Blown head gasket

It's possible. Right now my Cuda has a leaking head gasket but it leaks coolant to the outside. It don't affect how it runs. It just looses a small ammount of coolant (about a pint a week). The coolant isn't going into the oil either. This is about the only situation that I can think of though where one can be leaking or blown and the engine still have compression and run right.

What was the reason the person gave your friend that it needed a new head gasket?