ASK QUENTIN

Sell or fix up my Alfa?

I have owned my 1972 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV for 17 years. It needs a respray and some interior trimming. Love it or list it ? Chris Cosgrave A ’72 GTV is worth good money now. In 2020 a fully restored 1972 2000 GTV sold for £80k on Collecting Cars, so it would be well worth spending some money refreshing yours. I’d keep it, as they’re very special – but if you do decide to part with it, one of the auction houses that market their consignments strongly, such as Silverstone Auctions – would be your best bet at sale time, I reckon.

Quentin Willson

Any hope for my Cat N Mercedes?

I own a 1994 SL500 which I am trying to sell because I am now in Turkey and the car is in storage – I have spent a fortune on it, but it was declared a Cat N in 2012 before my ownership. I explained in the adverts that Cat N is the lowest grade of damage. The previous owner told me that the car was stored in a barn and something fell on it, leaving it requiring a new bonnet and a headlight, and there is a VOSA certificate declaring it being correctly repaired and fit for road usage. I checked the car carefully before buying and could find no other obvious damage. I have had no replies to my adverts, so why is Cat N the kiss of death to a good car, and is there anything I can do to reverse or improve the situation? Pete Jones Sadly there is no way to remove the Cat N category, because the salvage data mark stays with the car for life. Even though Cat N denotes minor damage and is the lowest salvage category, the car has still been written off by the insurer as beyond economical repair. Cat N and Cat S are the only categories of salvage that the owner can buy back from the insurer, which is probably what happened to yours. I’d cut your losses and take the best bid. Spending lots on storage and maintenance won’t ever improve the value. Moral of story –always do a computer data check before you buy and never buy a salvage marked car. You’ll always have something that’s very hard to sell.

Quentin Willson