Hi everyone, been lurking around here for the last couple days and using the search function pretty extensively. But now it's time to get some opinions from the community.
I'm a fairly new PPL (~90hrs). I came across a Mooney the other day that sort of piqued my interest. It's a '63 with about 5400 TTAF and 1500 SMOH with a new prop. I think it can be had for a pretty good deal <$20k. But here is the back story. It has been out of annual for a couple years. A Dr owned it for awhile and when he died it was donated to a school that never opened. The plane sat for a few years and another guy bought it. It sat for another year and he forgot he had bought the plane. He got a ferry permit and had a Mooney pilot fly it about 65nm to a local airfield where it has sat for another year. Now I understand from my searching that there are few flags here. First would be the engine. I would need to have someone pull the jugs and check the cams to see what kind of shape they are in. Next I would have to have an annual done. I'm debating on trying to get the current owner to go in half on an annual and if I don't like the results I just wouldn't buy. This would basically be the same cost as a good PPI. The other thing is, as it's sat for awhile I would certainly get the spar inspected along with tubes, landing gear, other common problem areas. I did notice today that where the fuel selector is on the floor, it was full of water but I guess that doesn't mean much. It does have the stc's for fuel bladders and shoulder harnesses. One of the tanks MAY have a leak. So based off of your experiences, does this sound like something even worth looking into or am I mostly going to run into problems that pile up quickly?
Sidenote, the plane was mostly outside for the last few years it's sat. It's an extremely cold climate in the winter and can get rainy in the summer/fall.
