Which would you choose?

I"m looking to buy by my first SVX, and would prefer to keep the price down below $10K. I'm in the SF Bay Area. The dilemma:

A local '95 L AWD with 78K miles, with unknown history, so I have no idea what's been serviced and replaced. Asking price is $9500, but I'm sure I can get it down a bit. The car is clean and everything works fine at the moment. Are Subaru dealers connected so that the local dealer can see the car's history, assuming a subaru dealer has maintained the car?

or,

On the east coast, '96 LS-L with 46K miles, superb condition, recently replaced tranny, 60K service done, new tires, $14.5K, may not be able to get it for much less. It will cost an additional $1K or so to ship it out here. This is more than I wanted to pay, but in theory I'd be getting a better car!

Both have clean carfax histories. Which would you choose?

Does anyone know of a good mechanic familiar with SVX's in the SF bay peninsula area to check out the local car?

Thanks!

-steve