another 2 cars for your comments

[Weekend Warrior]

To my untrained eye this looks good value ,what about the silver top engine ?

iis it better to get a black top or come to think of it Vauxhall red top ,I'm not very good at the patiently waiting bit I'm still looking frustratedly 

 

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/westfield/other-models/2010-westfield-se/7178657

 

this one I know is not a westie ,but cortina uprights sound prehistoric ,how much would a diff fitted cost roughly.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MK-Indy-Duratec-Engine-/172699826282?hash=item2835b6386a:g:N74AAOSwaeRZKthY

 

 

 

 

 

[CraigHew]

Red one looks nice, seems decent spec, and 9,000 miles in 7 years is very low if true.  Don't know much about MKs tho.

You'd be suprised that a lot of Westfields use one or two Cortina bits......

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

If that's a 2010 car, someone either rebodied it with nineties/very early 2000 bodywork, or took ten years to build it.

Its old style kit bodywork, not current ZK, I really could do with finding out exactly when ZK bodywork was launched, but it's at least the early 2000's, if not late nineties.

It describes it as an SE, that may just be someone not too sure of Westfield model numbering using the fact it's got SE moulded into the scuttle, but all early scuttles had SE, even if they were SEi's. The big question is, is it another narrow? It doesn't say wide anyware, and the advertiser calls it an SE, not an SEW or an SEiW. Ask him though, because a lot of people don't understand the significance of the i and the W in the model name.

It has some nice parts on though. One thing with Westfields, they often get modified, you can see it looks like it may have been converted from windscreen to aeroscreen, by the extra holes in the scuttle and some of the conveniently placed stickers, speaking of which, I'd be wanting to know what the odd black or possibly carbon stickers are on either side of the tub, along the lower edge of the engine bay. Does it hide something you need to know about, or are they just cosmetic?

Silvertop, Blacktop and Redtop are all good, each has advantages and disadvantages. Though for near ten grand, I'd be hoping for fuel injection, these days.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I don't really know enough about Indy's to give an opinion. It has some very nice bits on it, but my brain switched off from reading the advert when I got to the built by chartered mechanical engineer bit. (Honestly, some are, but it's gone beyond parody now to the point where the entire institute must do nothing else but build kit cars!! I suspect that like me, anyone that looked at kit cars for long just switches off now, when they see it, it's our equivalent of one careful lady owner. Just stop it already if you're selling a car. The build quality will shine through or it won't.)

As Craig said, lots of Cortina, or Cortina derived parts on these cars. In fact go back far enough and most of the mechanicals were a blend of Cortin and mk 2 Escort.

Manufacturers, in the whole, only came up with fancy alloy front uprights because Cortina ones are a bit scarce now! In reality, due to the extra material required to make alloy uprights strong enough, and the fact that the steering arms and spindles are steel anyway, there's not that much weight to be saved between the two, and in any impact, acortina originals are generally stronger/tougher.

[Weekend Warrior]

Thanks Dave ,as someone looking to buy my first car it's not as easy as one would think ,just a thought but how about a thread  to show cars for sale that those in the know recon to be well specked or good value.

 

thanks  

Steve

 

 

 

[CraigHew]

Trouble is "value" is very subjective. You would do worse than buying through this forum. I know the variety of cars is limited, especially over the summer months but normally cars go for "the right" amount which is about as close to value as you're going to get relatively speaking.

Otherwise you need someone with you when you view which isn't always easy or convenient. 

[Kit Car Electronics]

11 minutes ago, CraigHew said:

Trouble is "value" is very subjective. You would do worse than buying through this forum. I know the variety of cars is limited, especially over the summer months but normally cars go for "the right" amount which is about as close to value as you're going to get relatively speaking.

Otherwise you need someone with you when you view which isn't always easy or convenient. 

Totally agree. It's easy for an experienced eye to spot the difference between a great car and a duffer out in the classifieds, but very hard for a first time buyer. In your position, I'd either be looking at a reputable dealer (eg somewhere like ToyBox) and accept the premium, or buy from this forum where the cars tend to be more widely understood and priced to match their spec.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I do think cars on here with a few exceptions, tend to be a wee bit underpriced really. But usually, in the nicest possible way, we love them so much we want to see them go to other club members!

Theres a very nice looking red 1800 Zetec just gone up in the classified section, which to an initial glance has the true give always of a genuinely fastidious build apparent in the photos, without the need for (sometimes) spurious engineer built text.

(Don't underestimate the 1.8, it's a very sweet, revy engine in a Westfield.)

The car seems to be a good price and come with a good selection of extras/options.

But of course, that's my value judgment. A real track day fan, or sprinter etc, would look at it and see the work/money required to make it into a track nail, and think it was poorer value! And that's the big problem where such personal elements are involved.

We can argue on here about whether black isn't really just white with the lights turned off, so getting agreement about a very subjective issue just isn't going to happen.

The best thing to do is to try and see as many cars as you can, regardless of whether they're for sale or not. It will give you so much more of a feel for what to look for and what's important, (including what's important to you, and what isn't), and that will help you evaluate cars that are for sale, much more easily.

Especially as once a car moves on from its builder, it doesn't take too many changes of hands through non-technical owners for the Chinese Whispers to take over and for the actual Spec to get distorted or lost; it's not deliberate, it's not people trying to mislead, it's just people buying a nice car that aren't familiar with the terminology or the greasy bits!

