Buyer Beware

[Bernd Krebs]

A party in Whatseka IL. is listing a Ryan PT 22 for sale for, hold on tight, $129,995.00. Yes, that is onehundredthirtythousand dollars.

Some of you know about this airplane, it has been sitting outside in the weather without ANY protection for 50 some odd years. Everything that is steel is beyond reclaimation, i.e. rust! I am VERY familiar with this 'project' and would value it for parts under $5,000. The fuselage is corroded through due to all the leaves and things that have collected and retained water over the years. And that is just the beginning.

DON'T even think about this as beeing savable. The family thinks that they have a piece of gold, when in fact they have a piece of junk. It should have been saved 30 to 40 years ago. It infuriates me to see this aircraft basically disolve over the years.

[Dr. Brian]

Responding to the PT-22 on Ebay:

Just a note. Sorry to have to write, but I think the editorial as to the Ryan PT-22 that I have listed on eBay is probably not fair to the family I am representing. I have listed the plane for $129,995 that is true; the plane is not being billed as mint condition, it is what it is. To make a judgement as to worth and as to knowledge of the plane seems hasty to me. I would more than welcome interested parties to visit the plane through me, to make an offer if seriously interested and to value it for what it is. All offers on the plane, other than riduculous ones, will be considered, pushed forward, and responded to in return. What is sad is that this writer will never know who buys it and will never know what it sold for as my expectation is to sell it after the listing to the highest offer that is acceptable.

Our intention with the listing is to price the market for what we have - what I am telling you is that I am no expert and my guess is that most people would not consider themself as that. Once we establish the price and what we have, which I think we have done with a lot of good help from people on this site as well as from interested parties across the world - including the Smithsonian, various other museums, private and commercial mechanics, as well as interested individuals, we intend to reduce the price for the plane, parts, extra Kinner crate engine, and the file of plane documentation, either during the last part of the current Ebay sale or with a new listing - to a more realistic figure - then we will see who is serious about this Ryan or not. I do think what we are offerring has some value, probably more than your guest commentator suspects, given the volume of emails, calls and notes people that interested folks have sent, some of which have made an offer - actually above your thought price. You can tell that we are serious on the plane as we have hired a moving firm to move the plane as well as parts to a secured and indoor storage facility north of its location - first time it has moved in 50 years.

Please look for the ebay listing to change, and please by all means, judge the plane after seeing it personally. I do know for a fact that the writer has not contacted me to see the plane and I also know that no one has seen the wings or the parts or the engine in a Navy crate or the documentation - as I had to clean out two semi trailers that were full to get to them and to view them in the light. The value should be here to a family that wants to see someone do something with the plane and to use it as a whole or to use it as parts - that is the value to a family whose father (the recently deceased owner) loved that plane enough think forward about buying an extra engine in California from surplus, who stored all the documentation in a hidden location (frigerator), and who left it to his family to decide what to do with it. I as a good friend of the family am happy to help, but I would be the last to criticize someone else's listing, if it (the item) did not meet my needs or wants, I would move it on for someone else to consider. Thanks.

Dr. Brian Hinrichs

2044 E. 2200 N. Road

Watseka, IL 60970

815-351-7445 cell

brhinri@colint.net

[Dr. Brian]

Ryan PT-22 Update (Watseka, IL plane)

Just changed the listing on eBay for the 1942 Ryan PT-22 that I listed in Watseka, IL - if it is a matter of price, this may help. I reduced the price over $100,000 less! We are trying to find the plane, extra engine, parts, and documentation file a new home! Serious sellers here. If interested in seeing it personally or having a representative see it, please contact Dr. Brian Hinrichs in Watseka, IL to arrange a time, date etc... Thanks.

Dr. Brian Hinrichs

815-351-7445

brhinri@colint.net

[T28R]

This morning, I noted that the Ryan in Watseka, IL did not sell on eBay even after the price was reduced $100,000. I believe that numerous members of the Ryan community tried to tell the seller that the asking price was - to put it kindly- excessive. As we say in Texas ?I don?t have a dog in this fight?. I am medically out of the flying business but I have some experience in restoring a Ryan that was in flyable condition when I started the project. That experience coupled with observing the condition of the airplane as shown in the pictures leads me to say that if the price was zero, it would be too much. It is a sad situation that I have seen too many times that a person becomes romantically attached to an airplane, keeps it for many years without a proper environment with the end result being a worthless pile of corrosion like we see here. I?ll admit that I have not seen the airplane but when I see pictures of it with mushrooms growing in the bottom of the fuselage and obvious corrosion in every scene; I don?t need to go to Illinois to decide that the airplane went on the market 50 years too late.