It sounds like you came to a good compromise.... but its a shame that it sounds like such a nice car has ended up in the hands of someone who sounds like a bit of a muppet
It appears that the Losi belts do degrade quite badly over time (I can remember the original belts used to be a weak item anyway & would quite often snap) - a fellow RC10Talk.com member has recently completed a Street Weapon IWC rebuild - another ebay purchase, which when it arrived appeared to have had very little use, yet on the stripdown this is what was found;
Of course being a vintage R/C fan embarking on a re-build for shelf display you accept that you may find parts that have degraded &/or need replacing. To the less initiated who sees a car that can be stuffed full of the latest R/C gear for thrashing about, may not appreciate the car's vintage (especially of one that appears almost new!) Maybe dissapointed that the belts had turned to mush
