Im_an_FNG

What makes you say that? Personal experience?

I'm 2 miles from KTSP

Does anyone in the Socal area want to fly up to Stockton to look at this Mooney? I'm in Tehachapi and would gladly coordinate and pay for your fuel/operating costs/burgers/beers.

This is pretty much what my mechanic told me. Almost to the T. He also did the same with the owner, and I think everyone walked away happy. These things are such delicate situations.

I just want to go ahead and say that the guys at Sonoma Jet Center went WAYY above and beyond on the pre-buy inspection. It was a humongous eye opener. I am so happy to have given them my business. When I finally find the right airplane, they will be getting my business regularly.

So I took my first choice Mooney to pre-buy. The mechanic found something wrong with literally everything on the bird. I wasn't able to see the airplane before the pre-buy (shame on me), but it basically ended up being one big project airplane (despite being pitched as pristine). So I'm back to square one, trying to figure out how to spot these lemons before I waste $1k [save $40k] on a prebuy. All that to say...let's hear some opinions about this bird https://www.controller.com/listings/aircraft/for-sale/98544505/1967-mooney-m20f-exec-21 ...it's local to me so I could take a look at it before making any committments.

That doesn't sound like much fun (to my friend).

How does one run a fuel tank dry? Asking for a friend...

Hey man, I don't know about spare parts. But I am super glad to hear you are safe and well. Those birds are heavy. To that end, i suspect you have structural damage in the vertical tail.