Westfield number 1?

[whitham_wannabe]

Hello all - first time post, but a long time Westfield fan, and very keen to get one myself and confuse all the Americans over here with a little odd car from Dudley ...!

 

In my searching I came across this ...

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/westfield/westfield/2485207.html

... which claims to be the first Westfield produced. I am quite interested in the car because I do like the vintage look with steelies and so on, but I have a couple of concerns -

 

1. Could this really be the first Westfield? There's definitely some cache to having the first one, but I don't know how true that might be. I figured the esteemed WSCC forum may know some of the history from back in the day that could confirm or refute this claim?

2. At 6'1" am I even going to fit in it? Unfortunately it is about 2000 miles away, so I would be buying sight unseen and wouldn't be able to try it on for size first - I don't mind it being tight, as long as I can actually drive it!

 

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

[Captain Colonial]

1) is going to be very different to prove indeed, given that Chris Smith passed away in the near past.  There does seem to be a lot of supporting paperwork to go through.  The bodywork and suspension looks correct.  Is there a serial number?

 

2) Not going to kid you - at 6’ 1” it’s going to be awfully snug, particularly with that large steering wheel.  You have to try for yourself, but the difficulty will be the pedal area and pulling your left leg back off the clutch.

 

It would certainly be a labour of love restoring and tidying up the rat’s nest of wiring but you’d own something unique.  I wish you lots of luck and all the best.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I remember this car from a few years back when it was being sold by a dealer (I assume to the current owner).

 

from the evidence as Scott says the claims are difficult to prove but I would agree that this is one of the earliest Westfields as only a few were built with MG donors. I’ve only ever seen one other in the flesh with the same style rear arches and front cycle wings.

[Alex Gaskin]

I remember Chris Smith posting something on Facebook about the very early years of Westfield, and I found this:


A post from Chris himself, the first Westfield 7. 

The NDH numberplate is correct, but it looks like the numbers might be different.

No denying that the Westfield you've posted is an extremely early one, but might not be the first.

[Alex Gaskin]

A little more looking, and found these:

Sorry for the small images, they're screen grabs from Facebook comments.

[Alex Gaskin]

And in the add you have linked it says that the Westfield had been registered as an 1967 MG Midget, so that might be the reason for the different number plate?

[whitham_wannabe]

It's fascinating to dig into this stuff, thanks for the replies.

 

It's hard to argue with Chris Smith himself if he's indicating that the car above is #1 ... though it's kind of curious that they are both NDH number plates. Big coincidence assuming these were two early cars built off 15 year old Midget donors that they would end up with such close plates. NDH282E comes up as a green 1967 MG Midget on the UK plate website, with Tax due from 1st August 1981!

 

In every other respect the two cars look identical, so I can believe that this car was a press / demo when the company was starting production, though most likely not #1.

 

I just got off the phone with the current and 3rd owner, a real character and British car nut. Older chap thinning out his herd, he recently sold his Westfield XI, amongst several others. Everything he said made me want the car all the more, other than he cautioned that with size 9 feet, he struggled with the pedals. I have size 13 .... He's sending me pictures of the pedal box, but I fear that may be the downfall of this particular plan, a real shame as I love the history behind this particular car.

[Captain Colonial]

8 hours ago, whitham_wannabe said:

It's hard to argue with Chris Smith himself if he's indicating that the car above is #1 ... though it's kind of curious that they are both NDH number plates. Big coincidence assuming these were two early cars built off 15 year old Midget donors that they would end up with such close plates.

Understandable to assume it was a coincidence but at that time, the three-letter prefix on the number plate indicated the area in the country of the car’s first registration.  In this case, it would have indicated it was first registered in the Birmingham region.  As it’s common practice among car dealers, I’m guessing Chris probably obtained a block of registration numbers from the DVLA to assign to cars as they were completed.

 

Before the advent of the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera system, police around the country used the three-letter prefix (later suffix) to spot potential trouble.  Seeing a number plate where the first registration was hundreds of miles away was sufficient to get a copper’s radar going.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

[Captain Colonial]

9 hours ago, whitham_wannabe said:

Everything he said made me want the car all the more, other than he cautioned that with size 9 feet, he struggled with the pedals. I have size 13 .... He's sending me pictures of the pedal box, but I fear that may be the downfall of this particular plan, a real shame as I love the history behind this particular car.

I have a narrow body car which is about 5 years on from this, and wear (US size) 9.5 shoes.  If you go to look at and sit in the car, you need to wear snug shoes with very thin heels.  I have a pair of trainers (sneakers) with minimum heel thickness and it does make quite a difference.  I’ll probably invest in some driving shoes if I can find ones that don’t make you look ridiculous out of the car.

[Captain Colonial]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot are these two bits?

 

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

Could we get this car back to England in time for the Kit Car Show at Malvern next weekend?

[Captain Colonial]

Did a bit of research, using my copy of Westfield - The Story as shown in the online photo (along with the fine club magazines also included with the car):

 

 

According to the book:

 

which according to the DVLA is registered as a 1971 Austin Healey with a 1275cc engine.
 

More photos of said car and price list:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interestingly, he seems to have some of these photos of NDH 71J in his own literature:

 

 

May or may not be the answer you’re looking for, but hope it helps you either way.

 

 

[Mark Stanton]

Not sure if its No. 1, I do recall from discussions with Chris many years ago, that a lot of the very early Westfield Sevens and XI's ended up in the US.  Sorry to be a killjoy at 6ft 1in and size 13 feet, fitting inside a later SE narrow would be extremely tight and that early model is even more "snug" especially for those of a longer leg and bigger foot ..... Good Luck  👍

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

I have a copy of Classic and Sportscar magazine with a feature about the early Westfields. Not sure if this is in it. I think @Scott Young (Captain Colonial) - Club Secretarymaybe downloadownloaded the feature to the forum somewhere. I'll look for the magazine, but might take sometime to find it.