Thanks everyone for the great information. Given my budget, I'm thinking that I might want to skip the S model and find a base model that is one owner and near perfect.
It drive me crazy that people would buy a car like these and not require the service records from the previous owner. I blame the dealerships. It seems they could not care less.
As far as the work, I am pretty handy... and like to do as much myself as I can. That said, My other car is a 71 Baja. I've gotten spoiled on how easy it is to work on. I broke my clutch cable last year and had a spare but no tools. I replaced it with only a metal spoon!
Here is one of the others I'm considering. It has some cosmetic damage to the front bumper but it has low miles.
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5387223442.html
I haven't gotten confirmation yet, but I believe he is taking it in for a real PPI on Friday.
Has anyone found any solid ways for tracking down previous owners?