Photo: Facebook/Whitemud Wallcovering
Few people know this nowadays, but back in the late 1950s there were quite a few light aircraft builders, especially in Europe, who were adapting air-cooled Boxer engines from the Porsche 356 and the Volkswagen Beetle into aircraft engines.
With just a few modifications, those ancient air-cooled flat-fours were apparently great for powering light planes, to the point when Porsche itself jumped in on the action and cooperated with the builders to produce a series of factory-built airplane engines between 1957 and 1963.
Fast-forward to 1981, when Porsche decided to try its cards in the aviation industry once again, only this time it went all-in by establishing an entire division called PFM.
PFM comes from Porsche Flugmotoren, which pretty much translates to Porsche Flight Engines, for those not proficient in German.
This time, Porsche took a 3.2-liter flat-six from the 911 Carrera and went to town with it, modifying it for medium to high altitude running, especially when equipped with a turbocharger. Four different versions of the 3.2-liter were built starting with 1985, with the most powerful one developing 241 horsepower.
Despite being essentially based on a 50-year old design and still air-cooled, the so-called PFM 3200 engine was one of the most advanced on the general aviation market and spurred a lot of interest. It was fitted on a variety of small aircraft, including the Socata TB-16, Robin DR400, Extra 330 and the Mooney M20L.
A total of just 41 Mooney airplanes were ever built with the Porsche 911 engine between 1988 and 1989, and it just so happens that one of those rare birds is now for sale.
The Facebook ad mentions that the plane is in great running order and the seller is based in Edmonton, Canada. If you don’t have the necessary moolah for it, which is $140,000 CAD (about $107,000), the seller says he will also accept land, lots, chalets, apartments, houses, abandoned homes and even overseas properties.
Before you jump ahead at the chance to own such a special piece of aircraft and automotive history, you should probably know that factory support for this model ceased somewhere in 2005, so you’d need to be a bit of gearhead as well.
Fast-forward to 1981, when Porsche decided to try its cards in the aviation industry once again, only this time it went all-in by establishing an entire division called PFM.
PFM comes from Porsche Flugmotoren, which pretty much translates to Porsche Flight Engines, for those not proficient in German.
This time, Porsche took a 3.2-liter flat-six from the 911 Carrera and went to town with it, modifying it for medium to high altitude running, especially when equipped with a turbocharger. Four different versions of the 3.2-liter were built starting with 1985, with the most powerful one developing 241 horsepower.
Despite being essentially based on a 50-year old design and still air-cooled, the so-called PFM 3200 engine was one of the most advanced on the general aviation market and spurred a lot of interest. It was fitted on a variety of small aircraft, including the Socata TB-16, Robin DR400, Extra 330 and the Mooney M20L.
A total of just 41 Mooney airplanes were ever built with the Porsche 911 engine between 1988 and 1989, and it just so happens that one of those rare birds is now for sale.
The Facebook ad mentions that the plane is in great running order and the seller is based in Edmonton, Canada. If you don’t have the necessary moolah for it, which is $140,000 CAD (about $107,000), the seller says he will also accept land, lots, chalets, apartments, houses, abandoned homes and even overseas properties.
Before you jump ahead at the chance to own such a special piece of aircraft and automotive history, you should probably know that factory support for this model ceased somewhere in 2005, so you’d need to be a bit of gearhead as well.
Google News