One of my buddies was thinking about buying an older 269A or B. In talking to one of my other buddies, who has a lot of time in the 269 and 369 and is an A&P, he says the thing to look out for on the older ships is corrosion. The gearbox & mast are mag, make sure those are good. Problem is, you can be a victim of somebody dishonest who cleans up bad corrosion and gives it a paint-job overhaul. This applies to the other parts of the airframe too.
Otherwise, he thought the older 269 series aircraft were good.
-- IFMU