Desert Nomad, nice plane, congratulations!
Not magic, Money!! The Internal Combustion Engine, (ICE), eats av-gas at 11.5 Gallons Per Hour, GPH, that costs about $5.15 per gallon (around here). So 15 hours X 11.5 GPH X $5.15 per gallon = $888.38 That is for fuel alone. Add in the insurance, cost of maintenance, hanger rent, & other incidentals. It adds up fast! I know, I am a member of a flying club that owns our own airplane. It is well worth the money & time to me.
Very nice! I hope you get lots of enjoyment out of it. What plans do you have for using it? Regular commute, travel, local flights?
Wow, I’d love to fly, but that’s a deal breaker (although a club is a great idea). Guess I’ll fall back to something less expensive, like converting my Rolls Royce for use as a submarine.
She’s a beauty, though, Desert Nomad. Congratulations! I guess we know what you’ll be doing with all your weekends.
Congratulations! It looks great. May you enjoy many flights with it!
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It’s a wonderful feeling to know the keys to your airplane are in your pocket.
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Do GA planes have actual keys now? Back when my ex was a tin-kicker (crash investigator / insurance adjuster) he said nearly every plane could be entered with one of these.
Looks like I’m going to have to modify my present association I hold with your name.
Very nice wings.
I know, right? Such a show off. 
I love it, Desert Nomad. Many happy years of flying!
From the 60s on they had conventional mechanical keys about like a mid-60s Ford or GM. But lightly made so after a few years’ use darn near any screwdriver would turn the “lock” with just a wiggle.
Good bet the OP’s '79 model is the same.
Very easy to hotwire, too.
Back in the '80s, someone told me that there were only like four keys for Cessnas. 
Oh come now, Craftsman alone makes a dozen models of screwdrivers that fit. Plus all the ones from Snap-on down through junk like Home Depot brand & Lowes brand; there must be hundreds of different Cessna keys. The nice part is they’re all interchangeable, so you only need to own one. 
IMO someone named FloatyGimpy should be buying something like a SEAPLANE (yeah I know you aviation guys got a woody just reading that word).
Did owners ever put a steering lock bar on planes like what’s available for cars? If nothing else you’d know to limit your search for a stolen plane in only one direction… or flying the other way upside down.
All you have to do is reach under the panel, pull the wires from the switch, and twist them together.
But would that thing prevent me from stealing the propeller?
No, but it would take a while to get it off, and people would notice you doing it, especially outside a maintenance facility where licensed mechanics would be doing it, and most especially with a prop lock installed. Hopping in a plane and flying off is a far more normal thing to see. And what would you do with just the prop, anyway?
Of course that won’t work with a prop with more than two blades.
Beautiful plane!
Remember, all you people dreaming of buying airplanes: “You can sleep in a plane, but you can’t fly a house.”
