If someone were to be aircraft shopping for a grass roots type plane and settled on the Piper J3 platform, how much “street cred” would they be losing if deciding to to with a brand new Legend AL3?
I would definitely go with a new AL3…
- You know the history
- You Pick Your Tail Number
- You know the fagric isn’t doing to fail
- You can solo from the front
- I am a fan of the O-200 over whatever the hell they had on the J3
- Electric start
- Electrical system
I would get the classic yellow cub paint job and enjoy all the little details that come with it being built in this century.
I’d still try to option it or convert to remove a starter or electrical system if possible. The O-200D is better than the O-200A imo
I don’t even like turning a key to start cars anymore… I definitely don’t wanna have to turn a prop! Haha 
And I’m pretty comfortable hand propping after my short stint banner towing.
Also, not that I want to fly a plane like that a night very often, but I would like the lights for those “evening civil twilight” flights.
Reason/s?
What was on the original J3’s?
The original J3s mostly had Continental A65s. The O-200D probably actually makes 100hp haha. It has a much higher compression ratio
The AL3 is just such a good looking airplane that is super affordable to buy-brand-new / operate / maintain and would just be a joy to have in the back corner of the hangar waiting to have some fun with!
I agree @RobertBerger I’d just have them seal up the LH door to make it more like a J3. When I had a student looking at one back in the day, they said they would do that. They seemed to be a lot more open to customization than Cub Crafters was.
I guess I didn’t even realize that they had doors on both sides!
For Florida flying, I think that I’d prefer the option of being able to have both sides open.
What would be your reasoning for eliminating the left door? Winter drafts?
Where do they place the throttle on these? I don’t see any photos of the panel or interior.
Holy Shit! 
I was looking for panel photos, and I realized that the website is hosted by “Jimmy Crow”…
There’s so much inappropriate comedy gold resting in the hypothetical fictional character named Jimmy Crow!!!
Everybody looks down on Jimmy because his grandpa was a racist POS… But Jimmy’s actually a really nice guy who’s just trying to help people with there website hosting…
I have endless potential comedy skits running though my head right now! LOL
This morning I found a photo of an AL3 that had carbon fiber air scoops on the front instead of the plane black metal… looks bad ass! I incorrectly assumed that I would be able to find the photo again… still looking.
Would you ever do anything like that? Or is that not “pure” enough?
It’d just be to keep it more like a classic J3. The LH door does give more options for seaplane purposes and much more open cockpit feeling. I just want what I want. Throttle is up near the panel almost.
I’d do the carbon fiber cooling scoops or “eye brows” as they’re called. I think they’d be even cooler on an original J3
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The throttle position alone would have me axing the left door after thinking about it. Half the point of a cub is that throttle position! Haha