Heh. This was pre-James Bond’s BD-5J.
Dad had a friend who said he had access to a small turbojet engine (from some sort of drone, I think). The friend made an offer: I’ll give you the jet engine, if you give me half-ownership of the airplane. Dad contacted Jim Bede and asked him if it was possible to put a jet engine in the BD-5. Bede told him absolutely not. Can’t be done. And then about a year later, Bede came out with the BD-5J.
Dad ordered his kit when it was still being advertised with a V-tail. His kit did come with the updated conventional tail.
And yes, dad made out with the Skyhawk. With thousands of BD-5 kits unfinished because Bede couldn’t deliver the parts or engines, dad was able to fly his ‘four-seat BD-5’… and making money off of it by leasing it to Barnes Aviation. I got my license in that plane. When the Great Hiatus hit, he sold it for almost half-again what he’d paid for it. (Nowadays it would cost five or more times what he paid to buy it, or another 1970 172K, back.)