Once the insurers paid out (9 months later) I started looking for another Manta and found a white GSi (B802VPO) that I bought in May 1990 for £3500.

In 1993 I passed my motorcycle test and the Manta ended up being neglected. Eventually, in June 1995 after failing it's MOT it was sold on for £180.00 to a specialist in MOT failures. It was sorted out by them and I saw it around quite regularly.

Just as I was about to give up and buy a Rover 200, D780FPX cropped up in my local autotrader, only 8 miles from home.

Seemed like an omen so I had a good look at it and liked what I saw so paid £1400 for it on the 6th of November. I bought it from the original owner with loads of service history and 60k miles on the clock.

I only managed to knock £100 off the asking price but, had I spent more time looking through the forum archives on rust spots on the roof, perhaps I would have tried a bit harder.

The performance of the TR7, which I sold on 6th December, with be sadly missed but there's little rust on the Manta so hopefully that can be sorted reasonably cheaply and I can think about improving performance after that.