I have modified the A a fair bit and prefer the A with the B post pillar which I have now got; (it is a bit of a mix of cars and has had a fair bit of welding and body filler, but its my car and I love it anyhow). 

My main reason is safety, much as I love my car, my personal H&S is my prime concern, to which I have added such things as a roll cage and rally harnesses and I have the B pillars and plenty of new welding in this car.

It isn't original, but I hope I haven't modified it too much and that it still looks like a Manta, unfortunately I now also have a lot of bits that cannot fit where the B pillar is and I ended up having to hand paint the pillar as I realised that I didn't actually have the vinyl bits either.

I will be combining the two seat belt harnesses, the rallye one (which I also had to  modify the front seat head rest too) for when I and a passenger drive and the inertia for when I take passengers.

Former owner Daniel Lugg wrote the following:

"I bought DPN155K in 1988 for £550. It was a '72 SR Rallye in excellent condition with 72K on the clock. After replacing the radiator which had silted up, I enjoyed 15K miles of trouble free motoring until one Friday in winter, at rush hour on the M25,the big ends released themselves through the block.

This resulted in the purchase of a new P.M.C. engine, with gas flowed head and trick cam on std. valves. With a Weber 32/36 DGV carb (good carb), a trip to Hailsham, Sussex rolling road saw 94 bhp @ wheels (117 @ f/wheel). Being on the Rallyes 3.67:1 axle instead of 3.44:1 std. made for surprisingly rapid progress. 7000RPM not a problem!

A nice touch on the car was a brushed ally bracket below the 3 centre dials with 2 toggle switches & respective coloured lights for fogs and spots. Very James Bond!

Another 18K of enjoyable motoring then disaster. The l/h lower control arm broke free from its bush (as they do). A scrap complete front suspension from a chap in Poole, Dorset with a very nice silver A series (Andy Murrell) saw me on my way. 3 months later and a posting to Germany saw me sell DPN 155K.