Question about the $700 tow yard Civic everyone told me to part out

Everyone in my local car group swore I was throwing money away when I paid $700 for a 1998 Civic with a blown head gasket and 240k on the clock, and they kept telling me to just sell the motor and scrap the shell. I put $180 into a head gasket kit, a timing belt, and a $40 used head from a pick and pull in Phoenix, and it fired up on the third try and drove 40 miles home. The thing they get wrong is assuming a cracked head means the whole motor is dead, when usually it is just one bad spot you can machine or replace for cheap. I have put 6,000 miles on it since and it still burns a little oil but it gets me to work. What is the cheapest beater you brought back that everyone else gave up on?