Yeah my my experience is v8 "race" engines and I've seen everything from painted up fully detailed bone stock engines that must have had a million miles on a single oil change to something that ran like a scalded dog but looked like it had been sitting in the bottom of a lake. Seen way too many 305 and 307s painted and chromed out being sold as hopped up 350 or 383s. The look on their face when you start pulling out a numbers book, light, and bore scope normally gives them away.
But yeah for $50 I woulda jumped on it unknown too, sometimes you just can't look a gift horse in the mouth.