New member looking for 1st gen K5

[70VaHokie]

I have owned a GM truck since 1986 when I bought my first 72 K5 Blazer at the age of 16. Sine then I have bought 5 new GM trucks and still own 3 of them. I have been looking to buy a survivor (minimal rust, no major upgrades, as close to stock as possible) for some time now but haven’t had much luck on the east coast finding an unmolested truck that wasn’t over $30k. I had an opportunity last week to buy a 72 K5 in the NE area for $10k from the original owner but got spooked thinking about all the salt the truck has seen over 45 years even though it doesn’t show many signs of rust on the surface. The owner explained that he rinsed it off top to bottom after every road trip in the winter, and then reapplied “texicote” undercoating cut with fuel oil every year. He was convinced that it is a truely rust free vehicle because of all the care he took. I don’t mind the mechanical restoration work, but am not interested in curing rust cancer. Is it possible that a truck living in the NE for 45 years with 185,000 miles on it could be rust free and not be hiding some deep lurking major rust issues? Should I reconsider this truck since it truely stock and well cared for, or just start looking West?