Oh just call me Jim, lol. Here's your check list: 1. It's an old Necchi, make sure the wiring is good throughout. No crumbling insulation issues. 2. The light and 'fast/slow' switches need to be in good shape and the fast/slow motor speed should work. 3. Read, or have the seller show you how to engage and disengage the embroidery mechanism. This would be the left-most dial. It has numbers and an arrow and diamond like shape that appear in the window when you go to set functions. There should be a quiet, but yet barely audible 'click' when you turn the adjustment out of embroidery and into the 'regular' (straight and zigzag) setting. 4. If they are going to demo the machine, you want to see the zigzag stitch working. If it's that crazy number of deco stitches that you really want, then the single most important check on a Necchi SN is that the embroidery unit engages and disengages. *In all fairness... insulation can go bad on any old machine, so can switches and resistors, but not all classic vintage machines have a super fancy embroidery unit. =)