Id walk away, especially as you have plans to restore it. No point throwing money at a car that will always have a strike against it. Yes it may not actually make the car itself any worse than the next one, but its an RS and no one will ever pay good money for a car on the hit list, regardless of how mint you make it.

Why not just buy one for a tad more? It will pay off in the end as youll be happier knowing that its history is clean, and will certainly pay off when you come to sell it.

To be honest, id never buy a car on the hit list, whether i got it cheap or not. It would always be in the back of my mind that its just 'not right'. It bugs me if i get a new chip on my bumper, so owning a car thats stolen recovered or a write off would send me crazy!