Think I need to share this so others will know.

I contacted a seller of a Kitfox IV in TN on barnstormers. He told me the following about his Kitfox IV for sale:

1. Always hangered.
2. Looks like the day it was built.
3. There is only one spot by the door where the belt rubbed the paint.
4. Seats are in great condition.
5. Hoses and lines are in good condition.

He asked me to make a deposit of $1,000 to hold the plane until I could get to TN to see the plane. I was hesitant but I agreed as he came across honest to me and I tend to try and trust people until proven otherwise.

Here is the short list of what I found:

1. This plane was not hangered all its life. The fabric in the plane was badly faded on both the pilot and passenger sides. The paint also looked like it was weathered pretty bad. I noticed some recent marks on the tires where it had just been rolled off of the trailer that comes with this "deal". So the plane appeared to be "staged for sale" in a hangar at the airport. My impression was that this plane was kept somewhere else and brought to this hangar for sale.
2. The right brake was leaking fluid.
3. The right rudder pedal was catching and rubbing.
4. The throttle you had to hold constantly or it would not maintain the set RPM.
5. The fuel hoses coming out of the wing tanks were cracked.
6. The oil cooler had been cut in half to fit under the cowling.
7. The oil and coolant hoses needed replacement.
8. The engine maintinance under the cowl was bad. He had 6 small zip ties chained together to hold one hose out of the way. So instead of buying 1 larger zip tie he put 6 small ones together to make it work.
9. He had duct tape on the underside of the plane and it was even falling off.
10. The EGT gauges did not work.
11. The trim was broken.
12. The leading edge tape needed replacement a long time ago.
13. The ball was way out of center and I was just told to remember where it was supposed to be.
On the 16 hour drive back my dad and I came up with well over 24 things wrong with the plane. The plane looked way way different than the pictures. My dad and I even questioned if it was the same plane. At the end of the day, we left without the plane. I just couldn't throw good money after bad. I called the guy after we went to lunch and he refused to give the money back. I didn't care at this point. I was too frustrated. I thought of all the things that were wrong and how I felt he was dishonest. And then I wondered what he might not be telling me. If he had a prop strike, would he have been honest about that? He did have two engine outs when it had a 2 stroke on it. Was he hiding hard landings from those? If he was dishonest about a few things I can only speculate what else he was dishonest about.

Some of the other things I knew beforehand but did not like but was willing to accept:
1. He ran 100LL and never used a lead scavenger.
2. He never re shimmed the gearbox in 1250 hours.
3. He never changed the coolant.

On a positive note, my dad and I had a great road trip out to TN. We saw some real nice country and listened to Band of Brothers on CD. I think I will always remember the trip with my dad to go buy a plane! and for that, it was worth more than actually coming home with one.

Wes