ASK QUENTIN

Focus on my Focus?

I have a blue Ford Focus ST registered in November 2005 that has only done 12,000 miles and has been garaged since I’ve owned it. It’s still all original. Will this become the next fast Ford classic and should I keep or sell? If so, for how much?

Graham Field

With just 12,000 miles, yours must be one of the lowest-mileage 2005 Focus ST3S in the country and in best-selling-blue! It’s a really hard car to value but I’d see it at between £15,000 and £17,000 as long as it’s as original and perfect as you say. But I’d hang on because now isn’t the best time to sell. History tells us that perfect low-mileage fast Fords always rise in value so I’d keep it tucked away for a while yet. Quentin Willson

Should the Porsche or Alfa go?

My partner and I are about to sell our homes and buy something together in Maidenhead but unfortunately our budget only runs to a house with a single garage, so one of our classics will have to go. He says that his 157,000-mile Porsche 911 Carrera 2 is an investment so we should sell my Alfa ‘Duetto’ Spider. The fact that my mother bought it new originally, it’s only done 62,000 miles and is in better, though unrestored, condition surely makes it more special. What do you think?

Gemma Carlton

Although Porsche 911s have enjoyed large gains in the past, prices have generally softened since. Cars with particularly low mileage, thick history files, timewarp originality or forensically perfect restorations can still make strong money, but your partner’s 964 doesn’t sound like one of those. Your Alfa seems to have everything going for it. Not only is it the lovely, pert first-series shape, it has single-family ownership, fairly low mileage and is in original condition – factors that will always have buyers forming a disorderly queue. Make sure that you gather any surviving paperwork into a neat, organised folder, and not just service receipts – original handbooks, old tax discs, family photos and anything else that relates to the car can make it even more desirable if you do ever decide to sell. Quentin Willson