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But you do win the WSCC outstanding achievement award 2024 for oldest thread resurrection! 😁

Afternoon all, Brand new member here, always liked the idea of a Westfield but recently started looking at them and now I really really like the idea! I have only just started to learn about them, so based on minimal knowledge, I believe I'd want an SEi W with a Zetec. I understand you really need to know what you're looking at when buying one, so to avoid getting a poor example would it be wise to buy one from someone like Toy Box? Any help/advice appreciated and maybe one day I'll get to meet some of you. Cheers

Thank you, that's sorted it

Hello everyone ! I introduce myself Adrien, 37 years old, I am in the south west of France near Bordeaux. I have been a lover of the Seven since my childhood and hope to find information see one or more Westi Looking forward to discussing!

Some good answers already, but just to add... Age is almost bottom of the list, importance wise. A pampered, well looked after 1994 car can be way better condition wise than an abused unloved 2024 car! Factory vs Home. factory builds are a compromise*, but do mean you know what you're getting. But only if you're the first owner, picking it up fresh from the factory. Soon as it gets into it's owners hands, it may or may not evolve and change over the years. (*factory builds, are essentially built to a standard good enough to be safe, work properly and to pass an IVA test, for the minimum man hours of time necessary to produce an acceptable quality). So they're reasonably consistent. Home builds on the other will range from the frankly worrying, thank goodness we have IVA to filter them out, through to the stunning, most fastidious beautifully finished cars, packed with ingenious home engineered solutions. Quality of build is king, when it comes to kit cars. The more cars you see, the more you'll get an idea of what a good, tidy build looks like. One quick tip though, is to have a real close up look behind/inside parts of the build you don't normally see; under the scuttle for instance, under the back of the boot box area and so on. If the build is still neat and tidy in these areas, with things properly mounted and secured, you know the builder will most likely have taken that much care throughout. - sometimes, viewing a second hand Westfield is almost as much about assessing the current owner as the car!! Performance parts/tuning. This is an odd one. They can certainly add a little value, true, but unless the car has physical competition pedigree with a list of podium places under it's belt, usually nothing like the amounts spent! -what some, "the right" upgrades do though, is make a given car much more desirable. I think Chris mentioned gearboxes - that's a definite plus, expensive and an engine out job to do, if you can let someone else take the hit in the wallet and buy one already done, brilliant! Be aware though some upgrades add as much bling as actual performance - quite a few of the billet aluminium brake conversions fall in this camp. On a road car in particular, they will often add no more performance, and sometimes less. The reason they often initially feel so much better, is that they are frequently supplied with much better performance/competition pads. But try putting the similar sorts of pads into a car with OEM brakes all round, and you'll get many of the same benefits! Track use vs road only use. A bit of a how long is a piece of string question, again the best advice I can think of here is check the owner out as much as the car. A meticulously maintained track day car, doing half a dozen or more events a year, can easily be in way better condition than an abused and unloved road car that rarely see's any TLC. As far as use in general goes, unlike Caterhams, which are a highly developed and honed car, right down to little details, cars like Westfields are only developed so far - far enough to work well, if never getting anything more than regular servicing, but not down to the details and refinements - that's for the builder/owner to continue with, if they wish. So the more use a car has had, in the hands of a sympathetic, hands on owner, the better the car will be; in an ideal world, when going to see a car, you almost want an owner to be proudly showing and telling you about everything they've done on it!!

Think it's all been covered but my view on the mileage thing, mine had a good few more than most I was looking at but my theory was more miles meant it must of been reliable and peeps used it and had fun. The build quality was great on viewing tidy electrics and well thought out. Bought in January -2 3hour drive home with an aero screen. 😁 Crikey I was cold. Good luck with the hunt 13k will get you a lot of Westfield in these times. Patience is key but be ready to pounce good ones don't hang around

Hi Mark, Thanks a lot. Yes I will definitely try to attend a local meet up soon, there's so much to learn and only so much you can do from a phone. There's one currently for sale an hour away from me, it's not for me but might be worth asking if I can go and look at it regardless, just to get an idea. Tricky time of year to look I guess as taking one on the road is becoming less & less likely. Andrew at toybox was very helpful on the phone so I think another great way to get chatting and learn from the experts. Cheers

Perhaps shorten the question by 3 words? that would have more impact 😉 Just be good 😎

Hi Jimbo, I have been in a very similar situation to you, decided about 6 month ago to commit to a Westy, similar budget. Just purchased a factory sport 2000. I had an idea. I wanted to do a few track days/runs out each year. Set myself a few base lines, wide body, sierra rear, 2ltr 16v engine 200bhp. I would 100% recommend meeting up with the local owners club, not as daunting as you think. Great advise and people. Private or trade. Trade - Toybox cars look great and well presented, but like any business, they are there to make a margin, and nothing wrong with that if you want the backup. However £13k will not get you a 2ltr zetec seiw. Private - in budget, there have been plenty of well spec'd Zetec cars in the past 3-4 months and a few duratec's both factory and self build. Bit of a cliché but genuine owners will be happy to chat about their cars. Get to know what to look for and how these cars should feel on the road. Take time to look through paperwork. These cars are not your regular 10-15k mile a year cars, and are usually well looked after and over maintained. Therefore, tatty examples should stand out, and you can negotiate accordingly if you want to put some work in. From just a couple of months ago, the market is quite quiet right now, so don't be in a rush. The cars are out there, but be prepared to travel for the right car. As an idea this looks worth a look https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409144029118?sort=relevance&searchId=ef9f111d-f3ee-459a-a814-3228210c2e4c&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Westfield&page=2&postcode=CW11 3SR&year-to=2024&fromsra Good luck with your search.

Hi Jimbo, welcome to the club, I know a number of owners with Toybox cars - all reporting a good experience, but depending on your automotive knowledge, buying private thru the club is also a great option with cost savings. If you have a spec in mind, why not post it in “Cars Wanted” (I assume you can access this as trail member - but someone will advise)many owners that have myriad reasons for sale/change & they’re always coming up for sale. One really important factor IMO is cars history but I brought 2nd hand off Autotrader 2 years ago knowing it needed fettling, which meant good price, I then put my own stamp on it and genuinely, EVERY technical question get multiple answers. Biggest bonus to me however are the people you meet & the Parts Sale/Wanted section, where i get my membership costs returned 10 fold. Good luck with finding your car & happy Westfielding, Phil R 🙏👍

Hi nic. Yes I've sent em an email to enquire. Although I've just made my own and balanced them up perfect. Tight Yorkshire git me

Flippin’ eck all you whingin’ youngsters 😛 I turned 75 this year and drove through five European countries, including a couple of laps at both Le Mans and the Nurburgring 😎