On short takeoff and landing, have either of you two seen a Helio? Those planes are interesting—used a lot way down south. It would also be possible to fix an old one up, for one who has enough industrial technical experience. Remember, though, that the tubing used in those is not straight steel (requires very special welding experience), and custom machining and metallurgy experience needs to be exceptional.
Yes, they are expensive and hard to find these days. Also parts are hard to get and they need more maintenance than your typical Cessna or Piper. Great short field performance and hauling capacity but there are other options.
The current STOL record holder is a slightly modified Piper SuperCub. You can build yourself one of these as well as a number of other great homebuilt STOL aircraft.
A few that come to mind are the Supercubs, Wag-Aero Sportsman 2+2 based on a PA-14, Glastar composite Sportsman 2+2, Zenair 701 & 801, and a number of others. The great thing about homebuilts is that you can build the parts or use non-certified parts and do your own maintenance.
Plain old Cessna 172s and 182s as well as Piper 140s and 180s are very reasonable now. Maintenance is a headache and expensive with certified aircraft where even a 3/8ths washer or an O-Ring will have a paper trail and most of the work will require a certified A&P mechanic with an annual inspection by an AI.
By Helio do you mean a gyrocopter, like in the early James Bond and Road Warrior?