Factory Sherriff's sale

[Ed O'Brien]

I just talked to Forrest -- as you know Barber's closed on Mondays and Forrest is on his way to shoot some aerials so he couldn't talk long -- but he stated -- that Harry and the factory have been sued and there is an impending sherriff's sale of factory items in a few days. I'm sure that Forrest will update this item tomorrow. Too bad for all of us that had hoped Harry would turn the corner and make good on his many many promises. Much too bad, except this might open things up for a final resolution of the matter and sale to somebody who will actually get the factory on it's feet. I know nothing more but we'll find out from Forrest soon.
With regards;
Ed O'Brien

[VictorBravo]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

I see two options:

It needs to be owned by the Foundation, and parts need to be made first to get a bunch of existing airplanes back in the air. The "profit" from those parts can be used to develop the production airplanes, based on the experience and knowledge Forrest and others have.

OR, the Foundation can own and manage it, and license the production of parts and production aircraft to an entity that is capable of doing it inexpensively and properly. Whether that's Mexico, the Czech Republic, Antartica, or Alliance Ohio can be figured out.

Although it is NOT as easy as some people think, we do have a group of people who care. We have engineers, DER's, businessmen, factory test pilots, and some amount of business acumen in this group. We have enough people where we could pass the hat, collect enough money to buy the tooling and TC, and move on like the Luscombe guys and others have done. There should be some way to do it as a non-profit organization or a co-op or something.

I haven't done the math, but you'd think that if each of the club and foundation members put in $300 we could buy it, especially if the bankruptcy judge were informed of Taylorcraft's history and that they could finally put the ownership in it's rightful place.

Bill

[Ed O'Brien]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

This obviously will take sometime to shake out. Depending how many people are in line and what gets sold off -- Either there won't be anything but lightbulbs and bathroom towels left, or there will be a company with little debt and a great product. I've done marketing, public relations, and publicity for Cessna, Beechcraft, Lear, and several more... I'd donate some expertise to the next owner.
That said, let's see what Forrest knows. Literally, our conversation today was less than 5 minutes. He said he'd chime in tomorrow. But, I'd gladly invest $300.00
and some know-how. My first piece of advice would be: promise only what you can deliver and don't alienate those that love you, want you succeed, and will be your customers!
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

[flylo]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Great idea! Count me in,I love these old planes! Eric

[Tom G]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

WOW! Am I ever glad I just got my landing gear back from Brownsville! Sad news though, hopefully it will get into the right hands.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Maybe there's a way to have the design and rights declared some sort of national historic artifact. Or a State of Ohio historical artifact.

I'll bet that Forrest (or whoever) could go to the city of Alliance, or the State, and get some sort of funding like Harry did in Texas, but this time it would be not only for jobs but as a historical thing too.

I'd approach all the local businesses, with a catch phrase like "Save American Jobs...Preserve American History... Preserve Ohio Aviation History!" And tell them the whole "can't keep a good airplane down" story of Taylorcraft.

I'd use all the failed stock offerings, bond drives, etc. that they did back in the 40's as a positive historical thing, and position it as though the people of Ohio have a rare chance to go back 60 years in time and win a battle that was once lost.

"What if you could go back in time and buy Abe Lincoln a different seat in the theater? What if you could go back in time and give Amelia Earhart a GPS? What if you could go back in time and hit Senator McCarthy with a baseball bat? What if you could go back in time and save a classic American aircraft, and insure it's future for all time? Ohio... you can save Taylorcraft!"

Between Ed's professional experience in aviation PR and my BS degree in Advanced BS, we could come up with some really catchy ideas.

The entire American aviation community knows the Taylorcraft story, and I think emotional support (and financial) would be forthcoming, just so everyone could play a part in righting an old wrong.

This is about a national treasure, not about money. the money has to be dealt with of course, but it's the national treasure factor that I believe will make the difference between another failure and a success.

[Ed O'Brien]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Bill you have an Advanced BS? -- My BS is some practical experience and some for personal entertainment. That said -- Cubcrafters and Aviat both could use an introductory low priced line to their brands. If T-Crafts can actually be built for $75-85 thousand, that is -- I'd recommend that these thriving and going concernes that already know the prat-falls, pit-falls, and live in cover-alls, take a look at Taylorcraft. American Champion, and Legend Cub wouldn't want to take Taylorcraft out of bankruptcy because they'd be cutting into their own brands. If you've got a 10% price point difference (as Champion and Legend have) then you're hoping that Taylorcraft fails and goes the way of the Dodo bird. If you've got a 25-30%
price difference (as Aviat and Cubcrafters have) then you want something to cut-off your competitors customers and move them up eventually to your higher priced brands. There's a little marketing 101 for free, from me. Think of how General Motors is organized with Pontiac-Chevrolet-Buick-and Cadillac moving customers up the brand. But considering how GM is going maybe that's not working anymore.
With regards and salutations;
ED OBRIEN

