Howwwww much!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Plus you have the opposite end of the spectrum, the retired types that buy such toys as retirement presents for themselves, that are not petrol heads and have no great car history. It's always been one of those things, that as a club, we have struggled to attract those members, as we feel to much of a clique to them. And that somehow they will suffer some sort of "judgement" for buying a factory built, brand new car, taking it to the factory for all servicing and maintenance and for not doing track days, just summer gentle runs out and touring. nThe sort of people who don't quite fancy a Morgan, but really don't want a Porsche either! 

[Kingster]

Yes, let's keep the prices high I say! Kerching 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

2 minutes ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

How daft. 

I know, but people aren't always rational are they? It's always surprising how something inconsequential to one person can become a big thing to others!

[Steve (sdh2903)]

Granted but there's no past evidence on here that people aren't welcome no matter what they drive? So I don't see where the apprehension would come from. Now if it was pistonheads that would be a different matter altogether.......

[The Cheese]

too deep

[BugMan]

I think it's very much a matter of personnel perspective, yes in my mind I payed a lot of money for me complet 250 kit, but to me thats only a small part of the Westfield experience IMHO. 

For me my personnel journey into building my kit has opened my upto a new chapter in my life as I now no-longer sit in front of a PC with my clan mates fighting battles on various games every night for long hours, and while I have nothing against the "Gamer" title I have just moved onto a better lifestyle with a different focus, better social life with my local WF buddies.

Now I'm very fortunate in being at a stage in my life where I can afford to do this and have the support of my wife, in getting my backside off the sofa and being more active.

I'd also echo the point that I've never experienced anything negative about my own 250 from the forum or from anybody I have meet along the way from the WSCC, in fact I'd have struggled to be where I am with my project if it were not from the contributions from everybody here, and I take a positive position to try to help others as others have helped me

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Not seeing it doesn't mean there isn't a subtle undercurrent sometimes. His very coment to me included the fact that there have been threads with people laughing at the price of the  West Coast 500 Sport 250 and those that would spend that much on a Westfield.

As for the other more broader comments, they cover many years observation of the Boardroom, at one point for instance, people would be quite looked down on for not working on the car's themselves. What we perceive as encouragement to "have a go", can sometimes be taken the wrong way!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Please note, i'm not aware either of a single negative comment about an individual owner, I think my point may be put badly? What I was trying to explain, was the way certain price points for some of the most expensive Westfields are talked about, that can create the poor impression. It's most definitely not a case of individuals being singled out.

It's also not about the kit builds either. It's more the comments on the factory build, full spec car, wheter it be the NCT500 supplied version, or whether it be the direct from the factory version.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

To be fair it sounds like the owner is potentially embarrassed themselves about how much they've paid rather than the perceptions on here. And if that's the case there's nowt that could be said on here that would change anything.

If I had worked hard to either build or buy a 30k+ car then to be blunt I wouldn't give a toss what anyone thought if it's what I wanted.

If you've got their contact details tell them to get on and introduce themselves and their car.

[Thrustyjust]

From the beginning, a kit car was that. A car you constructed yourself. Either with reconditioned or bits straight from a donor vehicle. All based on simple construction methods and basic hand tools. The benefits of building such a car, was that you could do this at home and on a sensible constraining budget. We all have budgets, but the days of building this kind of car has moved on a bit . IVA/ SVA requirements, fuel injection and management etc then starts adding to the costs to make this hobby a more specialised financially and construction more complex than the pre lits and SE cars that were. Principally the same methods are used , but the sum of parts now dont seem to add up to where the grass roots of kit car should be. Building a Westie new for 10k is not really going to happen. Its not a cheap car anymore. Someone wishing to spend £36k plus on this type of car is so miniscule my bank balance looks greater. Personally, if I had £36k to buy a car , it wouldnt be on a tartan westie.  Not all of us can build cars and I accept that , but kit cars were meant to have a car of your dreams at a sensible cost. These costs just dont add up now.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

15 minutes ago, Thrustyjust said:

Building a Westie new for 10k is not really going to happen

Still perfectly possible using a Mazda Sdv I reckon.

But how many people want to be cutting up old cars for donors vs how many want a nice new everything? New costs money.

Having gone through the sport 250 build I can easily see how prices start to climb. Especially when a few of your big ticket items are linked to the $. I'd actually hazard a guess at the factory's margins not being that big at all on the 250.

[Thrustyjust]

4 minutes ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

Still perfectly possible using a Mazda Sdv I reckon.

 

To be on the road at 10K is going to be very difficult. Nothing is impossible , but the market place for a top end westie being sold isnt big. If the factory are cutting markup on these cars , its because they are perhaps thinking its spiraling out of control with costs ?

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

@terry everall

The topic title reminded me of you LOL

[bigals]

on the plus side a 36k new car makes a lot of ours look very good value  on the used market 

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, Thrustyjust said:

On the road for £10k

Did mine for less.

Of course my spend is now at £13k and climbing - but still very pleased with my bargain funding abilities 

Oh and after I swap out the aging donor diff for a new Quaife ATB LSD next week, that’s the last bit of SDV left other than rear hubs. The rest has been replaced. I can live with that.