Reply to "What are the basic things to look for"

Rule 1. All Italian cars from 71-74 have rust.
Rule 2. Most any muscle car from the same era also has rust.
Rule 3. Refer to rule #1.

Seriously, buy the cleanest straightest most rust-free car you can afford. Many claim to be rust-free, but I've heard it argued that there's no such thing in Pantera-land, or any other Italian from the early 70's for that matter. So, a properly restored car may be better in this regard, if you can afford it, AND if the owner exercised GOOD judgement when making upgrades/improvements.

When I was searching for my car, I found more than a few that were advertised with lots of upgrades/improvements (and were priced accordingly) however most were not done in good taste or at least not to my tastes, in which case I would have needed to spend more money to undo the seller's questionable upgrades.

Therefore, I wanted a clean original car so I knew what I was starting with since my budget didn't allow for a completely and properly restored bare-metal glass-out repainted car. Most of the "upgraded" or "restored" cars in my price range were bastardized. A clean mostly original Pantera gave me a solid foundation for what I wanted and meant that I didn't have to undo some knuckleheaded modifications.

YMMV!
Garth