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Day four

Day 4

Cooling after evening after-work ride

Great little run out last night, Salmesbury to Settle via Waddington. Borrowed field for piccy.

Could we get this car back to England in time for the Kit Car Show at Malvern next weekend?

Few snaps from a great run out this evening with the Kitnet boys and girls Hiding under the Severn bridge

Did a bit of research, using my copy of Westfield - The Story as shown in the online photo (along with the fine club magazines also included with the car): According to the book: which according to the DVLA is registered as a 1971 Austin Healey with a 1275cc engine. More photos of said car and price list: Interestingly, he seems to have some of these photos of NDH 71J in his own literature: May or may not be the answer you’re looking for, but hope it helps you either way.

Understandable to assume it was a coincidence but at that time, the three-letter prefix on the number plate indicated the area in the country of the car’s first registration. In this case, it would have indicated it was first registered in the Birmingham region. As it’s common practice among car dealers, I’m guessing Chris probably obtained a block of registration numbers from the DVLA to assign to cars as they were completed. Before the advent of the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera system, police around the country used the three-letter prefix (later suffix) to spot potential trouble. Seeing a number plate where the first registration was hundreds of miles away was sufficient to get a copper’s radar going.

It's fascinating to dig into this stuff, thanks for the replies. It's hard to argue with Chris Smith himself if he's indicating that the car above is #1 ... though it's kind of curious that they are both NDH number plates. Big coincidence assuming these were two early cars built off 15 year old Midget donors that they would end up with such close plates. NDH282E comes up as a green 1967 MG Midget on the UK plate website, with Tax due from 1st August 1981! In every other respect the two cars look identical, so I can believe that this car was a press / demo when the company was starting production, though most likely not #1. I just got off the phone with the current and 3rd owner, a real character and British car nut. Older chap thinning out his herd, he recently sold his Westfield XI, amongst several others. Everything he said made me want the car all the more, other than he cautioned that with size 9 feet, he struggled with the pedals. I have size 13 .... He's sending me pictures of the pedal box, but I fear that may be the downfall of this particular plan, a real shame as I love the history behind this particular car.

I should be good 👍

Well, since you talk a lot of hot air mate…

lovely day for a drive around Cornwall

Hello all - first time post, but a long time Westfield fan, and very keen to get one myself and confuse all the Americans over here with a little odd car from Dudley ...! In my searching I came across this ... https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/westfield/westfield/2485207.html ... which claims to be the first Westfield produced. I am quite interested in the car because I do like the vintage look with steelies and so on, but I have a couple of concerns - 1. Could this really be the first Westfield? There's definitely some cache to having the first one, but I don't know how true that might be. I figured the esteemed WSCC forum may know some of the history from back in the day that could confirm or refute this claim? 2. At 6'1" am I even going to fit in it? Unfortunately it is about 2000 miles away, so I would be buying sight unseen and wouldn't be able to try it on for size first - I don't mind it being tight, as long as I can actually drive it! Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

Hands off Julie Hall , she is the apple of my Pie

Have a great day and enjoy your 3rd drive your Westie to work day! @Stu Faulkner 🍺

Happy belated birthday @Stu Faulkner hope it was a good ‘un!

After about three months' time waiting for the seller to return to Italy from a work obligation overseas, we finally closed the deal on the SE on Thursday the 11th in Sarnico. My wife and I booked a lovely B&B for the night at an agriturismo, and headed back to Modena (180 km distant) on Friday. The car is an '88 SE, shows ~3000 miles, well-constructed (factory job?), and drove and ran flawlessly. Thanks to seller Fabio, who was friendly, cheerful, and patient. This was a painless transaction!! Now I have four cars and only a two car garage. Our flawless '03 BRG Jag X Type will have to go with only 76K on the clock. The Westie will share garage space with my '08 Quattroporte while the Glamour Red '06 S-Type "R" is relegated to street parking. This is already looking like fun--too much fun for a 75-year-old California transplant? Nope. Don't call me Gramps, OK?

UFO = Un followable object? i.e. @Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative when she smells cake and takes off?

That's the only one regularly used by some of the Peaky Blatters!

The lack of a visible deep return flange to the front edge would suggest that this is either for a Kit wide or narrow body.

Nice one Matt, very jealous as I am in the tin top of shame 🤪🤣. Lovely weather for it 🌞👍

Pm'd cheers Andy

Day three

And in the add you have linked it says that the Westfield had been registered as an 1967 MG Midget, so that might be the reason for the different number plate?

A little more looking, and found these: Sorry for the small images, they're screen grabs from Facebook comments.

I remember Chris Smith posting something on Facebook about the very early years of Westfield, and I found this: A post from Chris himself, the first Westfield 7. The NDH numberplate is correct, but it looks like the numbers might be different. No denying that the Westfield you've posted is an extremely early one, but might not be the first.

1) is going to be very different to prove indeed, given that Chris Smith passed away in the near past. There does seem to be a lot of supporting paperwork to go through. The bodywork and suspension looks correct. Is there a serial number? 2) Not going to kid you - at 6’ 1” it’s going to be awfully snug, particularly with that large steering wheel. You have to try for yourself, but the difficulty will be the pedal area and pulling your left leg back off the clutch. It would certainly be a labour of love restoring and tidying up the rat’s nest of wiring but you’d own something unique. I wish you lots of luck and all the best.

