What happened to the reasonably priced project car?

I had seen the 85 that I bought, climbed all over it to check it over, and had talked to the PO, but held off on making a deal for it for a week or 2/ as I had tried to buy an 87 D150 a few blocks from me, that had sat in 1 spot for 3+ years. Maybe longer.
Over about 2 years, I had left notes in the mailbox, had my buddy that lived next door to this 87 tell the owner that I was wanting to buy it, and watched it sit. One day out of the blue, it was gone. I know it isn't running around here, and it also isn't in either of the local junkyards. so the day after I saw that the 87 was gone, I went back and got this 85.
I'd rather have had the 87, the body was nicer, mileage showed very close to the same as my 85 has, it was a 318 vs the one I wound up with being a slant 6, and the 87 was a higher level trim package and had factory air already, as well as a Reese hitch....
but on another note, for what it would cost for a V8 radiator, V8 trans, V8 pan, and oil pickup, V8 exhaust and such to convert this truck, is more $$ that I can put into the 6 to experiment and "see what I can do with it".... if I keep the /6 pan, trans, mounts, radiator and such, intact.... I have those already, so I don't have to buy them!