I've seen stock blocks with well over 200k miles that still run strong. It's all in the maintenance. When placed under average/normal stress they can be bullit proof.
All in maintinace! My buddy sold his 85 GT with 350xxx miles on it. Regardless it needed heads and the block was jacked but at least it ran under it's own power? peace
A lot of it is maintenance and how the previous owners drove it...which is hard to tell. A good rule to live by is "hope for the best, plan for the worst." It's pretty extreme, but I'd probably consider figuring in a rebuild to the price of the car when doing a cost/benefit analysis of that purchase.
yup, just like a box of chocolates mine started dying at 140,xxx and i know a guy with 265+ on his 86 so check the blow by, and take a look at the oil, also you could get the owner to have the oil changed and let you cut open the filter and take a look, dull tiny pieces okay, anything that shines is hardened and that means cam or lifters, and if there is a lot of bronze that is bearings, and you should run like hell.
Yeah you never know....mine had 168,000 when the oil pump went out. When we tore it down most of the components looked pretty good. The only things that were really worn were the rockers, lifters and pushrods.