Tom,
>They will repair or replace any item damaged by their leaking batteries.<
You are right, and also right to remind others of the warranty of reputable companies where I omitted to in my original message. In fact, the batteries were Duracell and they honoured their warranty.
At their request, I sent them the camera body and the batteries together with my valuation, and within a month or so they sent me a cheque for the sterling equivalent of about $450. Curiously enough, I had to send them my written permission to test the batteries to destruction, as technically they were still mine! I don't know what they did with the old body, but I expect they have disposal routes where they can at least get some value as spares.
Instead of buying another 167MT (mine had been in pristine condition and I wanted the replacement to be), I added more to the amount myself and bought an RX instead, thus justifying an RX to my wife, who keeps a close eye on my photo spend, as "costing hardly anything at all". My cunning plan was to get a 167MT later and hope she didn't notice. So when a P5 came up at a ludicrously low price, I just bought it and stored it, waiting for a camera to go with it. Likewise when a 167MT ever-ready case came up, I did the same. Six months later (or one month ago), a 167MT came up in first class condition, boxed and completely free of any blemish, and I had to have it. I just said to my wife casually "Oh, this is the replacement for that camera that was ruined by the batteries a while ago." (I am trusting that fellow Contax enthusiasts will understand and not spill the beans on me.) I am looking for ways to soften her up to the idea of an AX.
It hardly needs saying, but I now routinely remove batteries from cameras and flashguns at the end of the day. I don't know if you get these where you live, but the washing machine detergent packets my wife buys have a small string bag with a draw string and a plastic securing bead, into which the detergent tablets are put for throwing into the drum. I pinch all these, and they're great for putting batteries in and keeping the different sets together.
Alex