Thanks for adding me to the group. I brought my new (to me) airplane home to KPRC yesterday, and it brought a wave of nostalgia.
There are almost 55 years between these two pictures. Both airplanes are nearly identical 1962 "C" model Mooneys. The brown one was the first retractable landing-gear airplane I ever flew. It is still flying, based in Wisconsin. I had many wonderful adventures in that bronze bird when it was nearly new in the late '60s.
I have about 100 hours Mooney time, twentyish in a wood-wing M20A and the rest in the M20C, none of it more recent than 40 years ago. A friend and I used to shut down the wood-wing and we could ridge-soar it, prop stopped, in the orographic lift from the Estrella mountain ridge SW of Phoenix.
I bought this blue Mooney from a friend. I can tell I'm going to have a fun time with my new bird. It's old now, but so am I!