My Ercoupe had flush riveting, all metal, and a controlable Beech Roby prop and upgraded 85Hp Continental. I could get off the ground in under 1000 feet and cruise at over 125mph. I loved it and wish I still had it. Sold N111J when I had a medical problem that turned out to be a false alarm. There are faster planes, but none I ever had could hunt thermals like “Homesick Angel”. With the cockpit open I would fly rill I smelled what smelled like “hot water on a broken rubber hose”, a smell familiar to those of us that drove cars before 1960, and then I would begin circling in a thermal to gain altitude.