He is talking about used engines, not new ones from builders. But what you said does make a point also, when you buy an engine, whether its new or used, your usually paying for the builders name on it more than you are for the engine itself. An engine from a top builder like tod miller will cost you almost 3x as much as an engine you can buy from jimmy sims or dyno cams, or one of the kit engines from someone like Dover. If you are just starting out, you would be better off with one of the cheap brand new BSP motors from Box Stock Project for around $130, add a flywheel, top plate and fuel pump, chain guard and clutch to it and have less than $300 in a race ready engine that you can learn with. The BSP engines come out of the box as good quality engines, alot of the top builders use these as their base platform that they start with when they build an engine anyways.