Not allowing access to the sale forums has always been the case and always worked and made sense, stops dreamers and tyre kickers from wasting member time, also lets members benefit from selling parts to each other without the bother of outside vultures swooping in.
Same with PMs, stops outsiders from abusing the system, if you want to contact a member, then YOU have to provide contact details to prove you're not a spammer or a troll, makes perfect sense.
Charging a few measley quid for access to a decade-old database with thousands and thousands of posts that can literally save you thousands of pounds in garage costs and hundreds of hours of labour time is not extortion, it's the bl**dy bargain of the century. Complaining that you can't have something valuable for nothing is misguided at best and pathetic at worst. Frankly, this should have been done years ago. If you're that desperate for info off the boards, there's a tool you can use that you might not be aware of - its called Google. Of course, you'd have to open another tab in your browser, which I accept is a real inconvenience.
The clue is in the name - Westfield Sports Car CLUB, not Free Public Library & Playground. Any club that doesn't charge to join and allows total freedom isn't worth the letters in its name.
You'll get over it.