When we spent two years looking for my Mooney I used AOPA’s Vref and the othe rplanes On the market. And mainly my opinion. After awhile of looking you get a feel for what you’ll get for the money are going to spend. I got a mid time 77’ with new leather interior an auto pilot with GPSS hooked to a 430w for $82,500. I was happy to spend the money since it came from AAA and I had a Dugosh prebuy turned into an annual. It has had no damage up to this point and it’s hard to find older Mooney’s with a lot of time on them that haven’t been geared up. Most have been repaired and are fine but that’s another personal choice you’ll have to make. I second checking out Mooney Space it really helped me learn a lot of ins and outs on Mooney’s. I think they are the best plane out there.

Nobody has commented on the possibility of the engine being of type with the D-MAG. namely IO-360-A1B6D or IO-360-A3B6D.

I have a friend with an M20J model and it is equipped with the Dual MAG and he's praying that he doesn't need parts for this because they are becoming a bit of an orhpan with little or no parts of overhaul possibilities.

If anyone does know of a parts Manufacturer of PMA'd parts for this D-MAG let me know as I also know Seminole's are in the same situation with the D-MAG.

Paul

I had no idea parts were becoming hard to find for the single shaft mag engines.

Aviation Consumer had an article several years ago speculating that parts could become a problem. To my knowledge this never happened. Send your mag to a good shop and they will have access to the parts they need. Your local mechanic should not be working on them. It is a good mag if serviced at 500 hour intervals by a good shop and correctly installed. (based on 19 years and 2,300 hours with mine)

I'd agree with Jeffrey about the dual mags. They have one in stock at the place my mechanic gets his mags.
Try to get one with most of the things you want already in it. You loose a lot in depreciation if you install new avionics or engine after your purchase

The prices mentioned above are in line with my thinking, something a little shy of $100k. Too many unknowns to make a closer call.

I have about 400 hours in M20Js that were flying club planes and I too really like them. Also maybe another 50-60 in a Bravo.

Then I started looking at them to buy. A friend was pushing me towards Bonanzas, S35s up to F33As specifically. I have to say that looking at the M20Js was depressing. The condition that the planes were in generally was nothing like the Bonanzas. I got the impression that the owners (at least the ones for sale) were cheap ass and did the bare minimum to keep them flying. And the few that I thought were up to snuff seemed way more expensive than the Bos I saw.

You know what I bought. I bought it because the value was great, condition was how I wanted my plane to be and honestly, after getting to know my plane I'm blown away by the increase in performance (~10 knots faster but more important significantly greater climb rate at much higher speed).

I still have a soft spot for Mooneys and would have no problem owning one, just didn't find value in the equation - I'd have to spend as much or more to get less.

I think that's an unfortunate side effect of a Mooney's inherent efficiency--they can attract a higher percentage of owners who are looking for the cheapest ride.

But if you peruse the Mooneys at Osh, you'll see the other end of the spectrum.

Most efficient. Mooney owners are looking for reliable, airworthy transportation. Nothing more.

I have seen a lot of Mooney's in terrible shape. The buyers think often they can put 10 gallon an hour in them and not spend a penny more. 500$ log entry annual good to go for another year. Then, upon sale, when the thing hits prebuy by a reputable shop, its 25K to get it right, and thats not paint or new radios, that's discrepancies. Often its spar or steel tube corrosion. One friend on mine contracted on a 1981 M20J, I asked him if they inspected the steel tube fuselage, he said yeah. I asked specifically did the guy pull the plastic and send photos. I stressed it was absolutely critical before buying the plane. A week later the photos came in. It needed 25K in work to even make it airworthy. Paint and interior much worse than the photos (10 years old). He passed, and bought another. This plane shows up at a local airport, new buyer. Student pilot flew up to NC with his instructor and took it home, no prebuy. He didnt want to hear about steel tubes, its a great airplane, look how it sits, how shiny it is. A Mooney is the plane for me, I got a great deal on it.
http://photos.guardianaviation.net/Gall ... ry=4554639