early 901/01 engine
 

Hey, I have an early 901/01 engine, complete from the Solexes to the heat exchangers, and I have heard from an acquaintance that he might know someone who would buy it... One can safely assume it would want an overhaul before actually being used, as I've had it sitting in my garage since back when people didn't give a damn about the sixties cars.

I'm really hoping to get it into the hands of someone who has a 1965 chassis and needs an engine, but that's not exactly a common situation, so I'm thinking I might just sell it off now. Since I've had it for so long and don't do the parts buying and selling much, I have no idea what sort of offer I should be looking for on this thing... I don't want to be that "I know what I've got!" craigslist guy, but I don't want to get swindled either. I've done some searching and can only conclude that ebay is primarily a den of charlatans and thieves, and the Pelican classifieds are great for telling me asking prices, but not sold prices, so I was hoping someone here might have a good idea of where I should start.

thanks kindly,
-- Geoff

Hi there, I have a early 65 car built in 64 missing the original engine, would you mind posting the engine #s and pics of the engine.

Thanks,
Pat

Will PM to keep this from being a for sale thread.

Engine number is 901158, build number 1058.

Still legitimately interested in learning about how to value a '65 901/01.

cheers,
-- Geoff

Hi Geoff,
At my last shop I spent a lot of time researching and buying early 901 parts as we were restoring a 65 for a customer. A lot of this was happening while the recent market "boom" was happening, but since it was not a rush project we tried to buy everything right.

To get a current value pictures are worth a lot and also general condition of the motor (a lot of which pictures cover), but things like does it turn over? rust on original airbox/tins, etc.

A few things worth noting, the carburetors and airbox can bring big money alone, especially if you have an original airbox in good condition. A fully restored complete set could easily bring $12-$15K a few years ago and while the market has cooled off a bit, they aren't making any more of these things! Used condition if complete, free shafts, no rusty airbox probably still probably worth $8-$10K.

The motor itself has lots of parts unique to the early cars with the center lube cams, solex fuel pump and lines etc. valve covers etc. but on something like this most important thing is the date stamps on the castings. Hopefully it didn't have a rebuild in the 70's or something that caused them to replace the heads or other parts with later dated bits. Most of those date stamps are easily visible by removing covers etc.

How much it is worth is obviously debatable but how much you get out of it can depend on how much time you spend presenting it and figuring out originality and condition of the parts and internals. If you want top dollar you could break down the motor, clean all the bits up etc so the buyer knows exactly what they are getting. Some people may be happy with good pictures and just knowing the motor will turn over 360*, because at the end of the day most of the bits will be sent off to be spec'd and machined anyway.

If I had to throw a ballpark number at it call it $20-$25K. $20k is pretty much bottom dollar assuming it is not flooded out and locked up. $25K is a solid number for these engines in good shape but can bring more if they are exceptional or if you hit the jackpot and find the owner of the original car it belongs to, they may be willing to give more for it. Also you could check and post the engine numbers on the Early S Registry and see if anyone is looking for it!
Hope this helps, good luck!
$.02
J