I'm not trying to shit in your wheaties but a good rule of thumb is that if it is reliable transportation with working heat its worth at least 1000 bucks....
have you tried to change the oil and the sparkplugs yet?
randomly you get lucky with hydrolock and it doesn't hoe the motor might be worth the 30 bucks or so in parts to find out
didn't you drive the grey car down to bristol a few years back too I remember running into down there while I was looking for parts for my old skylark....
the grey car looked cooler but the blue car was nasty