Valuation question
 

I'm facing a pretty good dilemma, and could use some help.

Car#1 is a 2002 Boxster S, 6 speed, with 106,000 miles on it. It has a clear regular title. It's in average daily driver condition. A couple of regular road use chips in the paint here and there, but overall I would say average daily driver. the engine has a cracked cylinder head and now has intermix. It has a decent set of options - partial leather, power heated seats, on board computer. It's black with Savannah Beige interior.

Car #2 is a 2001 Boxster S, 6 speed, with 61,000 miles on it. It has a salvage title. The title is for flood damage, but it really didn't flood, it just got enough rain water in it to toast the immobilizer system, which can and will be easily repaired. The body is in beautiful condition. It has less options than car #1- partial leather, heated but not power seats, no on board computer. It's dark blue with grey interior.

Scenario 1 - What would be the value of car#1 with the engine from car #2 in it?

Scenario 2 - What would be the value of car #2 with the on board computer system from car #1 in it?

Scenario 3 - What would be the value of car#1 as is, perhaps for a spec racer or someone who happens to have a good engine laying around? I could just sell car number one as is and use car number 2 as is.

The possibilities are somewhat mind boggling, and I could use a bit of help. I'm not looking to flip cars and make money, just trying to avoid doing something that I will regret later as financially (or otherwise) stupid. Car #2 is definitely the nicer car, but that damned salvage title - not sure of the impact of that. The "damage" that caused it was really very, very minor.

If you are looking to drive and enjoy the car, I’d keep car #2 and get rid of #1, assuming the flood damage really isn’t anything. The salvage title will affect resale later, but these cars aren’t worth that much to start with so it’s not going to take a massive hit. It has half the miles, and the time/cost to switch the engine will likely make the salvage title loss negligible. Also, even though #1 doesn’t have a salvage title, people will see the engine swap and high miles and devalue it anyway.

Thanks!

S.

Scenario 1: Car #1 is worth around $10K running. Around $5K as is (as a rolling chassis).

Scenario 2: Car #2 is worth around the same $10K (assuming that the immobilizer is repaired and the car is fully operational). Lower mileage adds to price but the salvage title subtracts - those two items will mostly cancel each other out, so its about a wash.

The on-board computer might add $200-$300. Individual options tend to add very little by themselves in re-sale unless the car is fully loaded.

Scenario 3: An S model rolling chassis is worth around $5,000. The problem is that a replacement 3.2 engine is around $4K plus installation which will likely exceed the value of the car.

Only the base 2.5 97-99 Boxster can be used to build a Boxster Spec racer. Someone could make it into a track car but they wouldn't pay more than $5K for the rolling chassis.

If it was me, I'd throw the cheapest engine I could find into Car #1 and sell it (it is the easier to sell of the two with the legit title and hopefully a replacement engine with lower mileage than the chassis). Then I'd keep Car #2 to drive for myself (its the nicer car and you don't care about the title). And then I would stop buying broken down Boxster's.