Wow. What a great resource and people you all are. Thanks for your responses.

The oil changer guys pointed out the "wetness" on the passenger's side of the block, and I noticed this myself though I figured it was just the age of the car. The one thing that I know was done to it recently (though exactly when I don't know) was that the timing belt was replaced - sadly the guy that I bought it from was the 3rd owner and he had no records for the work he had done.

I hope to spend some time this weekend poking around under the hood, and I'll replace the filler cap/gasket then. Maybe that'll help, or not. In any case, seeing some of these responses, it appears that my oil consumption isn't excessive after all (well, for this type of vehicle in any case), and it's really not an inconvenience to put a quart in every 750 miles or so. I'll need to educate my son, who is currently the primary driver.

I think that I'll also go have a compression test done just to check things out.

Much thanks to all!

Sean