Ah, the "Low Budget 337 Owner" rears his ugly head again. SMH
I have no idea if its true, but there is a belief out there that lots of 337's went derelict due to cheap owners. 337 has one of the highest abandoned airframe rates of any modern civilian aircraft.
Now those derelict 337s are being resurrected by low budget owners who want a "safe" twin engine for cheap. They buy the derelict aircraft for a song, and they quickly find out the the cheapest thing about a "cheap" twin is the purchase price - everything else after purchase is decidedly "not cheap".
When buying older "cheap" airplanes, I tell prospective single engine owners to plan on up to another 50% of the purchase price to get the airplane 100% right. I tell prospective twin engine owners to allow up to another 100% of the sales price to get it to 100%.
Not sure why the 337 has gone down this unfortunate path, but it clearly has.
Furthermore, the gear door design is truly poor. I can't think of any other aircraft that drastically loses performance when the gear is being cycled. The holder of the STC to remove the gear doors could do the 337 community a great service by making it free or low-cost. Enough have been sold over the years that plenty of profit has been made. If I owned the STC, I would do it in a heartbeat. The current cost is $3800 plus 24-30 hours of install time.