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A little over 7 years ago Dave Tunge called me and asked me what a particular Super Cub might be worth. When I told him what I thought it was worth he told me I could get it for less than that. I told him I was not in the market. After a lot of back and forth my family and I made a road trip to South Dakota and Lee and I brought N14043 home to Texas. She was rough around the edges with over 12k hours on the airframe all as a power line patrol plane and a high time factory reman engine and pretty stock except for VGs and Dakota Cub brakes. Over the next 7 years I flew it and modified it and flew it some more and on and on. I learned a lot. I did everything in moderation. Installed a mod and flew it a lot so I could see what it did to the airplane. I got to enjoy SuperCub.org and the get togethers from a different perspective instead of in someone else's Cub or my Pacer. It also helped me in my business in the modification and rebuild side. I could now describe what changes certain mods made, good, bad and indifferent. It has become a part of me and who I am. It will serve the new owner well and I will be sad when it leaves in a few months. N14043 has been a great airplane for me.
Over the years I have rebuilt 5 Super Cubs. None had ever been recovered and I learned a lot working on planes that were close to how Piper built them. Each one was different, reflecting the owners, needs, wants and mission. The last one I actually bought as a wreck and partnered with my daughter. We had planned to rebuild it as a spec plane but the shop always gets in the way of my projects like that and we weren't going anywhere fast with it. One Sunday morning I got a text about a SC for sale and a lot of photos. It had a lot of mods but unfortunately the airplane had some issues. The person looking had a budget and a wish list and that got me to thinking. I showed him my project and we came up with a plan for me to rebuild it to his liking. Of course it took me way too long and we ended up going a bit further on mods etc than we had initially planned. What we ended up with was a Super Cub built pretty much the way I would build it for myself. After 2 years of flying it he discovered he had a different mission. I guess I was kinda heart broken. I tried everything to convince him not to sell but in the end I understood. I listed it and had a few people call but nothing really panned out. It had a big price tag but to me it was worth every penny of it. Everything had a purpose and I included all the little details I like as creature comforts for the pilot and also those that make it easy to maintain and to last. He asked me about buying it but it was not within my budget. Well, that is what I thought any how. He made me a deal that was hard to refuse. I thought about it a while but really couldn't picture it being mine. Cathy said buy it, my friends said the same so I kinda mentioned I might want to sell mine and then last Friday I sold it. Someone sees in my old Super Cub what I see in it and bought it. It will probably get flown a while and then get recovered as it really needs. Sunday I picked up my new to me, restored by me 1982 160 hp dream Super Cub. I have often imagined how I could rebuild my own but always came to the same realization, if I am in the shop I am usually working on someone else's revenue generating Super Cub and usually reserve my Sundays for flying. Never in a million years could I have dreamt that I would end up owning a Super Cub rebuilt the way I wanted it, but it has happened. I have to thank Jason and Kim for the opportunity to be the care taker of N91246 and for them to know how very grateful I am. I don't have it dialed in quite yet in my book but the guys at the airport seem to think I do. The one thing I had to promise that anyone who has ever seen 14043 will understand, I have to wash it from time to time.Thank you Jason, SJ and everyone on this site for the friendships, support and knowledge to be able to work at what I enjoy and continue to have fun doing it. It has been an amazing 20 years and I hope to have at least 20 more.
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Originally Posted by nightflyer
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