Welcome to the fold

I had the same insurance issue. Brought my car while half way through an admiral insurance policy - they only charged me £32 extra from my original 2.5 X type which I traded in on the 75 V8, I let it run to the end as it was less hassle and got me on the road. But and its a big BUT..when I checked the value it was market value and around the £2500 to £3000 mark. Upon renewal they loaded it big time to almost 2 x the original price and when I pushed on the value, they still insisted the market value was £2700 and dropping.

I went to Peter Best and got an agreed value of £8000 plus breakdown etc. for less than the wife's 1 litre Chevrolet Matiz !!

You just need to consider that on classic/collectors insurance you can not use you no claims discount which, if not used for 2 years you loose and the maximum mileage a year is limited to 5000 miles.

I am also just down the road from you in Luton, I think Beds and Hearts seems to be the place to be with a 260 / R75 - all we need to do now is get Brown and Gammon's to start giving us a group discount


Not had any major faults with mine and its a MK 2 so you should be able to ignore the sunroof drains - rear springs etc.

As to issues not generally noticed when buying:-

Check the locking wheel nuts - they get over tightened and the key wears.
Door cables in the rear seem a bit prone to breaking - door opens from the outside but not from the inside.
Fixings for the undertray are missing - easily replaced and helps you keep that undertray!
Flat tyre repair cans out of date!
Misting of windscreen due to pollen filter requiring a change and the drain below stuffed, gets the filter wet and gives you a musty smell in the cabin.
Main air filter not changed - its a front bumper off job and some garages just don't bother..
Also due to the age, the heater valve might not be working efficiently, its a cheap and nasty item - the shop has a Black Olive replacement that should fix that issue, 1st job I did on mine and also when I noticed the pollen filter was a block of encrusted muck and bucket of leaves sitting in the drain! Easy enough job to do with a good how to instruction on the 260 site