It's $500 bucks....how wrong can you go? If you are only planning on
driving it a year, then who cares? OTOH, if you buy it, and decide it's
worth fixing, you make out like a bandit. It may be nothing more than valve
cover gaskets leaking.

   Your call.

I have a '92 with a front seal leak and it smells like buring oil when the
engine is hot.  I add about a quart of oil a week.  I figure the car (EB) is
probably worth about $3500-$4000 if sold to a private party.

The smell could also be caused by a leaking heater core.  They cost about
$18 for a generic one and about $85 for OEM from Frod.  I put in the cheap
heater core and it lasted about 9 months.  Now I have the OEM part.  Another
possibility would be a blown intake manifold gasket.  If I was buying it I'd
check for coolant leaks too.  An new gasket costs about $50 but you have to
take a lot of stuff off the engine to get to it.  Took me almost 4 days
working on it a few hours a day.

Keep in mind that it costs upwards to $3000 for a new transmission (rebuilt)
for this car so if it has not be replaced/repaired yet then it is probably
due.  I assume the car has around 200K miles on it (?).  My '92 has about
260K on it and about the only parts that have not broken are the engine,
frame, and differentials.  So unless this guy spends all of his evenings and
weekends going over every small detail you probably have dozens of things
that could use fixing.

Bottom line--I'd buy it if the oil leak is really the only major problem,
which I don't consider a major problem.

If its the rear main seal, the tranny has to be dropped to get to it.  But
burning oil means it's coming probably from the valve cover gaskets or a
main gasket. Meaning, oil dripping down onto the exhaust areas.
Valve cover you can do yourself for $20.  Main is tearing the whole top end
off.
If it's a front main seal, that's a little easier but still pricey.

If the transmission has never been rebuilt, this would be the time to do it
along with the u joints and the rear main seal.  It's not expensive (I paid
about $75 extra for parts) when doing the whole transmission.

If it's in good shape and 4/4 and an xlt or e.baur model, I'd get it and
sink the money into it for that price.
If it's rough, interior rough, lots of things not working, rides bad, rust
etc, and not 4/4, forget it.

imho