Thanks, RodKnock and FWB .... !
Well FWB, the rest of the car is, well, okay at best. A standard Superformance Mark III, yet dirty on the outside, seeping
oil from the valve covers,
oil pan, at least one of the
oil galley plugs down below, and gasoline from the carb... just dirty over all and in need of attention. Worst of all, it wouldn't fire up. All this with less than 2k miles from build. Now, in defense of the 'proxy' seller, this may be no big deal - but certainly not what one travels several hundred miles to see. I take that impression and couple it with discovering it to actually be a 1972 service block and I'm pretty much looking the other direction. That is unless I find convincing, objective information that I'm NOT passing up the best thing that's out there in this market at this time. There may be some potential registration issues that also make this a difficult choice.
The 'Other direction' is this: I really like a well sorted top oiler closer to my home, but as nice as it is the price is too much - period. It is, by my standard, the finest car I've seen yet in it's planning and execution of build - just too bad it's a top oiler and so much more money than a side oiler car.
To RodKnock,
Unfortunately, the top oiler has a more expensive asking price than the side oiler. The top oiler is an overall better car in my opinion. I just don't want to pass up a side oiler, even if it appears iffy, for a top oiler that's much more expensive.