Kitfox serial 0002 is up for sale

[Guy Buchanan]

Sorry Lowell. You're just never going to be worth three times your original purchase price.

[HighWing]

You got me there, Guy, but checking a bit of history, the 57 Thunderbird actually sold for just under 5 times the "original" listed price. I guess if there is no interest in owning a bit of history, the seller will discover that. Just trying to be fair.

[av8rps]

I own the first Avid Flyer, the one that is shown on the early brochure with Dean Wison and Dan Denny standing next to, well before the Kitfox was thought of. I once tried to have it appraised for insurance, and as soon as they learned it was the prototype they said they would only insure it for 10% more than any other similar Avid Flyer, and really weren't interested due to how much insurance fraud happens to one-only collectibles.

At one time I considered donating it to either the Smithsonian or EAA (both showed interest) for a tax write-off but no appraisers would put a number on it. They said it falls under the term "Priceless" as being a prototype it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, which no one knows until you try to sell it. So true value cannot be determined easily.

A good example of that would be that Thunderbird Lowell mentioned: An old t-Bird like that will bring 50 grand today. But a bunch of years ago Ford Motor Company sold a 1956 Thunderbird that was serial number 2 and got 600k for it. Oh, and remember, that wasn't even the first year of the Thunderbird, the 1955 was. And of course, it certainly wasn't the 1st Ford. It was just year number 2 of one Ford model.

So sometimes the value of such things is truly hard to determine. If that really is serial number 2 Kitfox, it really isn't just your typical early Kitfox. So if the owner sees more value because of that, you can't blame him for trying to get a bit more for it.

So where is Kitfox number 1? (84DD as I recall) I've always wondered where that ended up. Someone told me it was wrecked, but again never researched.

[Av8r3400]

Wouldn't that mean that SkySteve's 85DD is really the second?

[DesertFox4]

84DD was born in ‘84’.
85DD was born in ‘85’.
Both historic Kitfox aircraft but serial numbers are likely hundreds apart from each other due to the popularity of the design right out of the gate in 1984.

[SkySteve]

Well, it just so happens that I can confirm the serial # of 85DD is "42". As usual, it takes a few tries to get to "perfection"!

[DesertFox4]

42 it is. Not as many sold the first year as I would have guessed.

[SkySteve]

The building of 85DD was started in 1985. The Airworthiness Certificate was issued in 1986. Then, off to Osh for 1st place build awards in both 1986 & 1987.

[av8rps]

Pretty cool to know 85DD is still going strong. Thanks for keeping it alive Steve.

As light as the early planes were, now that you have a 912 under the hood 85DD has got to be a real hotrod.

[SkySteve]

And 85DD still looks brand new: