Ahh Brett, good to see you made it. Welcome along. I think we've all been where you are now and there's always plenty of advice. But if I can boil it down to something really simple. You see every 80 ever created was one of the best vehicles ever built. There's no such thing as an 80 to avoid. Petrol, diesel, 12 valve, 24 valve early model, late model etc, all would take you to the moon and back. So here's the thing.
Buy the first good one that you see. We can help you determine what good looks like. It seems that you already have a very open mind as to what you'd like which really is the right attitude. We get people saying they want a green auto, with leather, with no more than 100k miles, full lockers, no scratches, no rips....well you get the idea. The narrower you make your choice, the harder you'll make your life.
From my perspective, mechanical stuff can be easily fixed. It's just parts. Interiors can be spruced up. My biggest foe is rust. I'm just no good at body work.
You might own a body shop so for you it's not a problem. See my point? Get once with a decent chassis and body and you're winning. Tailgates rust, front wings rust and rear arches rot out. These are old trucks so finding a minter is difficult.
We're a decent lot on here so if you spot something and ask an opinion, it's very unlikely someone is going to steal it from under you. We don't work like that. If you want an opinion, then post something up and we'll comment. Buying a truck from a member is always good, because it means that we've already done that bit. And we do sell them from time to time.
Just one point = you only need to click 'reply' rather than 'quote' or else it makes the threads unnecessarily long.
Also tell us what your plans are for it. If it's as an overlander, quite a few come up already built but people tent to shy away from those which really is a mistake.