Buying my first MOPAR...

Thanks for sharing the full story with us. I hope you didn't lose too much on the mis-buy of the first one. What I notice is that the quality owner-sellers on ebay show a lot of pride in their cars and give a detailed description, with close-ups of any problem areas like rust around the wheels. The first one didn't even give a photo of the underside. Good it worked out for you.

If I lived in Florida (used to), I wouldn't go up north to find a car. If you have the time, it is probably worth it to go west of Pecos to buy a good rust-free car and drive it home. It would save you months or years of fixing rust. Then treat all areas that rust out in the east before it starts. I bought my Newport after moving to CA and couldn't believe how perfect it looked, no rust even on the bumper struts. That was compared to my Dart which spent years around the Gulf and several mid-West salty winters.