Does age matter?

[Tommo99]

In a Westfield, not the driver.

Apologies if an identical thread exists; not found it in my searches!  As per the title really... I'm looking at buying a Westfield in the next couple of weeks (if the right car is available) and one thing that I'm not sure about is age.  I'm looking for a car engined SEiW (with injection), ideally something like a 2.0 Zetec. Within my price bracket (max £10k) there are a lot of options.  Some are only a couple of years old, some are 25 years old.  How much does this matter? 

Obviously there are more important factors and the general condition is not at all tied to age.  

Would a car that was built 20 years ago in the Westfield factory from new parts GENERALLY be a better bet than a car made five years ago from SDV components (probably 30 years old with 100k miles on them)?  Do the chassis stand up well to the decades? 

I fully understand that age is an extremely poor indicator of the quality of a kit car, but regardless I'm interested to know how well these hold up to the passing of time...

Tommo

[CraigHew]

Normally any car will deteriorate with age, that's fact 1.

However a car that's meticulously looked after, cleaned, serviced and pampered will not suffer as much as one that's neglected: that's fact 2.

Kit cars seem in general to be well looked after so you can't usually show a direct link between age and condition.

Have a very good look in all the hard to look places, chassis rails, underneath suspension components etc etc before you part with your cash.

Most things on a Westfield can be replaced or repaired, but you need a decent chassis to hold things together.

I certainly wouldn't let age put me off a car, even tatty bodywork can be sorted, just make sure everything underneath looks sound and straight.

[Thrustyjust]

Like anything as Craig says , cars do age. Fatigue can set in for certain parts. Some chassis had issues with diffs breaking free . Crazing on bodywork can be expensive to repair , as with any fibre glass cars can. Lots of people can get blown away with power outputs and blingy bits that blinker you away from the important bits like the chassis. Powder coating disintegrates with time and the tin worm weedles its way in there. Alloy panels can hide corrosion between the rails they are riveted too. The list goes on.

Dont let it put you off though and if you need assistance with looking at cars, then your first point of call is an area meet to speak to others and get 'on the scene' . Take a pax drive with willing members and maybe rope a member or two in for looking a car over. They are usually easily lead , with food and beer. It would be worth its weight in gold to do this. I have seen 'immaculate' cars for sale and call me fussy, they are not. But everyone has their assumptions and what someone calls immaculate, in their eyes is. I maybe a 'little' fussy though

 

[Bill Taylor]

Hi Tommo my SEI was built in 1994 but looks and drives like 2019 and it was left standing for nearly 8 years,i had to replace all the tyres as the rubber had degraded and any other perishable parts the car had only covered 6K miles since built and now puts out 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds, so don't worry how old they are just take someone who knows a bit about engines etc, if you need any parts suppliers look me up i have most links down,hope this helps you out,

[Rory's Dad]

Three golden rules...

Please go to your local meet, get some passenger rides and take a member along with you when you go to view a potential Westy. 

All the best.