https://akaircraftsales.com/item/1977-bellanca-7gcbc/

In my search for my first airplane, I've pretty much skipped the Citabria, but this bird is being sold by a company who is owned by someone I know and trust, and is currently owned by a pilot I flew in Denali with, who I trust as well. I still have plenty of reading to do, and am going to do a deep dive on the make/model, and this specific airplane regardless of the sellers.


What I DO know that's NOT in the advertisement:

The airplane was previously crashed at lake hood strip during an engine failure on takeoff, and rebuilt by Dan's Aircraft in 2000.
It's been an outside bird almost consistently since recover. He refurbished the leading edge fabric last year.
It has wood spars....

My main concerns at this point are the wood spars, fabric, and limited baggage space.

I'm not scared of wood spars per-se, but will want to make damn sure that there's not issues with these as I can't afford to re-spar or re-wing the thing right off the bat.

I'll need to closely consider the fabric. Part of me doesn't mind that it's been outside because It will live outside in the summers here, so I'll be less worried about wrecking something shiny and new. But I also want to make sure I get a good few years of use before I have to dig in for a re-cover.

And lastly, baggage space. Does anyone have any good info or pictures on a loaded up citabria? I'm not looking to spike out a hunting camp for weeks on end, but weekend trips with a friend out of McCall into the Idaho country is going to be a must.

Any other thoughts greatly appreciated. If it doesn't sell before fire season is up, I'm planning a trip to go fly it and do a pre-buy.