i wouldn't buy either. asking too much money for their condition.
the automatic with 35k miles is worth $8,350 blue book in excelent condition. and its not in excelent condition. how would you get a car loan for a car if its not with it? you won't i tried. unless you have the cash to over the difference.
the manual with 69k miles is blue book $7,930, don't buy someone else's toy. especialy if you don't know how to mod DSM'l you'll be jumping into the middle of the project not know where to begin. also did he have the timing belt and the rest of the 60k milage stuff done?
spending ANYTHING above bluebook is a rip off. Don't buy are car that has problems, they are getting rid of it because they are sick of problems. and if the car is leaking ship at 35k miles its either a lemon or has been beat. most eclispe's have issues because the owners beat the hell out of them. and since they are getting old, they have issues. don't think you are going to buy a 7 year old car and not have some maintnece to catch up on either.
I bought my 99 GST 5-speed with 71k miles for $8500 from a dealership. car came with a 6 month/6k miles power train warrenty. car was in mint condtion body, and pretty-damn-good-for-an-old-car engine wise. i had it check buy a mechanic before i bought it. it was leaking oil, clutch oil, and coolant, and the tires were shady. dealership fixed all the leaks, vaule seals, left transaxle seals, and a crap radiotor plug. i ended up trashing the old tires and buying winter tires. all in all i've rip the car top to bottom looking for maintnesce to do. car came with all the 60k miles warrenty paper work. only thing gone wrong is the A/C clutch, but getting it fixed under warenty.
point being you can find a better car with less issues, and never buy a gst with an auto tranny its such a waste. keep looking you'll find something and when you do you'll know it.