First off, obtain a copy of the records the FAA has on this aircraft. go to.....
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraft.aspand scroll down the page till you get to the section entitled Copies of Individual Aircraft Records, and request the records.
Beyond this, this is a 45 year old airplane, it has all the records back for 35 years. The records are long gone most likely, though the owner may be able to give you a clue when they disappeared and when. There is nothing the owner can do, except that if the log became missing while he owned it, you could give you a signed, notarized statement to that effect. When you are dealing with records back this far that are missing, especially if it appears that the logs from 1969 on are a simple continuation of the missing records and that the earlier logs disappeared later on, then the record of the hours, etc. is probably accurate.
The most important item is to insure that you have entries for every AD that was ever applicable to the aircraft and accessories and that you have signatures for each entry. There were several important AD's prior to '69 so you need to make sure someone has inspected for prior compliance and made the appropriate entries.
As far as value, you are looking at an aircraft worth only $15,000 to $25,000 depending on equipment and condition. If the only thing wrong with it is that the first ten years of logs are missing, then the value is not signifcantly affected. Will it make it more difficult to sell? Yes, one or two potential buyers may walk away, they would be persons who are not very well educated in aircraft buying and don't realize that the missing logs would have little practical effect on the operation or maintenance of the aircraft, they just know that airplanes with missing logs are "bad" and to stay away from them.
I bought my '59 model in 1978. At that time the original log, from 1959 to 1966 was missing. The airplane shows evidence of repairs to the tail, wings and fuselage, but the repairs have stood the test of time and I have little concern about them. This is very possibly why my logs disappeared, but I believe they may have disappeared much later than 1966, the aircraft had seen many owners and many mechanics, so someone may have tossed it trying to hide a checkered history. Do I care? not really, I don't intend on selling the airplane, they can bury me in it!
Basically, what I am saying is if it is a good airplane, and priced right, buy it, just be sure you know what you are getting into. Do a good prebuy on it first.
Charles
