Hey there guys, been lurking on the Camaro forums for quite some time, but I'm getting really close to finally buying one of of these beasts now.

First off, I'm looking to use this car as my daily driver, for the most part, so I've been more focused on reliability and gas mileage etc than most.
Decided a while back that I wanted a 74-77 model year because of much lower cost than the 70-73, and I prefer the look to the 78+ models.
Also wanted to do an LS swap, or buy a car that had already been swapped for either a vortec 5.3 or another LS based motor, mainly for ease of parts availability, power, and gas mileage. Plus the motors are just pretty great.

Been to look at a few cars, but they're never quite right. Terrible speaker installs, too high of price, terrible wiring jobs, awful rust covering the car, etc.

Finally found one that I like though! And I wanted ya'lls advice on it if you don't mind.

• First off - Rust at the base of the A pillar. Doesn't seem to extend too far across the windshield or down into the door panel any... How bad of a job is it? It seems a little worse than surface rust, I saw some pitting. Otherwise clean body, new paint job so not much other rust, at least that was visible.
• Second, janky AC - For some reason, the AC only blows through the defroster vents, and it didn't seem the heat was working either. Just how hard is it to pull the dash on one of these? I've had to pull the dash on my Cherokee and it was a pretty bad job. AFAIK apart from the 5.3L vortec stuffed in the front of this car, everything else is stock. Including the interior and dash.
• Some other issues of note, passenger door handle doesn't always open the door, stock suspension and brakes, some paint flaking especially on the lower trim. It does have a professionally fitted sound system that I could take or leave... But it's nicely done. Speakers properly fitted into the door panels, a custom sub enclosure in the back that blends into the carpeting and side of the trunk, plus speakers under the rear glass. Good trim, no undercarriage rust, signal lights etc work.

Are there anything else I should check for when I go back to look at it? I'm also going to throw it up on a lift next time to take a better look.
Lastly, seller is asking 13,000. Probably will go down to 11,500 or 12k. Is this a decent price?
I appreciate any input!