Investment in a vehicle, including any repair costs, is not the proper
measure of fair market value.  Ask yourself, after your $3500 replacement
engine in your 84 GL, could you really sell the van for $3500 more than you
could prior to the new engine, when the old engine was still reasonably
functional?  Of course not!

I wish that repair cost were a measure of FMV.  If it were so, many of us
could sell our vans for enough $ to pay for a much nicer van.

One other point:  As a tax attorney of many years standing, I assure you
that the IRS definition of FMV has very little to do with cost, and
everything to do with the actual marketplace.

Budd Premack
86 Syncro, 73 Super
Minneapolis, MN (Land of Sky-Blue Waters)