Hi Orange and Gilbert - despite finding the RR in good condition, drives and handles well (shows up the poor running of my P38) apart from minor things like instrument panel lights out and headlining, I'm a bit worried about this 'Westminster' thing. Having reread your excellent help about specs for Westminster there seems to be some big oddities like colours and interior and unless there was some special private export order that we don't know about it does not make sense. Also, I've been assuming its 4.6 which is not done for Westminster as you say. (It may be 4.0) Going to pop down and check the vin and ask at the garage where they had the head off for skimming when they had leaks etc . Will value your help to check it out - could it be a 'ringer' as you say Orange and do people rebuild/change lots of bits to pass it off ? Surely, if it was done late in its life there would not be much money in it. Perhaps most of the body is westminster and interior and other bits rebuilt ? Has right wheels and those name plates on door sills

Or somebody simply put the Westminster badge on the back and the sill plates to make it look more upmarket. Microcat should decode the VIN and give you the original spec/colours, etc when it was built.

Thanks Gilbert - makes sense - going down to look but won't be able to open bonnet so will have to make do with windscreen vin !

That one will be the correct one if it has been changed. You also have a PM.

If you can get the engine number the first part of it will tell you what size it is, A number starting 58D is a 4.0 litre, and a 4.6 will start with 60D.

I'm guessing Gilbertd's pm relates to decoding your VIN in Microcat?!
That's what I was going to suggest when I first mentioned getting the VIN number all those posts ago.
The reason that matching VINs are important is that buying a ringer is a bad thing, no matter what country you're in. Something built from a pile of parts of dubious origin remains the property of the insurance company that paid out on the core vehicle loss in the first place. If (and I'm not saying it is, by the way- there are many innocent explanations) it is, you could lose the car and not get your money back.
3 VIN locations. All should match. Slam panel (v easy to change), windscreen (harder to change as needs dash or screen out, but not THAT hard) and RHF chassis leg. The last is the one nobody ever checks!
Whether it's a genuine Westminster or not won't matter until you come to sell it. If the car's what you want, and a reasonable price, go for it. Unless you can prove it's a Westminster though, you won't be able to sell it as one...

Just for the record have given up on the 'Westminster'. Was excited at having the 1000 euros they asked for accepted and started making plans but was then gazumped by someone later in the day so upped my offer to 2000 which was accepted. Drove and tested car - ran well - small problems - no behind dash light so can't see true mileage done - Air con not working and other minor things. But, forgot to check the vin and after much thought about the 'Westminster' labels decided against going ahead with it. It looks like a standard sort of 4.6 HSE with beige interior and 'special order' bolt on 'Westminster' badge on tail gate and door sills - strange.
So it is back to fixing the trusty 4.0 P38 and I hope it doesn't get offended at my lack of faith in it !!

You'll never know, you may have had a lucky escape or you may have lost out on a good 'un. There's always the chance that the seller has a change of heart and offers you it for 1500 as they turned down the offer from the other buyer. It does look to be a standard 4.6 HSE but with the Westminster badges. I very much doubt a Westminster for export would have been any different to a RHD Westminster, the various limited editions that went to the US were the same spec as those sold here except for having the steering wheel on the wrong side. The Hurricane wheels were fitted to quite a few different variants, there's a set on my '97 4.0SE.

There's a lot to said for sticking with the devil you know too.