I have, and love, a 1008. It does everything I could possibly want. it's very straight forward and because it's fully mechanical, I feel like if anything goes wrong I can get it fixed pretty easily. I also have an old 803 from the late '80s which is still trundling along on its occasional outings. I've made everything on it from chiffon to curtains.
The 803 is fairly similar, but has fewer stitches. I think the differences between the 1000-1008 range is also largely to do with how many stitch patterns it has. But really, beyond the basics, how many do you need??
The only thing to be aware of is the presser feet - there are two types of "old style" feet, and only one fits the 1008 (both fit the 803). The fatter pronged ones won't fit, only the skinny prongs, and never the newer-style single prongs, which is just something to remember if you are buying used ones on Fleabay....