The development of Piper’s Super Cub is as much a story of survival as it is progress. While the role of the original J-3 was mainly for training, Piper had to bring more utility to the table than the Cubby’s 75 MPH cruise speed, 200-mile range and 450 FPM climb performance. Enter the refined PA-18 Super Cub, a design that’s still being tweaked some 66 years later through several so-called Cub clones, which includes nicely executed models from Cub Crafters and American Legend Aircraft, to name a couple.
Still, there’s no arguing that a real-deal PA-18 can hold its own in the outback as a get-down-to-business workhorse as much as it can satisfy the appetite of weekend warriors showboating at their lakehouses, ski cabins and backcountry landing strips. And a good Super Cub isn’t a bad investment, either, hanging on to its value in a market where some other utility machines take it on the chin. Tricked out with engine mods and aesthetic improvements, it’s not uncommon for a Super Cub to sell we’ll north of $125,000, and much more when rebuilt to new standards,