Warbird Kid wrote:
Here Here!
New Build, Replica, whatever you want to call them, i believe they are the next big thing.
I wish I had your optimism!
But, alas, I've heard this before.
In the 70s, people were saying the same thing about WAR-replicas.
And in the early '70s, author Richard Bach was floating the idea of WWI-replicas with modern engines being the next affordable thing. I don't know how serious he was but in a magazine article (reprinted in his
Gift of Wings anthology) he was going to fund the design and write a film that would require many replicas.
And the, there were supposed to be squadrons of warbird-marked motorcycle/snowmobile powered BD-5s filling the skies...
The ultimate replica was a 1/1 scale Champ. It was to be offered with a new low cost power plant and soldm at a bargain rate...the cost of a new Corvette (then $5000). Despite heavy promotion and initial enthuiasm, few were sold. Today, the cost of a new Corvette is $60-70,000. How many people out there have that kind of money for a very basic VFR airplane?
Old people (and at 63, I may be seen as one by some of you) have the reputation for being anti-everything. Old curmudgeons, who throw a wet blanket on new ideas. It's not that they are anti-fun or anti-new ideas, it's just that they've likely heard it before and know and appreciate the shortfalls of ambitious, well meaning plans.