S/N 1

[201Steve]

Just curious, does anyone around here have Serial Number “1” for any model? I have a J, would be cool to have S/N 24-001. 

[PTK]

There's another Mooney on my field that’s one digit next to mine. They are twins separated at birth.  But as fate would have it they are reunited! 

[jaylw314]

15 minutes ago, 201Steve said:

Just curious, does anyone around here have Serial Number “1” for any model? I have a J, would be cool to have S/N 24-001. 

At least on the FAA registry, the earliest M20J is N823SP (24-0003) registered in Wilmington DE to a corporation, but FlightAware has flights in the past month based out of Tucson and Phoenix in AZ

[201Steve]

31 minutes ago, PTK said:

There's another Mooney on my field that’s one digit next to mine. They are twins separated at birth.  But as fate would have it they are reunited! 

Also cool!

[takair]

Our Grim Reaper likely has the dataplate to Super-21 number 1....he had the rest of the plane too, but I guess it was BER.  Anyway, pics of the destruction around here somewhere......

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, PTK said:

There's another Mooney on my field that’s one digit next to mine. They are twins separated at birth.  But as fate would have it they are reunited! 

There are Mooneys all over DVT, my home field (a bunch of the peeps are here on MS).    One day while driving amongst the hangars on the way to mine, I see *my* airplane taxiing from the fuel pump back to the north hangars...wtf!?!?!   Then I notice the tail number is slightly different...d'oh.   I went over and met the guy, and his airplane is also a '77 J only about 25 serial numbers before mine.  Nearly the exact same paint job.   He's owned it for something like 25 years.  Interestingly, his came from the factory with no step...we were comparing a few things that are same/different.

Definitely cool when stuff like that happens.

[carusoam]

I have a low, single digit O... 

-a-

[ragedracer1977]

On 7/17/2019 at 5:26 PM, jaylw314 said:

At least on the FAA registry, the earliest M20J is N823SP (24-0003) registered in Wilmington DE to a corporation, but FlightAware has flights in the past month based out of Tucson and Phoenix in AZ

Funny enough, I was out hunting this weekend Northwest of Flagstaff and 823SP flew overhead. I had to snap a picture.  Looked him up on flight radar later to see if it was someone I knew 

[RobertGary1]

On 7/17/2019 at 5:26 PM, jaylw314 said:

At least on the FAA registry, the earliest M20J is N823SP (24-0003) registered in Wilmington DE to a corporation, but FlightAware has flights in the past month based out of Tucson and Phoenix in AZ

I’ve found a lot of FlightAware activity for planes that are not in condition to fly. Just walk around the weeds at a local airport snd look at recent activity for the various derelicts. 
 

-Robert

[GeeBee]

I used to fly a C-402 s/n 1. We called it the "four-oh-tomb".

I used to fly an MD-88 s/n 1. The FMC's would regularly go blank as would your position on the screen. Never was able to fix it until they retrofitted IRU into it.

My late wife once bought her company provided executive vehicle, she worked for Ford and it was s/n 1. We and AAA got very well acquainted.

Never own s/n 1. Everything on it is a prototype and most parts....will not fit.

 

[Hank]

1 hour ago, GeeBee said:

I used to fly a C-402 s/n 1. We called it the "four-oh-tomb".

I used to fly an MD-88 s/n 1. The FMC's would regularly go blank as would your position on the screen. Never was able to fix it until they retrofitted IRU into it.

My late wife once bought her company provided executive vehicle, she worked for Ford and it was s/n 1. We and AAA got very well acquainted.

Never own s/n 1. Everything on it is a prototype and most parts....will not fit.

Never buy a vehicle during it's first year of production. A recent study I read said that the highest satisfaction and fewest repairs were on vehicles made the year before redesign, when they've had time to fix everything that was rushed to market . . . .

[Skates97]

2 hours ago, Hank said:

Never buy a vehicle during it's first year of production. A recent study I read said that the highest satisfaction and fewest repairs were on vehicles made the year before redesign, when they've had time to fix everything that was rushed to market . . . .

I've spent the last 26 years in the automotive dealership industry and whole heartedly agree. It is like the first year is just put out there to let the new owners troubleshoot issues. The same thing can be said if it is a previous model and they have come out with a new engine or transmission. Give it a couple years for them to work out the issues.

[MooneyMitch]

11 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

I've spent the last 26 years in the automotive dealership industry and whole heartedly agree. It is like the first year is just put out there to let the new owners troubleshoot issues. The same thing can be said if it is a previous model and they have come out with a new engine or transmission. Give it a couple years for them to work out the issues.

 A dear friend just received his C8.  Uh oh!!!

[Skates97]

38 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said:

 A dear friend just received his C8.  Uh oh!!!

They are a beautiful car. Between our two Chevrolet stores we have sold 38 this year, they are gone almost as fast as they come in. (Almost all were pre-sold) They are coming in for random issues but no patterns to it, yet...

