mrhatmostly 0 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) Hi all, I am a new member and do not own an XI - but have been keeping an eye out for and from what I have seen - they don't come up for sale too often. I imagine people building them personally would provide a large attachment factor - but would most agree that they don't appear on the market a lot? (Having said that, there are currently 2 on PH!)My second question is - As far as I can tell, when the car gets registered, it is registered as a "68 Midget" for example rather than a "2015 Westfield" - Can people confirm this is correct. Feel free to pm me if this is something you don't want to share publicly! Jon Edited March 28, 2015 by mrhatmostly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CraigHew 1,785 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I'm thinking it's just down to pure numbers: in that as there are not too many produced (comparatively) and their styling is a bit of a Marmite issue, any owners brave enough will be committed to the point of keeping them a good while. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary 7,331 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 You do see them come up, but as Craig said, compared to the other Westfield models, there just aren't such large numbers around. Plus, it just seems to have the collectible factor, so I guess gets hung on to for longer. I can't help on the registration details though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chris King - Webmaster 4,697 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 My second question is - As far as I can tell, when the car gets registered, it is registered as a "68 Midget" for example rather than a "2015 Westfield" - Can people confirm this is correct. Feel free to pm me if this is something you don't want to share publicly! Jon Although no expert - my understanding is that if it is registered as a Midget, then there's a rabbit away! The car should get an age related plate if you use (I believe) 2 major components from the donor and have the V5 & chassis tags. Those components can be any two of engine/gearbox/drivetrain/uprights/steering (my understanding again). If you just use the original engine or gearbox, with a refurb, and all else but this single item is new, you can then get a new reg. But there's no way it should have "MIdget" anywhere on the V5 - but it is possible that some very early cars were built pre-SVA and thus adopted the donor's identity? Today this would be called a ringer! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Welly Jen 237 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 There is a FAQ that may help with registration questions on kit cars. Be careful what it says on the V5. If it could be argued that an 11 is a rebodied Midget I don't know as both the body and chassis are replaced and only the engine, gearbox and parts of the suspension are used. Jen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nick Algar 465 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Although no expert - my understanding is that if it is registered as a Midget, then there's a rabbit away! The car should get an age related plate if you use (I believe) 2 major components from the donor and have the V5 & chassis tags. Those components can be any two of engine/gearbox/drivetrain/uprights/steering (my understanding again). If you just use the original engine or gearbox, with a refurb, and all else but this single item is new, you can then get a new reg. But there's no way it should have "MIdget" anywhere on the V5 - but it is possible that some very early cars were built pre-SVA and thus adopted the donor's identity? Today this would be called a ringer! I agree with Chris, it should have an age related plate and be registered as a Westfield XI. I'm currently building one, so hope to find out sometime soon. (put any date you fancy here ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lawrie 83 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Going back to the original question, I know somebody that's building one too, so if you want one, that must be an option. I hadn't realised that you could still get the bits, or that there were so many Philistines prepared to scrap a Sprite. The XI is a pretty car, but these are limited by the A series engine, which I never liked. Somebody used to do an aluminium body kit to convert a Caterham 7 to an XI, which seems like it should be revived for Westfields. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MK11 39 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 The A series is hardly a limitation of the car! I tuned mine to 100 bhp (on NMS Rolling Road) and it suited the car extremely well, more was easily available too. I did supercharge it for a bit but gave up as it didn't give me much more in performance and was more troublesome so off it came and back on went the Weber 45. (The supercharger still sits in the garage!) My donor was a 1971 Midget basket case, so not really a loss to the world of classic cars but it did perfectly as a donor. I replaced mine with an Ultima and to be honest, I think that the XI was more fun to drive. Those skinny tyres with no grip were an absolute blast on a track, proper 4 wheel drifting with conservation of momentum being the objective. As for registration, you get an age related plate the same age as the donor, but the car should be listed on the V5 as a Westfield. If it's not run (not walk) away. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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