With a fresh paint job, the Cardinal looks as modern as anything flying.

Here’s an interesting thought exercise. Imagine a factory-new Cessna 172 parked next to a newly painted 1969 Cardinal. Then ask a casual observer to guess which one is the newer airplane. We can all but guarantee that the Cardinal will win this contest, hands down.

Although the design is more than three decades old, the Cessna 177 Cardinal—with its racy sloped windshield, wide doors and strutless wings—looks far more modern than the newest Skyhawks coming out of Cessna’s Independence, Kansas plant. Yet, sadly, the Cardinal is a poster child for why innovation and audacity in general aviation development has often met dismal results in the market. …