There is a Shopsmith Mark VII on facebook for $400. This is fairly close to me so I had some questions about it. Isn't the Mark VII one of the later iterations? This one looks new with some extras and while i need one like a hole-in-the-head, maybe for $400 it would be useful to have it on standby. Here's the listing.

The Mark 7 of today is completely different from the Mark VII. I think the Mark VII was sold in the 60’s. The VII were a little different from the rest as they had a built in dust collection system.

Shopsmith’s work slightly different than other tools, like as a table saw you raise or lower the table vs the blade on “normal “ table saws. It’s a decent spindle lathe but it turns way too fast for larger bowls (also different in that the tail stock is stationary) the minimum RPMS is 700. It’s pretty light so at 700 rpm’s the slightest off center will send it dancing around the shop.
Assuming everything works as it should I think 400 would be a fair price.

Quick, Grab it!

You have my permission to gopher-it. Probably should stop by the flower shop for that new plant stand though.

We have one of these that was donated to the furniture bank.  It's still sitting below a tarp.   But from what I can tell, the major difference is the base is a little more substantial.   The one you show has a jointer and a jig saw auxiliary tool (known as special purpose tools, SPTs).  $400 is a good price but not a steal.  Most of them go for around $400-600 around here.   Occasionally you see one listed for $2000+ that is a laughable price.   You are (also) in "Shopsmith Valley" as they were HQ'd just north of Dayton, so there's a lot of them here in SW Ohio.  If you need a jig saw or secondary jointer, lathe, drill press, horizontal boring (a very useful tool), table saw, or 12" disk sander, I'd say go for it.  You could even set it up with a permanent dado blade or rip blade and use it for that.