The 0-145 has a bad reputation for having low power. I don't know anything about its parts or reliability. I see a lot of pre-war Chiefs on Barnstormers for under $20k, and those have Continentals. Unless this airplane is a steal, you might try finding one with a Continental and newer fabric. 30 years between coverings is a long time, even for a hangar queen.
Common belief is that fabric systems have a time life, simply isn't true. like any other thing I can think of it really depends upon usage and care. Judge each aircraft on its own merrits.
There are Polly Fabric systems out there much older than this one at 30 years and they are still in fine condition.
As an aside, these airplanes don't seem to sell quickly, so who knows what the final selling prices are. I suspect they are substantially below the asking prices.
One consideration is IF this airplane is priced at rock bottom, you might look at it as a project. Strip, recover, upgrade to Continental. Of course, that's a $10k bill if you don't find anything wrong when you uncover it and if you do the work yourself.
