Thank you for the thorough advice sir.

Thanks to you I have looked into this evaporator issue and I see now what a mess it can be. As it turns out, because of your cautioning I questioned the owner of car #2 the 1996 850 wagon and the evaporator is gone and he's been putting the job off (likely due to the cost). This could be an important bargaining tool for me.

I will be sure to get as much service history info as possible, esp re: the timing belt. I usually change the belt right away when I buy a new car anyway. How big of a job is it to change the timing belt on the 850?

Also, speaking of the chassis components/bushings, what kind of job is it for a DIYer like me to tackle some of this stuff? Is it doable?

Speaking as a red-to-white-block-convert, what do you think of this car #4 that I'm looking at (I left it out of the original post as this was a post on the FWD/AWD forum)
1995 940 turbo wagon
314000
reliably rustproofed, decent service records, turbo checked out, synthetic oil, most of its life was in Florida.
Looks great, optioned out, working A/C.

I like the idea of this car too as it is a platform I trust with my life, and I have a lot of experience DIYing with it, and a fair number of newish transferrable parts from my now dead 700.

Would you take on an 'alright' 850 over a really great 940?
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1986 760 (B230FT) 420k+