Thanks Exhumis, yeah I should have gone over the receipts when I was there but I felt like I had plenty to consider even without seeing them. Matching new batteries and new cables all around including chassis grounds, speedo and tach were steady, tranny is so smooth I can't believe it's a diesel truck. A bit of oil on passenger side valve cover but pretty minimal. Cold start in CA? Well it was in the mid 50s anyway but it fired right up after a short glow period. Owner said he hadn't serviced the plugs so couldn't say which brand they were.
I've been thinking I could offer $7k--mostly because the cosmetic issues are things I likely can't fix. But I'm also waiting to hear back from my welder buddy about the reality of removing the sunroof and welding it shut. Although years apart, the only regular cab tucks I have gone to look at both had sunroofs installed that were not mentioned in the ad. Seriously, who puts a sunroof in a reg cab work truck?