Thanks very much guys,
I'm kind of hoping that I've found a solid car, it's certainly very original - though the downside of this is that I am already feeling the need to replace the radio cassette player with something a little more up to date

. It has only had one owner from new and he was pretty diligent on the service side of things (it had a pretty big file of receipts).
Since taking on the car, I have had a few things done -
1) the alloy wheels needed an overhaul. Though not kerb damaged, they did show the effects of having been exposed to the salt and spray of its seaside location in the North West. Romax in Stockton did a nice job with the refurb, though I stopped short of having the interiors of the teardrops powdercoated in a different colour tone (I reckon gun metal would have looked bang on!) .
2) The rear passenger wheel arch had some fairly significant corrosion (I understand that this can be a bit of an achilles heel with the Mark 2s). Autospray in Darlington did a great job with a panel weld repair and respray of the affected area - I would fully recommend them if you are based nearby.
3) The rocker cover gasket was seeping a bit of oil, so this has been replaced.
I'm hoping that the speedo cable hiccup won't be a biggy - hopefully they just need to clip it on tightly and ram it full of grease. On the subject of test drives, it's now so noisy that you do indeed have to wonder whether they actually road tested their work

. I can't understand how they could hand the car back without even an advisory.

On the subject of the heater, I think that I may have discovered some of the strange noises that you are referring to Peej1981. Still, at least settings 1 and 2 are still working (well, most of the time

).
Thanks very much for your thoughts - I'll let you know how I get on.