Like most of the guys have already said, the bluebirds are a great car. I've had mine for 6 years now and i still love it.
As 'Wolf in Sheeps Clothing' has said, don't be worried about the whine in first gear. All of the manual boxes do it, as 1st gear is closer to a 'straight cut' gear to make them stronger. Second gear should be relatively quiet, so it may be worth getting a mechanic or a knowlegable friend that you trust to look at the car before you lay down any cash.
The black SSS that you are talking about, is it a series 1 or 2?
If it is a Series 1, the cam chain rattle can be fixed by removing the upper cam chain guide from under the rocker cover and removing the front cam chain guide from under the timing case. It's a relatively easy job if you have the right tools and are reasonbly mechanically minded. It took me about an hour and a half to do on my car. My car used to rattle a little bit between idle and 1200rpm, but now she is as quiet as a mouse, even with 230000kms on the clock!
I believe that the series 2's never suffered this rattle, as Nissan chose not to install these cam chain guides for the later models??
Besides this and the famous oil in the distributor problem (which really isn't all that common), they are an extremely reliable car.
Dan.