more ads asking three or four thousand pounds, and in same breath ' might break if price not met' ...kinda puts me off considering paying c £4,000 for a car that the the caring owner is considering scrapping..!!

Never come across this before with any other car, - worth more dead than alive?! - Cant see it myself..

lots of rare cars in poor condition can be worth more in bits than as a runner, its what the market will stand.

My cousin had a Delta HF a few years back, it was rougher than you could imagine and to anybody other than a collector, was a total liability. She got it after swapping a Rover 200 and a few hundred in cash. In hard to find bits alone it was worth a lot more than that.

There are lots of tired Coupes around, more than there are people willing to buy them and therefore bad cars are worth breaking up for other owners to get hold of cheap spares. I'm in no doubt that I've spent nearly £800 this year on repairs, if my car is only worth £500 it wouldn't take long to get that sort of money selling most of the nearly new parts off.

I understand that, but when people are asking three or four thousand, not hundred..and in the same breath say they would consider scrapping it...either the asking price is known to be wildly optimistic or the condition of the car cannot be as good as all the documented evidence suggests?!