You would actually be surprised.

Most of the time they don't care about the car itself, they just want to steal whatever is easiest and strip off whatever they can. Whatever the can't use or don't want then gets sold for scrap. A $500 car can put a few grand in their pocket pretty quick.

Speaking of which, I had an old K5 blazer that I used to use as a plow truck. The thing was a total rust bucket that was beat to crap. When I decided to replace it, as a whole truck, the scrap yard was going to give me $250 for it. So, I instead decided to part out what I could and just sell them the shell. Would you believe I got $100 just for the seats? Never mind the engine, trans, wheels, rear, ect. Then I brought the body and frame back to the scrap yard and they still gave me nearly $150 for it. When all was said and done I made more on that truck than I paid for it.