Separate aluminum case motor from original chassis or not?

[geshaghi]

I've been struggling to decide what to do with a car that I received in a trade last year. It is a 68 coupe that was short-hooded and updated many years ago. The car is solid and rust free, but was modified with a later front clip, flares and a Carrera tail. The work was done reasonably well and it doesn't make sense to take it back to a longhood configuration, but here is my quandary: The car currently retains its original 2.0 aluminum case motor (although the original sportomatic was replaced with a 5 speed 901). Am I better off selling the car with the original motor in place, or should I swap it with another running unit I have and sell the motor separately? I have a 2.2T motor that I could easily drop in? Comments are appreciated.

[bwall]

Sounds like you have the original Frankencar.

I think
1) people who value originality will be kinda scared off by the mods. And at the end of the day it is still a sportomatic.

2) the converse is true: anyone looking for a 'deal' or project car would value a 2.2L motor more b/c of the higher degree of funtionality

3) I'm not sure how to value the original motor as a stand alone sale--not to mention the pleasure of engine swapping.

just my .02

[techweenie]

Sell the aluminum case engine separately. If the car can't be put back to stock, the matching #s engine means very little. You can slap in anything from 2.0 to 2.7 without affecting Frankencar's value

[geshaghi]

Any thoughts on the real value of an aluminum case 2.0? Has original webers and runs very strong, with no smoke and good compression across the board.