Whoa... $50k for a FWB KF7 STi ?!!

[dholly 718]

Ok, just poking around looking at new/used prices and was floored to find the KF7 STi FWB kit a hair under $50,000.

$45,000 for the 7 Speedster and $42,000 for the 7 SS FWB kits.

Granted, I've not been looking for any build/rebuild projects these past 5 years but that represents quite a jump from pre-C19 prices, IIRC.

More $$$ chasing fewer goods? Has the price of complete, un-started kits KF and Avid kits taken off too?

Kit Pricing 230101.pdf

Edited 4 Jun 2023 by dholly
Price brochure

[1avidflyer 1983]

I think there is a two year wait on the kits as well.  I suppose if you can sell more kits than you can produce, prices will go up.  I think my Kitfox 4 firewall back kit was something like $14000.  That was in 1993.  Adjusted for inflation is there much difference in price?  JImChuk

[Av8r3400 1179]

I think there is a two year wait on the kits as well.  I suppose if you can sell more kits than you can produce, prices will go up.  I think my Kitfox 4 firewall back kit was something like $14000.  That was in 1993.  Adjusted for inflation is there much difference in price?  JImChuk

Spot on, Jim.

At $50k, they're selling as many as they can make.  They know they have a hot commodity.  To increase production is almost impossible while maintaining the same level of quality that they put into their kits.

Doug's just a little salty because he remembers going to the movies for a nickel...

[Allen Sutphin 705]

Jim, the model 4 kit you have that I'd built was 9850 back in the day. With cowling and everything minus engine and prop. I think '91.

[1avidflyer 1983]

Price must have shot up a bit over the next few yrs.  I have all the receipts and such from the Kitfox 4 I'm building now.  It's a 94 model.  Shipping and packing to Duluth Mn was $500.  Total price was $14578.75.  That was firewall back.  No cowl or motor mount, ect.  Dual brakes, preformed windshield and a few other options included in the total price.

 

[nlappos 413]

Thank Trent Palmer, who really popularized the KF and showed the fun we all have.

[ChrisBolkan 130]

It might also have something to do with US GovCorp printing billions in the last few years diluting the value of the dollar. I don't know.

[nlappos 413]

The dollar has been steady against other first world currencies for decades.

[Av8r3400 1179]

The dollar has been steady against other first world currencies for decades.

So you're saying the one world order/government types are colluding with each other to control the economies of all of the "western world" in order to maintain their tyrannical authoritarianism?  I whole heartedly agree.

[nlappos 413]

The dollar has been steady against other first world currencies for decades.

So you're saying the one world order/government types are colluding with each other to control the economies of all of the "western world" in order to maintain their tyrannical authoritarianism?  I whole heartedly agree.

Yea, if there really were conspiracies, things would run a lot better!

[ChrisBolkan 130]

Wouldn't the dollar be BETTER off against other currencies if it were sound currency as opposed to fiat?

[nlappos 413]

Wouldn't the dollar be BETTER off against other currencies if it were sound currency as opposed to fiat?

It is. But too much better means our interest rates are high, and that's not good, either. It also means US goods cost more overseas. See the chart, the big spike on the left is when Reagan drove the interest rates way up. I bought a great meal in Paris for about $35 back then!

[dholly 718]

Well now I am thinking the unthinkable and seriously wrestling with selling my Avid+ FWB kit. That was always going to be my final ‘retirement’ build but I lost my home/shop space after moving south and been waitlisted 2+ yrs for local hangars. Don’t think that is likely to change soon. Maybe I’ll pack it up and put it in the Fly Mart at Airventure next week. 

[Av8r3400 1179]

Looking forward to seeing you, Doug!

[dholly 718]

I think there is a two year wait on the kits as well.  I suppose if you can sell more kits than you can produce, prices will go up.  I think my Kitfox 4 firewall back kit was something like $14000.  That was in 1993.  Adjusted for inflation is there much difference in price?  JImChuk

More than 100%

[dholly 718]

My A+ kit was $13,500 in 2005.

