When Celio Oliveira, Owner of USA Aircraft Refinishing decided to provide his customers the ultimate in customer interaction experience, some important facts started to become apparent.  First, in this current economy aircraft owners are updating their current wings or buying used and restoring in favor of buying new.

At face value one would think that buying new has many advantages like zero time and latest avionics but that does not always translated to the final product as we would all like to own.

The reason a 1966 V35 was selected was simple, cabin room, styling, and price, the performance was just a bonus. Knowing that most high performance singles are $600,000 plus with performance from 165 knots to 200 knots and range from 800 to 1,200 it was apparent that the V35 would be a good comparison plane to restore and show how a new or seasoned aircraft owner can spend 1/3 to 1/2 the price of new high performance single and have a similar if not better ride.

This project started out with a 1966 V35 with 3,900 TT with a Continental 520 closing in on 1,500 total time, the aircraft had Avionics that ranged from 4 years old to 15 the interior was only 5 years old but looked like 15, the paint in the advertisement said newly painted and was a 9, but in fact it showed signs of neglect and the best tracking down we could do showed the plane was repainted in 1990 and at the time the original paint was not removed so the plane showed areas of time long ago. The purchase was for $68,000 and this provided the foundation to build on.

The first decision was to either provide the latest in look and feel or some combination of the above. The choice was to keep the outside original from it humble beginnings but update the inside with the latest in fit, comfort and avionics, so the pictures were taken of the current paint scheme so it could be replicated, but the interior would be totally made over.

The first challenge was to have the annual that was completed 1-week prior to delivery confirmed as we quickly observed there were concerns that needed to be addressed before this project could move forward. The concerns were valid and the additional work to be completed totaled $6,461.29, but this expense would not be ours, as the story will explain later.