Although short of wing and stubby of fuselage, the Tri-Pacer is an affordable fabric-covered airplane with respectable performance.

In a marshmallow-soft GA market, where $100,000-plus creampuffs linger near the back of the rack like day-old croissants, so-called affordable classics like the Piper Tri-Pacer aren’t doing too badly. Then again, the PA-22, beloved by a devoted cadre of owners and fans but often utterly ignored by pilots looking for a simple, four-place single, has never been a hot commodity. Go shopping with $30,000 in your Dickies and you’ve got the pick of the PA-22 market.

All Tri-Pacers are not created equal. During a decade of production, Piper made notable (and some say, much needed) improvements adding horsepower, performance and bolstering cabin comfort. So criticism and virtues vary by vintage and…