"I paid $350.00 for a Classic in 1970"
Well, Norm, $350 in 1970 was a lot more money than it is today. If you go just by the cost of gasoline, there's an inflation factor of almost 1000 percent.
Before the phony, artificially manipulated "energy shortage" in the early 1970s, gas was around 25-30¢ a gallon. (Actually, when I started driving in 1971, I could find gas for 25¢ a gallon!)
During the contrived shortage, when the oil companies had every American citizen bent over and TAKING IT, gas prices "SOARED" up to an all-time high of 55¢ a gallon and, boy, there was no end to the outrage. Gas did not hit a dollar a gallon until the early 1980s.
Using that very basic (and, granted, skewed) comparision, $350 in 1970 dollars works out to about $3500 in 2008 dollars... so $350 for the D80 on eBay is QUITE a bargain!
That having been said, I know how much back-breaking, filthy work polishing out Kirbys is. I'd say that this machine is worth every penny the seller is asking! I'd certainly not want to sell a Kirby I completely restored to that beauty for much less than that.
Just my $1.37's worth on the economy.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911055,00.html