Yes SBL's are all for threading providing all the change gears are there or it has a quick change gearbox. Yes you school lathes were prob gearheads. DRO's can be added at anytime if you desire. You didn't say where you live and some lathes are more common in some areas than others. Like Ohio, eastern Pa, Mich and Mass and NYC. I would look for a good used 9" SBL preferebly with the quick change gearbox. Extra chucks, tooling and such will run a lathe up and sometimes alot of the extra stuff is junk or not needed. Check out my
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southbend10k/ yahoo group for lots of pics and ideas. I started with a few bare bones lathes and made what i needed and now i can do anything that walks in the door. Watch the spindle hole size too. Lots of small imports and the smaller 9" SBL have a 3/4 hole where the heavy 10 SBL has a 1 3/8" for most of them.
This is a good idea of a change gear SB lathe. This one is a rare riser lathe meaning its really a 12" lathe made from a standard 9" lathe from the factory.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330374790335
This is a 9" quick change SBL.
http://cgi.ebay.com/SOUTH-BEND-9-X-2...item5636a649a8
This is a SB heavy 10 with the welded metal cabinet. Some have a big cast iron leg and a small tail end leg.
http://cgi.ebay.com/SOUTH-BEND-Heavy...item2556ab0c4d
any more questions just ask...Bob