More recently, I bought my '69 Barracuda FB three years ago, my wife thought I was nuts to pay $9,000 for a car with a blown-up 383 in it!
The clincher was all of the extra parts that came with the car. I sold over $4,500 worth the unneeded parts on ebay, leaving me a solid car with: Schumacher RB mounts and torque strap, 8 3/4 with a fresh 3.91 SG and Moser axles, B-body rear brakes, SSBC front discs, SS rear springs already moved inboard, Mancini driveshaft loop, Competition engineering shocks, all new front end parts including t-bars, Weld Wheels on all four corners, ANCO aluminum radiator, Cheetah 727 reverse manual trans and 3800 stall converter, MSD pro-billet and 6AL box, new fuel pickup and sending unit, etc., etc. for $4500.
It had a '67 nose on it, I now have restored correct '69 grilles for it, new carpet, bumpers, etc. still in boxes, and a 498 RB stroker sitting on the stand. I wheeled and dealed for the $$$ to build the engine over a period of 8 years (bought the new 4.15 crank in 2003... time flies!).
Some examples of the wheeling and dealing - starting with nothing, I got a $1,000 finder's fee from a guy who bought a Superbird I found in a guy's shed. I bought a fresh '69 B-Body Dana 60 with that $1,000, sold the Dana on ebay for $1850. Bought a clean roller '69 Chrysler 300 2-door for $810, spent another $500 on a solid but beat-up '77 New Yorker, pulled the 440/727 out of the New Yorker and put it in the 300, ebayed the NYer shell to a derby guy for $440, e-bayed the 300 to a guy in Finland for $2500. That left $3480. Bought a rough '69 Charger for $1,000, sold it 7 hours later for $2500. That brings the total up to $4980. Lather, rinse, repeat. I've bought and sold cars / parts cars and other miscellaneous Mopar stuff since 2002 and my stroker motor has basically been built for free!
First pics were when I picked the car up, before I had converted the carport to a garage. Last pic is the car as it sits (waiting for paint) with the motor on the cradle. Maybe next summer?