[sioux201 84]

You’re missing something Doug, the market doesn’t want to buy Avid. (They don’t know what f—- there missing)

[Buckchop 479]

I have a friend he lives about 125 miles from me in BFE, that has a brand new unstarted FWB model 4 kit he bought new in the day had it shipped to Alaska, he is sellin for what he has init, $15,000 last i heard. 

[dholly 718]

Good price if you're in AK but costly to ship back to the lower states I would imagine? Not sure that is a direct competition though. The A+ is higher gross, cabin is the same 43"w as KF 5-7 and can be built a heck of a lot lighter for less than half the price of the current KF models. It is for sure slotted somewhere between the KF 4-1200/Avid Mk4 and KF7 models as to size and capabilities. It may well represent the best price point bargain Avid (or original Airdale, if you know your history) ever produced, but they are rarer than hen's teeth with only 7 complete kits sold as Airdale was focused on marketing the Fat Avid fuselage retrofit to existing Avid owners.

[ChrisBolkan 130]

I Love my Fat Avid!

SO much room. I just camped in the Wallowa mountains and took my wife, a 7 person ultralight Tentipi, (12 feet diameter, 10 feet tall in the center) a wood stove for it and camping chairs in addition to all the normal stuff you need to camp. I did have small bags tied to the jury struts. But it all fit and I wasn't over gross. Try that with a kitfox. Highlander yes, but any other KF or Avid no way. Well a Magnum can carry all that, but its a completely different league of plane.

[dholly 718]

I Love my Fat Avid!

SO much room. I just camped in the Wallowa mountains and took my wife, a 7 person ultralight Tentipi, (12 feet diameter, 10 feet tall in the center) a wood stove for it and camping chairs in addition to all the normal stuff you need to camp. I did have small bags tied to the jury struts. But it all fit and I wasn't over gross. Try that with a kitfox. Highlander yes, but any other KF or Avid no way. Well a Magnum can carry all that, but its a completely different league of plane.

7-person tent and wood stove, lol. Of course, the ladies definition of 'all the normal stuff you need to camp' may vary considerably too.

[Buckchop 479]

Good price if you're in AK but costly to ship back to the lower states I would imagine? Not sure that is a direct competition though. The A+ is higher gross, cabin is the same 43"w as KF 5-7 and can be built a heck of a lot lighter for less than half the price of the current KF models. It is for sure slotted somewhere between the KF 4-1200/Avid Mk4 and KF7 models as to size and capabilities. It may well represent the best price point bargain Avid (or original Airdale, if you know your history) ever produced, but they are rarer than hen's teeth with only 7 complete kits sold as Airdale was focused on marketing the Fat Avid fuselage retrofit to existing Avid owners.

I hear u there, I was more on Jims commet i guess on the model 4 and thinkin the price for the one my friend has is CHEAP, id love to have it but thats all i need is another plane project, i just finished the 1947 PA12 build in Nov and only 15hrs on it, a summer of mining kind of takes the time away faster than u realize. Hahahahaaaa

[dholly 718]

I hear u there, I was more on Jims commet i guess on the model 4 and thinkin the price for the one my friend has is CHEAP, id love to have it but thats all i need is another plane project, i just finished the 1947 PA12 build in Nov and only 15hrs on it, a summer of mining kind of takes the time away faster than u realize. Hahahahaaaa

Get diggin' and start buying!! You'll be snowed in before you know it, hehe.

[Buckchop 479]

I hear u there, I was more on Jims commet i guess on the model 4 and thinkin the price for the one my friend has is CHEAP, id love to have it but thats all i need is another plane project, i just finished the 1947 PA12 build in Nov and only 15hrs on it, a summer of mining kind of takes the time away faster than u realize. Hahahahaaaa

Get diggin' and start buying!! You'll be snowed in before you know it, hehe.

Get to diggin??? U know what it takes to dig 140’ off the side of a mountain to get to bedrock? Hahahahaaaa  Man ive been digging all summer and still have more to go. Mayb b there befor end of this month. 

[dholly 718]

Not quite as easy as the gold shows would have you believe lol.