linderpat

Not sure I agree John. It depends on where the car is from and how it's been stored.
I have somewhat of a mummified car, at 32 years old, and relatively low mileage, and it was never a FL car (had 2 of those previously, and everything under the hood was baked to glass). Other than a fuel line kit as insurance, it runs perfectly and has very few drips, and most of the rubber is original. It was a northern car, always garaged. Thus, not many issues. I did just do a power steering line R&R, and that was a weekend and minimal $ investment in parts.

I think if it idles fine, and doesn't drip, then it's okay to drive imho. You just fix the maintanence things as they go, not all at once. To me, again depending on storage and location history, I think this would be very close to a new car in all aspects.