commercial ventures that support these planes can't survive.

SB
 
Don't forget the Rans S7S Courier... A potent contender to this group of airplanes. Reasonable range and useful load make it competitive and the price is certainly affordable, especially if you build it. Hey I went to the link that Crash put in...WOW! $185K for a nice -18. I can have three S7's for that price or two if I buy them built with plenty of cash left over for gas.
The accountant will rest easier for sure...

Rans is a serious player now and for the future. They actually ship airplanes every week of every month....
 
Steady increase in demand with a few dips and peaks. Prices will be about the same as they are today. Premium Supercubs will still bring the premium price. Amature/Experimental will grow at the same steady pace but only representing a small percentage of total 18's flying. Buy the way, still have New unstarted Smith kit for sale.
 
I think that untill a better airplane design comes along Cubs, and new versions (like CC and Dakota) will remain in business. But there are too many different variables to be sure of what will happen.
 
I'm with Stewart. As soon as I order about 500 more "test samples" of chrom moly tubing from "SPRUCE" and burn 1.5 million more CF of gas I might be ready to start welding on my own. :eek:

StewartB said:
Amateur built IS the future. We have more availability of high quality, high performance airplanes now than we've ever had. The FAA has provided us a category that allows us more freedom than we've ever had.

The tide isn't turning....it's turned. Certified airplanes' futures are in the fleets of commercial operators. The rest of us can enjoy the flexibility offered by the experimental category.

The future of Cub-type airplanes is bright. We need young pilots to want to fly these airplanes or the commercial ventures that support these planes can't survive.

SB
 
Super Ursus-

I was temptd to bump CajunJoe's offer, too. I was afraid someone would point out that that's what got us where we are today :D

Ain't the free market grand?

Mark
 
I don't have a lot of experience in the competitors, but I am going to guess the Super Cub and the sport plane variants are here for the long haul, however short that may be.

One problem with Cubs is that they are capable machines, but they can be messed up with ease, if the pilot exceeds his or her experience level. Leave the sand bars to the pros. Opinion.
 
The future of general aviation will dictate the future of cubs. Age dose not matter, cub builders/rebuilders and part manufactures will keep this aiplanes in the air as long as people are willing and allowed to fly them. The closing of remote airports and other landing areas will be the slow death of the cubs. If your flying from paved runway to paved runway why own a cub?

Cub_Driver
 
Just had to bump this thread, 12years after it was originally drafted a descent cub in AK is around 80K and I think demand is as high as it’s ever been.

What are your thoughts??
 
Numerous names in this thread that are no longer with us!

sj

Ditto! The guys up in this part of the country it is David J. One of the best ambassador for the Super Cub I had the pleasure of meeting.
 
Bact to the original topic, I have to think prices have declined/stabilized a bit. 10-15 years ago most baskets case SC's were bringing +/-$50K. Took me awhile to get rid of a bunch of toys and projects to be able to buy another plane and I have found several very nice SC's for +/-$70K. Extremely nice or rebuilds for around $100K. These same planes would have been $50-100K more back then.

I think the majority of the group on here has fulfilled their need to obtain one and the new blood of pilots are looking at something more versatile, similar to what has already been mentioned. Huskys, 180's, etc. Lots of members of the site have moved up to these types. They have more speed, possible improved comfort, and fairly capable to go most places other that the extreme backwoods strips of Alaska. In all honesty, how many of us are really going to be doing that! Since I have a wad of cash in hand to buy something, these are the thoughts that have gone through my mind.
 
The flip side? It's shocking how many experimental $250K-plus Cubs are out there. And that's being conservative. There are lots over $300K.
 
The local CC dealer has sold 20 plus of these over $300K Cubs in the past 2 yrs. I never saw that coming but they keep improving performance.
 
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