I've been lucky I guess.
038M given to me by a logger friend, had carb and recoil full of dust and grime. After clean up ran so good I invested in a 25" ES bar and RS chain. PC was great with machine marks still on piston. That was 1998, stihl running strong but looks like a junk yard dog. That was about $60-70 for BC back then?
038S (3) given to me. These were my super to mag conversions. 1st one got a NOS 52mm mahle PC all new rubber filters seals AV mounts new RS chain. 2nd same treatment but tecomec PC. About $250 and $200 respectively. Both solid near new running saws, I ebayed many of the parts over about a year. 3rd 038S is waiting for time and money, turned out a crank bearing that lunched the top end, I got a box of parts from Bcorradi (thanks Brad) that have good crank and am shopping PC assys on the cheap.
036 pros given to me. One just needed cleanup/tuning, so it got a new air filter 20" ES bar and RS chain < $100. The second was lean siezed, I cleaned up the Cyl and put a NOS piston assy in, all new rubber, seals, filters, and a 20"ES bar and RS chain < $200 and a near new saw. Did a write up with pics on that one, but site crash lost all the pics.
026 craigslist for $95. The dirtiest saw I've seen. But came with 5 extra chains and a gallon of winter stihl oil. All it needed was a clean up air filter. $115
056M given to me by same logger friend, dirty and well used, PC O.K. Carb full of crud. Had bad ignition so did the foggsail fix. Nothing invested but a capacitor.
056M and 026 pro $50. Need to fix oiler on the 056, the 026 had bad PC, might be able to salvage jug, but bcorradi $85 NOS PC and some seals filters and rubber a great saw < $150 minus the initial $50. The 056M will be a strong runner when I fix the oiler. I forgot the saws came with a NOS 20" stihl bar too.
028S, my first stihl, collected on bad utilities debt from dirt bag college roommate, 1980s, it got a new OEM PC 1990s. One of my most reliable saws.
064/024/028 parts lot $200. The 064 just needs a coil and the rest is there, could use R + R filters and hoses, have a NOS PC (ebay $120) in reserve. There were two complete 028s and a 024(S?). All the 028s/024 look to have good PC, but no time to work on these