No they did not all fail by 100k. I've had several that lasted well beyond 100K. The earliest one was a 1900 Imperial that was still going strong with 155k on the original transmission when I sold it.Obviously it depends on the car, I guess, but I'm hoping they all failed prior to 100k so it's a newer transmission...
I was told it shifts fine by someone I know who has driven it, but I'll have a look at it either Monday or Tuesday... if I do end up buying, the first thing to go is the old fluid and filter, then a retraining. I'm not sure if it's got the newer trans computer or not, it didn't have any stickers on it so I couldn't tell... is the newer one the one with fins on it? I think that would probably apply to this car...
No fins on the TCM on this car... just black box.
If the transmission has been replaced, they didn't replace the computer if there are no fins.