<<<About $2800. It's pricey, but a lot cheaper than those 132s...>>>
Did you take a look at the UMax clones? Or a tower PowerComputing machine? I think the low-end 180Mhz 604e machines from Power are in the low $3000's. (And their tower is actually quite nice looking). Plus they're offering a really nice AV card for them for pretty cheap (~$300 and it's got a better frame capture rate).
Still, those 8500's are hard to beat, especially for all the upgradability and compatibility they offer. I'd love to render stuff in Bryce 2 on a 604 (or 604e!) machine. Can't wait until I upgrade mine. That's the true beauty of the PowerMac x500 series - if you bought a 200Mhz 604e card upgrade today, you'd be running at exactly the same speed as the fastest brand-spanking new PowerMac 9500 single processor machine, without having to buy all the other junk. And if you got a faster video card, you'd be even faster!
