Anyone looking for a 310?

[Nark]

Rumors have it that Piper is much harder to deal with if you own ancient aircraft.

Beech (Textron).

Asked about a thing for the Twin Beech.
They said ask a DAR. (a DAR is basically an FAA rep on the MX side. Very knowledgeable and respected)

[Colonel]

Would they even have anyone on staff that even knew about the old stuff?

I suspect all the old guys are retired now.

[Nark]

Would they even have anyone on staff that even knew about the old stuff?

I suspect all the old guys are retired now.

True… last production was in the early ‘70’s if I recall.

She’s an old breed for sure.

[digits]

Would they even have anyone on staff that even knew about the old stuff?

I suspect all the old guys are retired now.

They do, at least for 310 era airplanes.
Note that most questions that you would ask them doesn't require intimate knowledge of the airplanes per se. The ones I've heard about are "I damaged part X in location Y, what repair is approved, because it isn't listed in my ancient manuals" and then they reply with some engineered stamped solution of "drill here and here, use material Z to add a doubler and inspect after xyz hours".

Seems like it depends on the AME if the question ever makes it to Cessna...

[Squaretail]

I hear ya, but Cessna could easily issue MSB’s “erring on the side of caution” and ask the FAA to make them AD’s in the name of “safety” if they wanted. The cost of the AD parts and labor would exceed the value of the aircraft by 10x and that would ground them all permanently.

But, they don’t.

I thought Cessna was trying that and the FAA put the kybosh on it a while back, trying to effectively start issuing their own A/Ds.

Rumors have it that Piper is much harder to deal with if you own ancient aircraft.

Depends. I hear the old Commanches and their lineage is pretty terrible (including the twin), so is the Tomahawk. The more recent ones aren't so bad, with some exceptions.