I'm pretty sure that your car has the third seat, with Vistas that is what everybody wants, the price is going up.
The third seat faces forward on all Vista Cruisers (unlike most wagons), the whole reason for the design. It is accessed through the side door to raise it. Your buddy probably didn't see it because he looked under the storage compartment door and it is hard to see from there, I think you would just see the back of the cushion if it is down, and some have a panel there to hide it. The key is just to raise and lower the window if it is power, the gate only opens when the window is all the way down in any case.
Wait a minute..you never said the car was originally from Nevada did you?
How long was it in Michigan? Is the frame pretty clean with no flaking rust, floors okay as far as you can tell? Maybe your buddy can get in there and flip that seat up, carefully get those panels and rear roof spoiler out of the way sitting there, don't want to scuff or damage anything, seriously.
You young guys can get too gung-ho sometimes and do more damage than good.
This can change the whole calculation if it is a limited rust southwest car with a good interior. I wondered if that is how the paint got so sunburned and why the trim and bumpers look so good?
You may have a diamond in the rough there.
now everybody will want it, I would too if I didn't have mine.
Allan