Take a piece of cardboard with you and get up under it and check the floor boards and rocker panels for rust. Pull the dipsticks and check the color of the tranny fluid and oil. If auto, the trans fluid should be red. Also, check all of the obvious stuff like oil leaks, even tire wear, clunks in front or rear when going over bumps. Always take a used car onto the highway, at 60-70. Let go of the wheel and see if it goes straight, or pulls under braking. Check for any unusual noises, whines. Make sure it shifts into overdrive, manual trans or auto.

Pull the oil filler cap and check the cap and inside the cam cover with a flashlight for sludge. I drove 200 miles once to buy a 240, and turned it down because the horses @$$ didn't change the oil regularly, and the cap had sludge on it. If there is sludge on the cap, you can bet there is sludge in the engine. But, you also have to be realistic. The car is pretty old, so it won't be perfect.

I just bought a black 244 from Florida that is totally rust free, and in excellent condition. Every time I work on this car, I am blown away by how many things are still like new. Even though it spent it's entire life in the extreme heat, it is in amazing condition It has 111000 miles on it now.

Don't get me wrong it wasn't perfect, I have put 1500.00-1800.00 into it, but I paid 2300.00 for it, and with a rebuilt front end, new tires, o2 sensor all tune up parts, motormounts, starter,(it had some piece of crap generic starter on it? never seen a bosch starter go bad, I had a used one)and a few more things it rides like a new car now. I am putting in torque rod poly bushings, and IPD sway bars this weekend. I am also doing the timing belt and front engine seals because of some minor leaks that are starting. Good luck.