I guess this is kind of a retroactive build thread, to describe what I've done so far.
For several years I had a Sherline CNC lathe, which was fairly stock. On the other hand, I spent eight years tweaking and modding and improving my Sherline mill, before I bought a Tormach PCNC1100 to replace it. The Sherline is a very capable lathe for its size, but I wanted a lathe that was more complimentary to my Tormach mill.
In specific, I wanted a lathe that would accept 5C collets. After some reading, I found that a Hardinge DV/DSM-59 was about the smallest lathe that took 5C collets. In November 2007, I bought a Feeler FSM-59 off Craigslist. This is a Taiwanese Hardinge DV-59 clone. No carriage at all, just a manual bang-bang crossslide (front and back toolposts, lever operated between two settable stops).
The lathe was filthy and 3-phase. I did get to run the spindle under power, and since I went equipped with a magnetic-base indicator, it seemed straight and solid. I had to rent a pickup truck to bring it home, which when I arrived at the rental place turned out to be a short-bed club cab...but the lathe just fit. It was a harrowing 55-mile trip home since the truck was so back-heavy!
When I got it home, I spent a couple of weeks of evenings cleaning the lathe of varnished coolant. The only thing I found to cut it was rubbing alcohol. I also dug and scrubbed a a couple of gallons of coolant sludge with about an inch of powdery swarf out of the sump.