Scudrunners

I'm going with the Eagle Barney.

Dumb question removed, after all I'm such a shiftless bum I can't seem to come up with $500 a year to fly,. If I had a plane it would just die like my motorcycle.

Plus, I'm readily able to admit I certainly don't posses the skill to safely land a taildragger currently.

I'm was not trying to undermine his point which is you could build a pretty great airworthy registered Pitts for under $30,000 Canadian. Under 20 if you're lucky/put in more work and find some deals.

"If I had unlimited money, I'd get one..."

Andrew:

The phrase was used advisedly:  I can't afford two aircraft and the RV-7A is a little like the CF-5.  Neither aircraft does anything really, really well, but they both do a lot of things pretty good.

The RV can do some gentlemanly aeros and is quite a comfortable aircraft in which to go cross country at 150 knots TAS.  The Pitts does humungous aeros and can hit 152 knots TAS at max cruise.  However, the bigger engine also eats up the fuel making a cross country trip a bit of a chore.  (According to wikidikipaedia)  The RV, with 170 litres on board and sipping 30 litres/hour, can really stretch one's bladder.

So, if I had the money, I'd have a Pitts, and an F-86, and a PC-12, and a Mustang, and a Harmon Rocket, and a JetRanger or an AStar, and, and, and... 

I like the versatility of the RV and I consider the Pitts a little like the one-trick pony.  What it does, it does extremely well; but I wouldn't want to own one as my sole gravity-defyer... 

I'm with you John except instead of owning, I'd go get some dual on lots of cool planes. I might own something with a decent range I could load the family in. Possibly a PC-12 or maybe a twin Otter.

Most anything else I'd likely just rent or borrow.