all good points, but if you understand the drawbacks, can purchase a car cheap enough, AND repair the car correctly it can be worthwhile. My car has turned out very well, with many mods already done, and i still don't have as much invested as its worth.
if youre serious about a salvage title car, make sure u have the car checked by someone with experience b4 buying it. If u want my opinion on the car(s) u've found for $4200ish, i'd say thats too much for 95-96. i paid $5000 for my '98 with 64k miles, adult owned, never mod'd.
keep in mind that one of the reasons the S14s r often "totaled" is because of the cost to repair them at retail. the body shops quote to the insurance co's and there is a ratio they go by based on value compared to repair. the S14 dash is over $1000 new + labor, and is almost always torn when the RH airbag deploys (it will usually take out the windshield too). plus the airbags r very expensive. the OE sheetmetal is a l'il on the high side $$. you could put on USED parts. i've opted to repair (completely re-cover) the dash and not put airbags back in (some people will criticize me on this <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/whatsthat.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':whatthe:'> ) so that has saved a big chunk of $$. this may not be an option for u.
the company i work for started 15+ yrs ago buying, repairing, and selling high-line Euro salvage cars, repaired correctly, sold as salvage titled, and even to this day tehy get repeat customers. they come back to buy another when they want to upgrade. it is a different market nonetheless! as i said b4, these guys do have good points <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> . hope some of this helps.