Based on everyone thinking Jerry made a great find I feel real good about mine. I picked up a 1958 235 complete (carb, air filter, oil cannister, water pump, fan, generator, starter and horns) to the bell housing. It turns over by hand. I haven't set it up and tried to start it yet. The guy I got it from brought it back from out west. I am in Kentucky. It was in a 1 ton and he has a custom frame shop. He is going to put the body on one of his frames to showcase his work. He just wanted it gone. The whole thing, $75. I figured I couldn't go wrong even if the engine is garbage I can salvage parts for my 54 235 is I ever needed to. My first choice will be to get it set up on a stand and see how she runs. Possible future rebuild and complete swap if my engine ever fails.
In my simple brain, unless you can see/hear/smell a 235 run, or have really good documentation to prove a recent rebuild…$50-$150 ought to be about the value. It’s a rebuildable core that could just as easily be cracked or otherwise unusable. There’s no way for the seller or buyer to know.
They aren’t nearly as common as a SBC core. But even 60 years removed from their last production, 235’s are far from rare. A 261 core is a rarer bird and thus slightly more valauable.
The asking prices for on FB and such are too commonly in the $300-$600 range. Most of those also sit unsold for months at a time.
(These ideas are probably not entirely my own. The guy that just scored the cheap 261 might have trained me to think this way)
