Thank you for the welcomes.
I've been reading (lurking) here for a while and know the 260 is a bit weak so I'm thinking 350 or LS swap at some point.
This side of the pond a classic car is a classic - emission control and insurance cost are not affected much with an engine swap.
In fact this car is registered as a 3.8 V6 for some reason. I also had an 88 Mustang 5.0 that was registered as a Ford Monarch!?
I've owned American cars since 2003 and over here, if you own a 'Yank tank', we are all in the same club - if you see someone broken down on the side of the road (not common) you go out of your way to help them, no matter age, race or GM/Mopar/Ford. Or if you pull up next to someone in a car park or at the traffic lights we have a long chat.
We all seem to drive in a considerate way as well, so American car insurance in UK is really cheap - £200 a year compared to £2000 or so if you are into the Subaru's or BMWs that are always buzzing around us trying to get us into a race...
...until you have to show them a bit of the V8 thunder.
Oh yes, I forgot - 260CI
There is obviously a lot of Rover V8s (Bop 215) over here that get swapped into all sorts of cars and we can get them in all forms upto 4.6 supercharged so that may be an option.
I'm rambling now but I read a post a while ago about which random cars got aluminium parts so I will say this car (California version 260 with metric 200 auto) got an aluminium hood and bumper supports, but iron trunk and drums.