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Weekend ticket booked! If anyone wants the spare weekend pass, I'll pop an advert up.

@Martin Letts - Joint Hampshire & IOW AO and @Steve Smith - Joint Hampshire & IOW AO are the nearest AOs to Southampton. maybe they can help out.

I’ll be there

It’s a left-handed smoke shifter, used to get around emissions requirements of the day and partly the inspiration for Volkswagen’s later work on diesel engine emissions regulations.

Welcome Graham. It isn't a formal service, but I know there will be members near you more than willing to help you. However don't rush into buying the first one you see, much better, when you are back on dry land to contact your areas organiser and go along to a meeting (most areas have a monthly meeting) and look at some of the cars, maybe have a ride in one or two, and then decide just what you want. You may find it isn't quite what you first thought of.

Hello all, Hope you are all well, my name is Graham, I have been looking for a Westfield for best part of 20 years since I was about 14 and now finally in a position to buy one. I have seen one I like the look of, which is amazingly close to where I live but I don't know much about them. Are any members close to Southampton able to look at the car with me/for me and advise if it is a good one? My dad is part of the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club and they offer the service where current owners will look at another classic car and advise if it is a good buy before purchase as they obviously know a lot more than you as a new owner! Happy to pay for someones knowledge and experience of course! I work onboard Queen Mary 2 as an engineer, so I am currently away until April, but would rather get the car looked at sooner rather than later so that I don't miss out before the spring rush starts. Is this service available in WSCC? No worries if not, happy to wait until I am home and maybe I am just being inpatient and excited but if anyone is kind enough to help and is local to Southampton, I would love to hear from you!! Thank you very much, Graham

An exciting time of the year with many cars coming out of hibernation this month! We are really looking forward to a great season of meets, events, track days, sprints and of course, loads of laughs so plenty to chat about! As usual we will be upstairs at about 7pm 👍

This Thursday, the usual time and place: 7.30pm The Golden Pheasant, Plumley Cheshire & N. Staffs Area Meet.

Should be there. @Megabusa Paul do you fancy a your second meeting?

I had looked for years also before finally being in a position to purchase early last year. I went to Toybox cars to view there stock and gather information. There was no sales pressure and the owner Andrew was extremely knowledgeable around the various ins and outs of the mark. I was able to sit in a few cars and have discussions around what I was looking for. Even if you don’t buy from them it’s a worthwhile process to consider. I did buy a car from them and have loved every minute since.You will pay a premium over a private sale but the quality of their cars set the benchmark in my opinion.

As usual, I have a spare ticket available for the Classic this year. The Silverstone Festival runs from 23rd to 25th August 2024. It's a weekend pass, so covers you for as much or as little as you want to see - it'll still be cheaper than a day pass on the gate if previous years are anything to go by! It does not include an infield car pass for a Westfield - I need that bit! Camping also has to be purchased separately if you wish to stop over, or you could book one of the local hotels if you do it soon enough. Most of us that stop over book on to the Silverstone Woodlands Camp site, as it's got great facilities and is really convenient. Price as per what I just paid, £72.50 for one ticket for the whole weekend:

Come on guys get your entries in NOW as there are only a few weeks until first event

Welcome, Graham! Some great advice above! As Stephen said, it’s not a formal Club service, but it IS something many of us have done to help fellow members out. There’s no hard and fast rules, and the typical currency for compensation is beer! (That said, the last time I helped someone like that, it was a hundred plus miles either direction, so the guy did offer to pay the fuel bill, which is fair enough). Depending whether you’ve been able to try sitting in/driving any Westfields before, will decide how essential it is to be there when looking over and testing one yourself. Unlike the classic car market for the Jaguar example, where, an XJS HE from 1982 for example, should be a fairly known thing in terms of spec, and all that’s really needed is to check it is what it’s claimed to be and it’s condition. With kit cars like Westfields, you have to allow for almost no two cars being totally alike, even if they’re factory builds of the same “model”. This variation only gets wider the older a car gets; we all like to personalise them to make them our own, and often to adapt them to better give us what we personally enjoy from the car, and for how we each use them. But then this is the fantastic part of kit cars like Westfields; they grow and adapt to suit their owners preferences and needs, and what they find fun! The more exposure you have to the cars, through Area Meets and events, the more you will know what you want to look for in a car of your own; it’s always cheaper to get one close to your preferred spec, than to modify one to get there. Best of luck with the search, the car of your dreams will be out there, with a little patience!

If you manage to set up a Sunday morning meet I'm sure some of us lot from the Bristol and West area would blat up from time to time. I spent a lot of time when a kid in the Cotswolds, have a bit of a soft spot for the area. Would be great to see it again on a sunny Sunday morning

The Royal Oak in Gretton hosted the meetings at one time. The Pheasant in Toddington hosts car clubs too I think. Lovely run from Stow to there.

I was asking on Facebook only last week about a Worcestershire based meet? Would love to find a spot in the Cotswolds to get together. Somewhere near Morton in Marsh, Stow etc would give us a good run perhaps?

Hope to see you there, don’t think I need 50p to escape.

Yep. 🤪 Got to keep the rif raf out as they can’t afford the 50p entrance fee.

Do you have to pay to get back in?

Rearranged diary and hoping to come. See you there!! Unlike @Martin Bell - (Bellyboy) Joint East Anglia AO I don’t need a passport to get to GBS but I do have to pay the 50p toll on the bridge to get out of Lincolnshire!!

Its being printed as we speak. sssssshhhhhh