Time to add my two penn'orth, having done more or less what is looking to do. A couple of months back, I bought a '97 MkIII - yes, I wanted a MKIV too, but didn't find a decent one under 12K.
What I did find was my MKIII, with just under 70K miles and FLSH, for 8.7K. Except that FLSH can be a bit misleading. The services had drifted, and the 54K service had been done at 58K; the 63K, due at 67K, hadn't been done. The car looked in excellent condition, drove well, four new tyres - so the deal was done.
That's when I got a nasty surprise - 63K service includes cam belts and spark plugs, and was going to be the wrong side of £600. Fortunately I hadn't picked the car up, so a bit of haggling got another couple of hundred knocked off the price.
By the time I got it serviced, it was up over 70K, so I asked the dealer (Lexus Birmingham) to do a combined 63K and 72K, which added a coolant change. Then I get the call: brake pads 85% worn, front discs below service limit. Okay, okay. But even with my Lexus Owners Club discount, the total was still over £1200.
Still, I've paid out less than 10K for a clean, low-mileage MKIII which should now be fully sorted. Of course, they also identified some play in one of the front suspension arms, which will need sorting out at some point - but I've got no complaints. An LS400, for the same as a nearly-new Mondeo? Bargain!
But the moral is, no matter what you buy, check the service schedule - to the extent of calling the dealer who did the last service, and check what they did - and even then, budget a few hundred for unexpected stuff.
Regards,
Martin