[mhorowit]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

I just talked to Forrest -- as you know Barber's closed on Mondays and Forrest is on his way to shoot some aerials so he couldn't talk long -- but he stated -- that Harry and the factory have been sued and there is an impending sherriff's sale of factory items in a few days. I'm sure that Forrest will update this item tomorrow. Too bad for all of us that had hoped Harry would turn the corner and make good on his many many promises. Much too bad, except this might open things up for a final resolution of the matter and sale to somebody who will actually get the factory on it's feet. I know nothing more but we'll find out from Forrest soon.
With regards;
Ed O'Brien

I don't know much about the legal system, but there seem to be gaps in the above. You can sue anyone for anything, right? Gotta go to court to win. Also, if there is anyway the plaintiff can get their money, they'd probably want to keep the factory functioning rather than close it down; "sherriff sale" would be after all hope was lost, right? - Mike

[Victor Gisclair]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Great count me in. I love the T-Craft and would hate to see it go down the drain.

[cpirrmann]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

From waht I see here, ther battle's already lost no matter who gets it. GA needs a HUGE shake-up if the dream of post WWII aviation is ever going to be realized. The long awaited for sport pilot initiatives will do nothing to revitalize GA as long as your basic entry plane is over 50,000.00. Nothing promotes the longevity of GA as much as ownership and nothing hinders the growth of GA as much as the perception that flying is a pastime for the rich.
Until an affordable aircraft is built (yes these new SLA's cost more than most homes in this country) then the best we can hope for is a company that can provide services to keep the old planes flying. If new one's weren't so expensive, we wouldn't have such an old GA fleet. If the aforementioned GM used the same model, there'd be a huge fleet of 57 Chevy BelAirs, 40 Ford Coupe's, etc as standard cars, not collectors items. This is another reason the experimental wing is growing so much. You can claim we fly antiques, vintage, etc. but when you see the same plane your local FBO is using for training, or the first plane you hope to aquire, on the front page of Vintage Aircraft, there's a very good reason they're still there.

Perhaps before we hit Senator McCarthy with a ball bat, we should wrap it in the Venona project which proved 40 years later that the people in the government he was prosecuting actually were Soviet spies. Or if we moved Lincoln over one seat, his wife might've been killed and hardened his heart against the South instead of wanting them brought back into the union as brothers instead of as the conquered. Or if Amelia Earhart made it back and reported information that sent us to war earlier in a much less prepared state.
In short, we need to not do the same things with a slightly different twist, we need to do something to change the situation completely.

[Steve Pierce]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Somebody like the Legend guys could buy it and make it work. They started with a bunch of drawings and have built around 40 airplanes. I say build LSA's, get the company's feet on firm ground and go from there. It can be done, look at the other LSA airplanes out there. Save your money, invest it in certifying parts and then the whole airplane.

[jawinn]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

My 1.5 cents. Whoever aquires the tooling for Tcraft would do well to concentrate on the manufacture of parts and forget about airplanes until some revenue is generated. There are many of us out here that would love to be able to buy new parts. After the company has some cash on hand, crank up the aircraft mill. Baby steps, if you will, to return to profitability.

[birdlegs]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

For example if I may; Refer to the Cub Crafters success story,They manufactured replacement & upgrade components, and staightend out shitty frames for years before trying anything large scale.Today they own a type certificate any enjoy a three year back log of orders for $200,000 airplanes.True the design owns an excusive market niche, but they still had to make good moves to position themselves,and my focus is on that.
Can't begin to think what it would be like to get parts in a timley fashion and at a fair market price.

[CraigH]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Perhaps if no one is able to produce entire airframes, someone such as Univair could pick up the tooling and type certificate. At least they would be capable of producing parts for the existing birds.

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Factory Sherriff's sale

Perhaps if no one is able to produce entire airframes, someone such as Univair could pick up the tooling and type certificate. At least they would be capable of producing parts for the existing birds.

Univair already owned T-craft once and I doubt they want it back. We were dealers for T-craft parts back when they were in Lock Haven and told them then to forget about building airplanes and build parts. Why build one airplane for one customer with a huge factory and tremendous overhead when you can build parts for a potential customer base with around 2,000 airplanes left? LSA is helping the light aircraft market but as a company, T-craft would be much better off supporting the existing market by supplying parts and possibly restoring a few airplanes along the way. As much as I liked T-craft's, they don't have the draw the Cubs and Champs do and have 50 years of poor company sucess except for a few highlights along the way. If I had $70k to spend on an airplane, it sure wouldn't be for a new T-craft, but that is IMO.

Mike