[asid61]

I high recommend a mill. We have a bridgeport and a low-power Jet lathe (it's barely decent). The mill sees work throughout the whole build season; you can mill gearbox plates, WCD siderails, hole patterns, and cut material to very precise lengths (given the measuring tools are at hand). We only used our lathe last year to cut spacers, and that can be done on a mill as well given round bar stock.
However, it does cost more to tool up a mill properly. You need endmills from 3/16" up to 1" diameter, holders for taps and dies, triangles, v blocks, parallels, a drill chuck for the mill, countersinks, and a few other thing you probably wouldn't have in the shop.

For $1000-$2000, you could pick up a used Bridgeport (or at minimum a medium sized mill, not a Harbor Freight) and tool it up properly. That would be a very useful thing to have.
A digital readout or long indicator is almost a must for drilling holes at spacings though. I highly recommend the former.