If in doubt, Toybox is an excellent source for second hand Westfields, all be it, you will obviously pay a dealer price. Alternatively, buy through the club, but if possible, and within budget, try to buy from the builder, that way you will get first hand info on exactly what everything is!

[1960dave]

How much power do you want the car to have?

 

[Onliest Smeg David]

As Dave said, I'd look at this....

No detailed engine spec, but an easy 180ish without too much work. (As mine)

Many overlook 1.8 zetecs in favour of 2.0, for imo maybe misguided reasons!

[Weekend Warrior]

Ideally I would hove bought Ben30R 's  car but that's been withdrawn ,I'm a after a B road blaster that's ready set up for track days ie  fit to thrash .

suitable sump ,decent brakes well tuned motor prefer full cage ,seat of your pants kind of stuff .Ive heard all the facts these cars can bite etc ,but had a few big Bhp jap imports I'm my youth so am used to skittish rear ends 

 

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

A friend of mine, a few years back, had been rabiting on for ages about another mate of his who had a tuned GTR, (and who I know, not well, but I know), Martyn and this other lad played golf together regularly and the other lad used to drive them to whatever course they were playing, in the GTR, Martyn used to say he had the g meters displayed all the time, and was regularly trying to pull big numbers on them.

One day when Martyn and I had caught up for a while, we arranged to go for lunch at a pub, out in the wilds of Cheshire  and as it was a nice day, Martyn suggested we went in my Westfield at the time, an XE powered car.

As he'd never been in it before, I short shifted and kept everything quite tame, but as I knew he was used to being hooned round in a GTR, I didn't go too sedately.

when we got to the pub, I had to give Martyn a few minutes to gather himself, before he could climb out!

After calming his nerves in the pub, he said he'd never been in anything that felt as remotely raw fast as a quick Westfield, even the Nissan, though insanely fast, and way quicker, just didn't have that wild, raw feel to it.

We've got a better idea of what you're looking at now, but really, really, if you've not been in one, try and grab some passenger seat time in the sort of Westfield you describe before parting with cash. If you like it, not much else will give you the buzz for the money, on four wheels. But if you don't, and more people don't, you'll find it way too brutal, too much of the time. (And I readily admit, I'm in the former camp, but there are good reasons why so many threads are full of people saying around 180 bhp is a good figure for a Seven).

[Rory's Dad]

NB Dave. 'One Careful Lady Owner' is an esteemed fellow member of the WSCC committee!

[Mighty Mart]

14 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

A friend of mine, a few years back, had been rabiting on for ages about another mate of his who had a tuned GTR, (and who I know, not well, but I know), Martyn and this other lad played golf together regularly and the other lad used to drive them to whatever course they were playing, in the GTR, Martyn used to say he had the g meters displayed all the time, and was regularly trying to pull big numbers on them.

One day when Martyn and I had caught up for a while, we arranged to go for lunch at a pub, out in the wilds of Cheshire  and as it was a nice day, Martyn suggested we went in my Westfield at the time, an XE powered car.

As he'd never been in it before, I short shifted and kept everything quite tame, but as I knew he was used to being hooned round in a GTR, I didn't go too sedately.

when we got to the pub, I had to give Martyn a few minutes to gather himself, before he could climb out!

After calming his nerves in the pub, he said he'd never been in anything that felt as remotely raw fast as a quick Westfield, even the Nissan, though insanely fast, and way quicker, just didn't have that wild, raw feel to it.

We've got a better idea of what you're looking at now, but really, really, if you've not been in one, try and grab some passenger seat time in the sort of Westfield you describe before parting with cash. If you like it, not much else will give you the buzz for the money, on four wheels. But if you don't, and more people don't, you'll find it way too brutal, too much of the time. (And I readily admit, I'm in the former camp, but there are good reasons why so many threads are full of people saying around 180 bhp is a good figure for a Seven).

Good post mate. Mines an old narrow se with 'only' a tuned crossflow, but I took out a mate of mine in it who has had numerous big bikes, r1, Ducati etc, some quick cars and was then honing around in a 911....a very nice car.

he said my car was the quickest thing he'd ever been in, not on by the way, which clearly it wasn't, but that was how he felt....

however, when you are sat on a flat floor, less than 10 inches above the ground, and fighting to take a breath over ahem speeds, westfield ownership is a completely new driving or riding experience that IMHO cannot be bettered no matter how much money you spend....equalled maybe, but not bettered. Even cars with low power on paper give you so much more in real life, and surprising performance which people just cannot take in initially....

for power, just add lightness.....

mart.

Edited June 4, 2017 by Mighty Mart
Addition

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Exactly, on paper there will be plenty of other stuff far, far faster, certainly above sixty/seventy mph than the average Sevenesque car. But that just doesn't communicate the rawness of even the most basic Seven.

The lightness, the agility and the total lack of anything between you and the controls, no abs, no traction control, no power brakes, no power steering and an inheritantly "traction limited" design, once you start using modern power plants make them very different. But it's the very thing that makes them a colossal antidote to the boring nature of modern sporting machinery at anything below warp factor "jail-time", and can put a massive grin on your face on the shortest of journeys. And it's how the performance cars that inspired legends used to be, before they got "developed" into androgynous super cars and hyper cars.