Buying salvage cars for parts

[78F350]

For my own entertainment, I have bought a few cars through Copart. I have almost bought with IAA a few times.

I know Hondas pretty well and started out with an Accord 4-door that had a timing belt break. I picked up a used engine and dropped it in over a weekend. It turned out to be a good car. I ended up selling to a it co-worker for enough that it covered my actual cost, but wouldn't have covered my time if I counted it as 'labor'.

My 'water damaged' Boxster winning bid was about $2,200. Fees and about 300 miles transport put it well over $3k. Leather seats were pretty much trash. All of the electronics were good except for the immobilizer box. I hit eBay for an immobilizer+key+DME from the same year & model. New Battery.
Thinking everything is good, I insert the key and turn, being careful to keep my head away from the airbag. It actually started! ...and sounded terrible as it pumped more smoke out the back end than I have ever seen come out of a car. The engine was trash.



I bought a front end collision damaged Boxster for about the same deal and put that engine in.



The 'water damaged' car is pretty much my DD now. It still smells a bit musty on a rainy day, so I will probably replace the carpet.
For less than I paid to get my salvaged '01 on the road, I could have easily found a non-salvage car in need of some TLC. I do enjoy having the collision damaged car behind my garage as a parts source though.