Thanks for all the background info. It's interesting to know that that the current vendor paid £623 for it. I've been to look at the car and yes, the rear valence is in a real state and could well make it terminal however I had a really good look over the car and I reckon it's do-able. Inner sills behind carpets were in great order, bulkhead solid, rear upper link to base unit as new, box sections under the back seat were as they left the factory, outer d posts rot free, inner wings and hockey sticks good and the badly holed cover sill revealed a good outer sill on the off side. Front near Side jacking point looked dubious though. All outer steel panels are scrap really. Before I was are of his £623 purchase price, I made the guy what I thought was a fair offer of £650 for it, and the spares car. The offer was immediately declined. The spares car has very good panels but has had the trasmission tunnel cut out and engine/box removed. Based on it being a rare colour, 1 owner series 1 v8 (which seem to be attracting good prices) I just wonder if it's viable? I've got a garage full of spares, can weld, can do all the mechanical work and I can do the respray too. I've done full retorations on many a p6 over the years so I quite fancy it as I've got most of the parts, it just needs time. Or am I mad?!