The Making of a Champion

At Sun ’n Fun this year, I was like a kid in a candy shop. So many airplanes, so little time! As I headed toward the vintage parking each morning, I kept looking at a certain aircraft that had caught my eye. On Wednesday, I walked over to that airplane in hopes of meeting its owner. Unfortunately, no luck. However, parked right next to it was a drop-dead gorgeous 1953 Cessna 180 and the owners were relaxing under the wing. So, purely by happenstance, that is how I met Monte and Karen Houk. This is one reason I love the world of aviation. Our shared passion brings us together, regardless of where we come from, what our politics are, what our ratings are, or what aspect of aviation we love.

Monte and Karen were happy to receive a compliment about their beautiful 180. It so happened, I was scheduled for a photo flight the following morning. Just for the heck of it, I asked if they would like to join us and pose for my camera. To my pleasant surprise, Monte said, “Sure!” We ended up flying on Friday, but it was worth the wait. We got some great photos of what I thought was simply a garden-variety Cessna 180 with a paint job that was a real head-turner. (Thanks to Monte and Karen for taking my wife along on this flight, and thanks to Frankie Dessuit for flying his T-34 as my photo pilot.)

As an interesting anecdote, once we had finished our photography, we headed back to Lakeland as a flight of two. With Frankie flying lead, we had already been cleared to land on Runway 10R, Number 2 behind a Citation. As we rolled out on a 3-mile final, tower urgently told the Citation to go around, go around, go around! Once the Citation initiated a go-around, tower then canceled our landing clearance and put us in a holding pattern to the southeast. We learned that the aircraft just ahead of the Citation had a nosegear detachment which closed the runway for about half an hour. Frankie and I bored holes in the sky south of Lakeland until KLAL opened up, and we got right in, while Monte and Karen (with my wife in the back seat) wound up diverting to Wauchula (KCHN) for fuel.

I was already on my drive home from Sun ’n Fun when I learned that I was apparently not the only person whose eye was caught by N180MH, Monte’s 180. Karen texted me to inform me that their Cessna had won an award. I figured, “Great! It has a beautiful coat of paint, so it deserves an award.” It turns out I was half-right. The award was “Best Custom Classic over 165 hp.” That got my attention, so I took some time speaking with Monte and Karen to learn more about this award-winning 1953 Cessna 180 that was built the same year I was born, but looks oh, so much better than I do!

Monte Houk, age 68, says, “This special 1953 C180 has been in my family twice! My dad originally bought N2246C, SN 30546, back in 1976, just as I graduated from high school. Back then, it was already 23 years old (we considered it quite old then), and now it has reached the impressive age of 72!”

During Houk’s two years in the A&P program at Sacramento City College from 1976 to 1978, he overhauled the engine. Then, just two days after his last semester finished, he flew this 180 to Alaska, where he landed a job flying 180s and 185s along with many other airplanes and even helicopters over the next several years. Two months after arriving in Alaska, he met Karen, his wife-to-be. Since he did not yet own a car up there, he decided to wow her by flying her to Anchorage for dinner for their second date (Monte was 20 and Karen 17) in this aircraft. He must have done something right, because they got married in 1979. In 1980, he restored this 180 in his two-car garage at their house in Kenai, Alaska. As part of the rebuild, he extended the flat floor baggage area, added new paint and interior, and added more comfortable Cessna 206 rear seats.

In 1985, Houk sold the aircraft to someone who lost his 1954 C180 in a severe Birchwood windstorm. He confesses that he and Karen always kind of kicked themselves for selling it. Nevertheless, the new owner performed some major modifications to the original airframe. In 1996, he added Flint Wing aux tanks and then, in 2001, he replaced the original O-470J engine with a P.Ponk O-470-50. Along with the new engine, the Cessna also received a three-blade propeller, P.Ponk gearbox beef-up kit, an Odyssey main battery firewall mount, Cessna 185 heavy-duty main gear, and Wing X Stol extensions.

Houk continues, “In 2021, during COVID, I was in Florida on standby for my Gulfstream position for weeks at a time, not doing much flying, and started thinking back to that 180 which we’d sold some 36 years prior. I could not reach the previous owner easily, so I hand-wrote a letter expressing my interest if he ever decided to sell. A few weeks later he called and said, ‘Yeah, I’m selling it.’ That is how we ended up buying it back from the original purchaser from 1985! From the ferry flight from Alaska to Washington, I knew it was going to need a lot of work, so we completely disassembled it and took it to our home shop, and I worked on it there for about 3 years.”

Being an A&P, Monte Houk went to work restoring and upgrading his then-68-year-old Cessna 180. He began by replacing three fuselage skins (cabin top, top aft of baggage area, rear bottom tail skin). He explains, “The aircraft had been fitted with a multitude of antennas over the years and there were all kinds of patches and holes. I wanted to get into the spar boxes to see the condition of those, which required us to remove those panels anyway. They are relatively easy pieces to change, so that’s why we changed that top skin. Also, we replaced the skin just after the cabin on the top. There was originally a rotating beacon on top, and the previous owner changed it out for a strobe light. It looks like they used a big hole saw that got away from them. It was a mangled mess, so I replaced that skin. While I was at it, I put new skin on both doors.”

Houk did not stop there. He added Sportsman STOL leading edges, installed new fuel bladders along with new Flint aux tank fuel pumps, CIES fuel level sensors, and Monarch fuel caps. He also installed a new McFarlane fuel selector valve assembly. He completely rewired the aircraft and replaced all exterior lighting with LED devices. A major upgrade was a new custom instrument panel fitted with two Dynon Display Systems and a Garmin GTN750, which required new antennas throughout. The original windscreen was replaced with a strapless windshield. The 180 received an interior makeover, including new flooring, custom-made removable headliner panels, and even 3D-printed phone holders. New pilot seat tracks were also installed. He rounded out the exterior rehab with a new 3450 tailwheel assembly, a new Knisley exhaust, a Selkirk carbon fiber cowl, and, of course, a striking new custom paint job.

Monte’s efforts paid off to his surprise at his first airshow after this major restoration at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh in 2025. This aircraft won a Lindy trophy as Champion Customized Classic.

Houk says, “Earlier this year, I upgraded the engine to a new IO520-D fuel-injected engine, rated at 300 hp. Along with the new engine, I added an AirPlains airframe conversion for fuel-injected engines and a PowerFlow exhaust. Also with all this, I installed a Trio autopilot and a pair of Monarch 18-gallon additional wing tanks. This brings my total fuel capacity to 120 gallons. I think that’s about it for now!”

Monte Houk’s restoration efforts paid unexpected dividends again at Sun ’n Fun 2026. He relates, “We happened to arrive at Lakeland early and we pulled into an available parking spot. The folks who parked me were all going nuts over the aircraft when I first pulled in and they were swarming around like a beehive, asking me all kinds of questions. I did not learn until later that we had parked right in front of the judges’ headquarters and the people who parked me were all judges!”

On their departure for home, Monte and Karen were notified that they had received the winner of Best Custom Classic over 165 hp at Sun ’n Fun 2026. Monte adds, “It was quite a surprise. There were a lot of very qualified aircraft there, but everybody seems to really be attracted to this paint job, custom leather interior, custom instrument panel with dual Dynon synthetic vision displays and the Garmin GTN750 GPS navigator.” This writer will attest to that. Congratulations, Monte and Karen Houk.