I think I'll keep it for the moment. ;^)
So, upon trying the "boot to OS 9" experiment, when I boot a system file dragged over from my main drive to the tiny one it does see the oversize partition. On the downside, the "Classic" folder seems to be missing a few important bits. (I noticed there was no sound, so upon investigation I discovered that among other things the Sound control panel is missing. Doh!)
I suppose if I find some real reason to use it I'll dig into the restore disks and see if they have a more complete OS 9 on them. Feh. Seriously, Apple...