It's an odd bike... In case your interested, here's a few pictures.
I picked up the bike in person. The seller seemed like a nice guy and didn't have a reason to really snow me about what he paid - I assumed he knew. It's odd, which is why I bought it.

I put in about $100 for a tune-up, new bar tape, new seat, replacement pedals, etc... I assumed that suicide bars were just popular at the time (I ditched the suicide bars, rear butterfly bolts, & kick stand). My guess is that it's mid-late 1970s - but don't really know. There were not many hits/views on e-bay for it. In the end, it cleaned up pretty well. I thought some spare parts maybe a good thing to have down the road.

Thanks again for the feedback, and hopefully pictures help.

I think that the assessment that it's got cheaper components is probably spot on. Pictures probably help.