Fuji Abound
If you have the financial resources to "do over" a ugly but sound aircraft than you will an have an aircraft that is undisputably "yours",in that its appearance and equipment will be to your spec, not the previous owner(s). You will also have the comfort of knowing exactly how and what work was done to your aircraft. But as you pointed out, make overs are expensive and you should have no expectation of getting much of your money back.
However I took the post by the orginator of this thread to mean he/she was looking for cheap wings and had no previous ownership experience. I would not recommend a "project" airplane to someone in those circumstances. It is possible to buy a ratty simple airplane like a C 150 get a couple of trouble free years and then flog it, but he risk of the aircraft developing very expensive engine/radio/airframe issues is high. You will then end up with an aircraft that is probably beyond economic repair and likely lose all your money.
Knowledge is critical to successfull ownership and a good start for prospective owners would be to search this forum as Fuji Abound and others have posted a lot of good info.