Happy birthday Stu, on your 3rd Drive Your Westfield to Work day in your 3rd built Westfield. Hoping we can have many more of these days this summer👍 Enjoy your evening

Been having some excellent views of the Sun, Moon and Venus recently. I caught a swift passing in front of the Sun which was quite cool. Took a video of the crescent Moon last night, don’t turn the sound up or you will hear my comedy Darth Vader impression, thought I was breathing very quietly too! 🤣 Swift passing in front of the Sun. The dark splodges are sunspots. Don’t try this at home without a specialist scope! Crescent Moon Venus at about half phase, it will slowly turn into a crescent as it comes round its orbit and closes with the Sun in the sky.

👍

Some reading for you, there's also a really good post in the archives from @Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO re the the use of WhatsApp Live Location for runs.

Mr. gulf Shoes...............how could you..........in day light, with children present too.......................

@Stu Faulkner a man of many talents 😁

From what Russ says, you don't know where the throttle is in a car 😉

Happy Birthday

Have a great Birthday, Stu!

Happy birthday mate 👍

MHR @Stu Faulkner

First go at Brands the other evening.

Day two

🫡

The Ford GT40 is one of my favourite cars. As a young lad I was drawn in by its low, wedge-like shape and growling engine - almost like a spaceship - purposeful and just 'right'. In 2016 I was fortunate enough to be at the Le Mans 24 hour for the year that Ford returned to Circuit de la Sarthe (exactly 50 years after the famous '66 win for Shelby and co) where their new Ford GT managed to take the GTE victory in perfect Hollywood style. As fun as that was (and Le Mans is a whole lot of fun, if you haven't made the pilgrimage you definitely should), my best 'Ford experience' of that weekend was an anniversary race involving classic GT40s battling it out on the Friday night in support race of the main event. I watched that particular race - beers in hand - from the banked spectator viewing area at Arnage as day turned to night, and I'll never forget the sight, sound and feeling of 8 classic GT40s hammering into view from Indianapolis, headlights blazing, and braking hard before getting back on the power to take them off into the Porsche Curves beyond. Petrolhead heaven. That was about as close as I thought I'd ever get to a GT40 going fast on track except that, in a moment of genius, my amazing wife found a track experience to drive one as a birthday present this year. Well, sort of. It's actually a replica - a KVA kit I believe - but powered by an authentic and hefty 485 bhp Ford 427 V8. I booked it for this Sunday gone at Three Sisters near Wigan (hosts to our very own Speed Series elsewhere in their calendar) and was very lucky to get absolutely stunning weather for it. Full disclosure, this is an "experience" day not a track day, and they make that pretty clear at all times with various warnings about over driving the car. I also only had 4 laps in it, but that was genuinely enough to get a feel for what is a proper beast of a car. I got the full classic race car experience too. Once slotted into the low fixed bucket seats, the thing wouldn't start so I had to get out while the mechanic had a look and diagnosed a dodgy battery. However this gave me the unexpected chance to see the engine cover open and get my head in for a good nosey around. Deciding to jump it and save the battery replacement until after my run, we fired it up and headed out onto the track. As mentioned, as an "experience" day the instructors take an understandable level of caution. Many people there are inexperienced in driving fast cars (or on track), and the small tight circuit was also pretty crowded at times - they had about 40 different motors there from a McLaren 720S to Lotus Cortina via various Lambos, Fast and Furious clones and even a lovely little Peugeot 205 GTI. However, having done a sighting lap in a BMW 320 already, I was able to give the instructor a bit of confidence on the opening lap that it wasn't my first rodeo, and after applying some nice firm braking on the unassisted pedal I was encouraged to push on a little more than his previous occupants. The car is a total beast in such a good raw way. It's hot and sweaty, on a scorching day like that it was very hot and sweaty. The seating position is low (especially for someone of my height efficient build) and a fixed bucket to the point that most of my forward visibility was actually through the wheels spokes. The steering itself is heavy, especially when manoeuvring the pit lane and slower corners, but it opens up under more power with great feel and feedback. The brakes are equally firm, and in fact were the main thing the instructors worry about, with most customers apparently applying what we called "Qashqai" levels of pressure to the pedal which is almost exactly the same as not braking at all. Then we get to the engine... oh the engine. It sounds every bit as incredible as you would expect and just pulls and pulls, especially when opening it up onto the back straight (and powering past the aforementioned 720S 😉). By the third lap I was testing the limits (of the instructor) a bit with a little harder/later braking, and a dab of deliberate on-power oversteer to get a feel for what was there (the answer to that question is a lot!), and hear those tyres battling the inevitable balance of slip and grip. You could run out of talent fast in it, that is for sure, but it never felt edgy, and with some patience and diligence I think you could have a whole lot of fun in it as well once you knew how to use it properly. All too soon - having overtaken about 8 other customers in the process, and only waving by the 800 bhp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat because I was slowing to come into the pits - it was time to bring it home, before jumping out for a final look and departing back to the paddock. While the track time didn't equate to anything near what I would have ideally liked (or have done on other occasions) it will still go down in memory as a fantastic thing to do. Short but very very sweet, and a proper bucket list item that I never thought I'd do ticked off. Retro style, trying to channel ‘66…

Durr, dumber than a dumb thing I searched the garage. I searched the shed. I searched the house. I even searched the caravan even though I knew it couldn't be there. I didn't look in the Westfield cos' the poles don't fit in the boot, but the flag does, guess where I found the flag? yep the flag fits in the boot All is well now, see you all at Malvern, if I remember

Same as Kingster but with less bodywork.. Making progress, wiring now done, backend nearly done and then engine and gearbox in!

Getting there!

Thanks for the tag tom but that looks like a kit bonnet to me and its been fitted and drilled to fit those bonnet catches it would have never left the factory with those fitted