The closest i got to being serious about a purchase was crunching numbers on some of the homebuilts out there.. I would be a little nervous about flying something built in the 50's.. doesn't the airframe have limited hours of airworthiness? I have no idea how that is regulated
Nope. Unpressurized Cessna singles do not have a life limit at all, on any part of the major structure. I can't say that is true for the pressurized versions as pressurization is something that causes fatigue with aircraft. And I'm also not saying there are not life limited parts, but what I am saying is that there are no major structures that will have a life limit on them that will cause a Cessna to be grounded or scrapped.
The flight school I worked and trained at, we had multiple 1997 model 172R's with over 11,000 tach hours on them. We had a 1974 Cessna 172M with just over 5,000hrs on it. But as you can see, the younger aircraft has more hours on it than the much older aircraft. In aviation you can not go by age at all, it's all about hours flown and even then, a high hour Cessna is still a very good aircraft.
We also had a 13,000hr '88 Piper Arrow. Now the pipers on the other hand... Piper's aircraft wings do have a life limit on them. Which is around 15,000hrs if I remember correctly. At that point you either put new wings onto the aircraft or you scrap it.
At our museum, we have a 1958 Cessna 150. Not a Cessna 150A/B/C/D/etc, but the original C-150. It was line number 47 of 23,000+ C-150's and a further 7,000+ C-152's. I don't think it even has 1,000hrs on it. But I don't have any issue flying it as I know it's a sound aircraft and was well taken care for by the single owner it had prior to us acquiring it.
The only thing you truly have to worry with older aircraft is corrosion. If it's a well maintained old aircraft, it will be just as good as a new aircraft.