[Missile=Awesome]

1 hour ago, Skates97 said:

I've spent the last 26 years in the automotive dealership industry and whole heartedly agree. It is like the first year is just put out there to let the new owners troubleshoot issues. The same thing can be said if it is a previous model and they have come out with a new engine or transmission. Give it a couple years for them to work out the issues.

VW releases in Europe prior to US release. Doesn’t eliminate defects, but helps no doubt. 

[MooneyMitch]

23 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

They are a beautiful car. Between our two Chevrolet stores we have sold 38 this year, they are gone almost as fast as they come in. (Almost all were pre-sold) They are coming in for random issues but no patterns to it, yet...

Yes, it’s so much bang for the buck..... a gorgeous vehicle!

My friend ordered in March, received about 3 weeks ago.  I drove him to the dealership..... super exciting!

He’s a longtime Corvette person.  Owns his 65’ he purchased when it was one year old.  Restored 2 times to perfection!  

With his C8 dreamcar, he sold his 2014 C7 to his son in law.

I did see a C8 recall on a brake module sensor recently.... not a biggie.....so far. 

Photo is from delivery day! 

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I've spent the last 26 years in the automotive dealership industry and whole heartedly agree. It is like the first year is just put out there to let the new owners troubleshoot issues. The same thing can be said if it is a previous model and they have come out with a new engine or transmission. Give it a couple years for them to work out the issues.

That's a testament to how difficult it is to fully test products before you deploy them, especially full production articles.    It takes a little bit to get the production line/methods stable to build them, and the users are finding all kinds of unanticipated ways to break them. 

One of my most gratifying moments as an engineer was calling a customer for feedback about a product that had been designed exclusively for them, after I realized we'd never gotten any field feedback from them after a couple of years.   They'd never gotten any returns or complaints or field issues that they knew of.   That's pretty rare.

[carusoam]

Modern manufacturing has come a long way...

1) from early serialization... to modern serialization.... including bar codes, laser printers, and Lasar scanners....

2) to complete track and trace of all the parts used in one machine... (or M&Ms in a bag...) 

3) At the parts level... every lot of material, used in the plastic interior parts from Colors, to fillers, to fibers, to the polymer materials themselves... all traceable back to the supplier of the sub components...

4) The biggest change available today... getting all this data back out of the system when needed... go cloud!

5) I am not a fan of buying the A model of anything...  But an early Ovation, isn’t exactly buying an M20A... in 1958...  (buying and owning one today is not much of a challenge... compared to the early days.)

6) Some companies have a conservative first year for launch... So the C8 is Really a spectacular car.... But...

7) I bet there are some planned updates coming with year two of the C8...

8) So... if you can only buy one... and you can wait... hang on for a year...

 

I stopped by the Chevy dealer a week ago (Planning the next 20 year step of our next daily driver...)... there was only one new Corvette on the lot... it was In line for an oil change... 

Amazing how computer technology has advanced the assembly of machines...
 

Speaking of interesting drivers of technology.....   Mary Barra rose to leadership at GM during an external crisis of the economy, and lead through the internal crisis of improper serialization.... now the CEO of GM...  (since 2014)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Barra

Best regards,

-a-

 

[MooneyMitch]

2 hours ago, carusoam said:

5) I am not a fan of buying the A model of anything...  But an early Ovation, isn’t exactly buying an M20A... in 1958...  (buying and owning one today is not much of a challenge... compared to the early days.)

Agree on the early Ovation statement.......certainly not like reinventing the wheel for sure.

With that said, I believe mine was nearly the last one to come from the wonderful Kerrville folks December 1994 S/N 29-0019.  I figured they got all the bugs worked out with the first 18 of them.....lol !

[MooneyMitch]

OshKosh 2013......Jerry Chen and new entourage show up at AirVenture.  We find each other excitedly and help set up tent/displays.

Soon thereafter, up drives, if my memory is correct, M20 #2.......WOW!!  Mooney International found it, bought it and put it on display outside the tent.  Said they couldn’t find #1.

Does Mooney still own this beauty?? 

[spistora]

The company I work for provides automation for automotive assembly plants (GM, Ford, FCA, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, etc..). I've spent the past 30 years watching the assembly of vehicles in Noth America and would suggest not purchasing a vehicle during the first year of production.

[RobertGary1]

I flew the Citation Jet that was #3. The first I don't think flew and the second was the prototype so this was the first production CJ. At least that is what the owner said.

-Robert

[201er]

On 7/17/2019 at 8:08 PM, 201Steve said:

Just curious, does anyone around here have Serial Number “1” for any model? I have a J, would be cool to have S/N 24-001. 

 

[GeeBee]

By the way, I forgot to mention I met the OP, 201Steve at KSSI two weeks ago! It was a real pleasure and I wish I had more time, but my party was pulling on me as we only had the day there. You got to love a MS'er who hangs out at the airport and checks out every Mooney that comes in!

 

[MooneyMitch]

1 hour ago, GeeBee said:

You got to love a MS'er who hangs out at the airport and checks out every Mooney that comes in!

It’s what we’re programmed to do !