Craig,

Honestly, the engine could have been marginal when I bought it and even though it was running good when I turned it off after running low on oil, maybe that was just enough to push it over the edge. I have heard engines run out of oil before and those engines always had at least a little rod noise, but I didn't hear anything this time which makes me believe that it did not go completely dry; Who knows?

As for finding one with a good engine, I would think the rust belt would be good because the bodies would certainly be trash here, unless you mean that they were trashed years ago and are already shredded.