Bruce,
Where are you located? I've got a 1940's Craftsman jointer to be had for $50. It's the smaller one - 4-3/8" knives. I replaced the bearings, sharpened the knives, cleaned it up, and bought a spare set of Amana HSS knives for it. I have a sharpening jig for the knives and a setting jig for mounting them. I test ran it once, but never put it into real service because i stumbled across my 10" Inca right at that time.
The Craftsman is in good, useable shape and comes with a 1/2 hp totally enclosed motor with the appropriate pulleys, but no stand. You'll also want to adjust the outfeed table flat with the infeed table (3 screw adjustments on the bottom side).
If you live near St. Louis you can come by to take a look. If you live near Terre Haute, Indiana or Wooster, Ohio i can ferry it to you around the new year.
I run my rough stock over the jointer first to straighten an edge and flatten one face. Then i use the planer to get it to thickness (without a jig, the planer won't flatten the stock, just take it down to thickness, maintaining whatever warp or twist might be in the board). If i had to get by with one machine or the other, i think i'd use a jig on the table saw for ripping warped / bent boards (then use a hand plane to clean up the saw marks), and use a jig on the planer for flattening stock. It would be cumbersome and time consuming, but i could get where i needed to be without a ton of hand planing.
The other option mentioned is to flatten rough stock with hand planes. I like doing this, and it's not as difficult as it sounds, but there is a learning curve if you aren't yet comfortable with hand planes or have the correct tools for the job (jack, jointer, and smoother - usually in that order)
There are several ways to skin the cat - most woodworkers will suggest that a jointer is more indespensible than a planer for getting flat, striaght stock.
Paul Hubbman