Right ladies and gents, slightly long story but the short version is I've ended up with a 2007 Clio van after various deals, exchanges etc.

Anyway someone has offered to swap my Clio van for a 1993 L reg Fiesta XR2i.

Now I'm not a Ford man and I don't even know myself why I'm thinking about this but I am, so as I always do, I did a history check on the Fiesta and like a typical 90s hot hatch it has been stolen at some point.

This was news to the guy who has it now and it seems as it was just a case of stolen then recovered as it has not been written off or anything.

I've had Cat C and Cat D cars before and know how they work in regards to value and insurance etc, but what happens with a car that has been nicked in the past?

Do I have to tell my insurance? Does it effect the value of the car? Is there anything I should check for on the car outside the basic checks?

Any help greatly appreciated

Head gaskets are prone to giving in, as are valve stem oil seals and the cam is made of chocolate (any top end noise will be cam wear, not tappets)

CVH wasn't Ford's greatest engine...

Does it have wheel arches, sill and inner wings? Ford's like to decompose...

Rust round petrol filler too?

Rust would be my main concern, especially in the areas mentioned above.

Its not a CVH.

1993 cars were not the dogs of previous years, you got a 1.8 16v engine but it only had 105bhp. Still, enjoyable to drive, handled better than the older cars, comfortable, but body shells rusted worse than 70s Italian stuff, its likely to be made of Weetabix underneath and that's pretty much everywhere - especially under the body kit.

Rust is the main concern with them, there are hardly any mk3s left, the mk1s and mk2s seem to fair better than them.

, its likely to be made of Weetabix underneath and that's pretty much everywhere - especially under the body kit.

If not the packaging, a mate had one and the floors where made out of Kellogg's cardboard and fiberglass...

I've always thought they cool. Prefer the mk3s.

I can't see why a car that's previously been stolen would make any difference to the resale value? Neither I imagine your insurance.

This would be a mk3?

Was never a fan of this shape but did have a mk2 xr2 that I liked. Would like a mk1 xr2/SS if they weren't suffering from over priced ford syndrome (I'm still waiting for sierra's to start suffering from that ).

A mate had a nova SR back in the day, he didn't know it had been stolen and recovered and when that got stolen they very nearly didn't pay out on it. He had to prove that it was in the condition he said it was by posted them pictures of it

Thanks for all the info guys, hopefully going to see the car over the weekend.

Yes this is a mk3, from what I've seen so far via pictures is bodywork wise it is very tidy looking.

It has the kit on it so I will have to look for rust under the kit.

It is a 1.8 as Mikey pointed out so should pull the little Fiesta along well.

It was just the whole stolen issue that worries me.

I've never known of a cvh head gasket fail!!

but cam lobes are prone to wear, cvh is a solid engine altho old hat now to most lol,

the zetec is not a bad unit, quite revvy too. but check it well as you know all hot hatches have been thrashed to death

as with all cars of that age rust around the filler neck on mk3 fezzers, also look around the wheel arches under the kit, check the chassis rails and also near the sunroof

one thing tho the handling on a mk3 fez is great

Yeah I've never known a cvh head gasket to go either and we used to thrash the living shit out of them