Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes 152 Aerobat with LR Tanks

Well, I have another opportunity. A 1979 A152 Aerobat with long range tanks is now available. It has 2400tt and 51 SMOH with engine overhauled and magnafluxed. New paint and seats in 2004, but interior plastic still needs replacing. Trouble is, it is only listed on ebay and it is in Florida. I will be talking with an aircraft sales agent who could act quickly on my behalf, but How can I deal with this ebay bidding (no matter what I bid, someone will always offer more). Any advice?

There are at least 2 issues:

1) How to cope with a greatly compressed time frame
2) How to win the auction

Being a stickler for details as you are, I am surprised
this airplane was even showed up on your radar.

Airplane buying usually involves a lot of due diligence that
doesn't lend itself to a 10 day auction.

Some sort of leap of faith might be required.
The missing logs are always a red flag.
The other big question is "Why?".
As in-- why do all of this work and spend all of this dough only to sell it.
Some of the terminology in the ad is a bit odd-- "ILS indicator"
5 GPH? My 150 averaged 6 over 400 hours.
5 GPH x 8 hours would leave you with minus 1 gallon if
you started with 39.
All engines burn some oil.

Maybe I'm pickin' nits.


Here's the ad:
eBay Aerobat [cgi.ebay.com]

Winning eBay auctions is relatively easy. Go "all in" at the last possible moment. The complication here is that this fellow has set a reserve that is more than $25,300.
It's conceivable that you will win the auction and still not get the plane.

Several guys are already caught up in a bidding war.
Danger Wil Robinson! Don't pay too much.

Actually, I did email the seller of the A152. I wrote him that his airplane looks good, but that I won't get into a bidding competition for it. I wrote that I will watch how the bidding goes and if the reserve is not met, perhaps we can do some dealing. Then I asked the usual questions about the empty weight, who did the overhaul (to new limits?), the nose gear damage, etc. I will wait till he writes back.

It is pointless for me to bid on an airplane and I won't do it as nice as this machine may be. So, maybe the reserve won't be met and then we will see. However, it has been for sale on ebay just one day and there have already been about 20 bids so far.

After reading the ad, I wondered why a 1979 model that has been hangared all its life needed new paint, or interior plastic. Both of these items deterioate largely due to heat (which I admit, you even get in a hangar) and more so, sunlight, or UV deterioation. Again, hangared?.......

In any case, it certainly sounds like a field overhaul. Some mechanic broke the engine down, and sent everything out, and then reassembled it, using the necessary new parts. While I don't generally have any problem with this, if it was done properly, you have to realize that this is not a top of the line, big shop, zero time engine. If it was, they would tell you so.

Oh yes, nose gears on 150's and 152's do not "collapse" like a retractable that unloacked and folded on the ground, rather, they get bent back due to bad landings, running off the runway, taxiing into a hole, etc. When this happens, damage to the firewall usually results, along with sudden stoppage of the engine. Since this appears to be the original engine, from reading the ad, the engine should have the appropriate signoffs for sudden stoppage teardown and inspection (referencing the maintenance manual and service bulletin(s) that define such inspection), along with the basic rebuild.

Charles

Right. It may have been hangered recently, but not its' whole life.

The plane may be perfectly fine, but the "nose wheel collapse" seems to coincide with the departure of the logs.

From the ad, Zeke seems truthful enough.
My guess is that he's repeating what he was told by the previous owner(s).

To compete on eBay, you MUST know your stuff.
For example, let's say that you've been researching
Aerobats along these lines. Based on your research,
you'd feel good about paying 40K. Less, of course, would
be better.

Do you bid now? NO!

After a few days, it's likely that the bidding will stall.
If it's above $40K, forget it.
You are ahead because you didn't overpay.

Learn about "proxy bidding". It's the key to winning.

Let's say the bidding stalls at 35K.
With less than a minute to go, go "all in"-- 40K.
Statistically, you'll win.

Tru,e the key to sucessful bidding on Ebay is, sadly, sniping (and I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else). Sniping is the last second bidding that goes on. If you bid early, someone will sit and pick away until they either out bid you, or give up, leaving your proxy bid "jacked up", so you wait until the last 20 or 30 seconds and bid in a frenzy, hoping yours is the highest.

Ocassionally sellers, using secondary Ebay "memberships" will bid to drive the price up. This is of course, againist Ebay rules.

The key to all of this is deciding the maximum you are willing to pay, and in the last 30 seconds, bid this max. If someone comes along with a higher max, so be it.

An online auction site I visit ocassionally for firearms and accessories www.gunbroker.com [gunbroker.com] has a 15 minute rule. The auction does not end until 15 minutes after the last bid. If you bid more than 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the auction, and are the last bidder, the auction will end on schedule. If someone bid in the last 15 minutes, it stays open for 15 minutes after their bid, giving someone a chance to counter it with a higher offer, just like live bidding would do. Its the equalivent of "going.... going.... gone..." of a live auction. This of course, favors the seller, and draws a fair price for the product, while Ebay favors the buyer and many times does not bring a fair price. (of course, people do get stupid.......... thats another story)

Chuck,
Did Cessna Zinc cromate entire planes "to prevent corrosion" back in 78, 79 era?
I thought they only cromated their float planes.