Westfield Sports Cars have gone into Administration

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

It is perfectly possible to clone from an existing body part, and given the nature of the process, it's not horrifically expensive unlike, say, injection moulding. A friend of mine was production manager at Reliant and what he doesn't know about hand lay-up isn't worth knowing. He is retired long since sadly. The legality vis-a-vis copyright however, is not my subject. It can be horrifically punitive if the copyright owner cares to go legal. 

[Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator]

4 hours ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

Elon could buy it with the loose change in his pocket. 

I thought he gave all that to Amber 😄

[dombanks]

20 minutes ago, marcusb said:

I thought he gave all that to Amber 😄

I think she spent them on mega pints of wine 

[Blatman]

Sympathies to those innocent bystanders who find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own. I hope they are able to find alternative employment quickly.

 

As for unique parts, to my mind bodywork is relatively easy. For me I think the only other unique part that springs to mind and that might be a struggle to replicate are the rear uprights. Do we know who cast them? I think pretty much everything else on the car can be found elsewhere.

[Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator]

Please note moderator title change to:-

'Westfield Sports Cars Ltd in administration 09/06/22'

[jeff oakley]

Anything like the uprights are easily reversed engineered if the will is there. I seem to recall Smokey Mow had some uprights cast from patterns for one of his projects.

 

This is the sort of thing which an enterprising company would do if there was no buyer. GBS actually advertised this service recently as below and they have the machinery to do pretty much anything.

 

https://www.greatbritishsportscars.com/blog/reverse-engineering-parts

 

Having been made redundant myself before my heart goes out to the staff who will be wondering what they will do next.

 

Hopefully customers who were putting down hefty deposits at Stoneleigh used credit cards so they will have some chance of getting their money back

 

I will be shocked if someone does not pick this up but will they want everything?

[dombanks]

24 minutes ago, Blatman said:

Sympathies to those innocent bystanders who find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own. I hope they are able to find alternative employment quickly.

 

As for unique parts, to my mind bodywork is relatively easy. For me I think the only other unique part that springs to mind and that might be a struggle to replicate are the rear uprights. Do we know who cast them? I think pretty much everything else on the car can be found elsewhere.

Tbf no part is beyond being able to be scanned and imported into cad might just need someone who knows what they are doing. 
 

Techs at work were getting pretty good results with an iPad Pro LiDAR scanner this week. It’s stuff that’s beyond me but it looked pretty good off the crappy 3D printer 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

34 minutes ago, Blatman said:

. For me I think the only other unique part that springs to mind and that might be a struggle to replicate are the rear uprights. Do we know who cast them? I think pretty much everything else on the car can be found elsewhere.

For the low volumes I’d anticipate being needed for replacement parts as opposed to the high volumes previously needed when Westfield were building 200+ cars a year I’d be looking at cnc machining as opposed to casting. 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

14 minutes ago, jeff oakley said:

Anything like the uprights are easily reversed engineered if the will is there. I seem to recall Smokey Mow had some uprights cast from patterns for one of his projects.

 

Almost. I got as far as the quotation stage and then chanced upon some originals so didn’t need to go ahead.

 

that said I’m at a similar stage now getting prices for rear uprights. It looks more cost effective to cnc machine these and then shot blast with a corse media so they look like castings.

[Blatman]

Do we know who cast them was a clumsy way of asking who owns the IP and could "someone" get hold of the drawings? If so, how they are manufactured, either cast or CNC is largely a question of cost/volume/etc.

[XTR2Turbo]

Very sad news and sympathies to anyone impacted whether supplier, employee or customer. I think we all know that for many reasons sadly the kit car business has been in decline for some years and it’s not a business worth investing in for the medium long term. Ford barely offer crate engines now as an example. How long will Iva continue with the tiny numbers being tested and a weaker lobbying voice.  I see it being bought even just for spare parts supply but sadly I am not sure a massively viable business to invest in beyond being a lifestyle business for someone. 

[Stu Faulkner]

Only just read this, very sad news. 

[Rory's Dad]

This is all so sad, particularly for those facing redundancy, unemployment and the search for a new job.

 

But I think three things come out of this. The cause is a lack of modernisation which too is sad. The second is that I think the club has a part to play in providing info on replacements parts. And thirdly, this is not the end of Westfield Sports Cars but a maybe a new beginning.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

20 minutes ago, Blatman said:

Do we know who cast them was a clumsy way of asking who owns the IP and could "someone" get hold of the drawings? If so, how they are manufactured, either cast or CNC is largely a question of cost/volume/etc.

I would expect the foundry to only hold the pattens. The machine shop on the other hand would need drawings but sadly I’d expect both to be on the list of creditors and so seeking to recover their losses by whatever way possible. 
 

If ultimately the club were to take on such a venture then they’d need to ensure that drawings are obtained by legal and legitimate means and IP rights are either purchased from the administrators or gifted to us.
 

once rights have been obtained then the administrators statement of affairs will provide a useful list of all creditors and as such a fairly comprehensive list of all their suppliers that could be approached to discuss the remanufacture of parts.

[nice_guy]

Oh.