asking price
 

Is the blue book a reliable indicator of value in the current market? I have a private seller asking $1000 over the best price for a dealer. Blue book for private party is around $1400, and that's $2000 less than the asking price. Thanks!

The blue book means nothing for older cars. Condition is key. If a car is rust free, one or two owners with all its records it will be worth far more to most people than one with no history. Also condition is subjective. I pay less attention to mileage than I do to a car's maintenance history. After all, odometers can be (and are) tampered with or stop working. If you are buying from someone who has actually owned the car for a long time and can tell you about its history that is preferrable I think and, unlike the blue book, I would actually pay a premium for this over buying from a dealer since most dealers sell these old cars "as-is" anyway and you would have little recourse if there was a problem.

I have come to the conclusion in life that you buy the seller not the item. This means if you get a good "vibe" from the seller and the car seems right you probably won't go wrong. If, on the other hand the seller seems "below board" you can probably count on being screwed. I know it sounds strange but I can usually tell over the phone or through email correspondence if a seller is someone I would want to deal with or not and if it is even worth going to look at the item in question.

You can easily spend $2000 repairing hidden faults from an unscrupulous seller...remember, "it is the stingy man who spends the most".

Nhdoc seems pretty well on the money. Theres an old expression that basically goes do not buy from a crook or a person of low ethics. A person of integrity is far better to deal with as well. You unfortunatly have to learn how to separate them by experience in my opinion. It is a learning curve. :)