Even the interior was customized by the owner with Porsche seats.
This 1988 Mooney M20L PFM plane is a great opportunity to own a piece of Porsche history. It has a flat-six engine with a 3.2-liter displacement. The Facebook Marketplace seller is asking $140,000CAD ($103,039). This is roughly the price you would pay for an lightly-optioned new 911.
PFM stands for Porsche-Flugmotoren, or Porsche aircraft engines in English. The company saw an opportunity in the aviation market for the air-cooled flat-six engine in the 1980s. Mooney, an aircraft manufacturer that specialized in high-performance models, expressed its interest and installed the powerplant on a M20 variant. It was slightly more powerful than the 210 horsepower (157 kW), Continental engine found in the M20K.
Propeller-powered planes generally have separate controls to adjust the throttle, engine fuel mix, and propeller pitch. The M20L’s Porsche powerplant is unique in that it has only one lever. This means that the pilot doesn’t have to worry about as much while flying.
This Porsche seat-like customization is available. These seats have white leather upholstery, and the brand’s logo on the headrests.
Mooney produced just 41 M20Ls. Mooney produced just 41 examples of the M20L in 1988, and one in 1989. In 1989, the M20M replaced it with a turbocharged Lycoming producing 270 horsepower (201 kW).
Porsche closed the PFM project in 1991. M20L owners were also affected by the fact that the company stopped making replacement parts for their engine. There are very strict requirements that a plane must be maintained in order to keep it airworthy. People who own this aircraft were not able or able to maintain it. There was even a lawsuit about the issue.
This M20L’s owner indicated that the Porsche engine is still in use and that the M20L has had 400 hours of major maintenance. Prop-driven planes generally need to be overhauled every 2,000 hours. The buyer can enjoy the aircraft before having to deal with the problem of how to maintain it.