Factory Build or not?

[NickT]

Hi, I'm a brand new member.  I've tried and failed to find out whether there is a way to tell whether a car has been factory built rather than as a kit.  I've seen lots of info about pre-lit, SE, SEi, SEiW but not on this topic. Perhaps I've missed it?  Can someone please help?

[Rednop1]

At the old factory they did have a old pc with the info if you give them the chassis number they could tell you what chassis design it should be if the chassis was part of a kit or factory built car also the name of the person who ordered the kit or car but that was always kept top secret 😉 data protection and all that 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

May I ask why you’d like to know? Many builder put far more time and effort into their build than a factory technician who’s allocated a fixed time to build a kit. 
 

some buyers may have receipts to prove if a car was built by the factory.

 

 

[NickT]

14 minutes ago, Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO said:

May I ask why you’d like to know? Many builder put far more time and effort into their build than a factory technician who’s allocated a fixed time to build a kit. 
 

some buyers may have receipts to prove if a car was built by the factory.

 

 

Just out of interest really.  And wondering whether the factory built ones are different in any way from the ones sold as kits

[evosteve]

Kit ones can be different as people tend to build them as they want and can be non standard.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

1 minute ago, NickT said:

Just out of interest really.  And wondering whether the factory built ones are different in any way from the ones sold as kits

They’re the same cars, although the factory builds can’t use second hand parts in the same way as a diy build.

 

factory cars will be consistent in their quality of assembly. There’s plenty of home builds that will be much better built than a factory car and equally those that are assembled to a lower standard.

[Steve G.]

Would a factory built car get an age related plate or would they all have been Q ?

[Mark (smokey mow)]

29 minutes ago, Steve G. said:

Would a factory built car get an age related plate or would they all have been Q ?

Factory built would have a new registration. 

[Mark Stanton]

Also "home" kit built cars, using all new parts could have an age related plate, but not many ....... do your homework and check all receipts, if you want a factory built age related plate car. It is very rare for factory built cars to have a Q plate, that said some early Pre-lits and SE did, mostly pre 1990.

[Benrobson2999 - Kent AO]

Having built one (kit from WF and new parts on age related plate) too I’d agree lots more thought and effort goes into a diy kit built car, after taking advice along the way on here and doing extra bits to make life easier later on, or learning from others “I wish I had done that scenarios”. If I was buying another car I’d look for a a well known car (probably from on here) and with a good build history and receipts etc

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

With the greatest respect to the (old) factory  - I don't know what the new one charges for a build, nor what the end result is like; buying a factory built car will get you a car of a known minimum standard build quality, that is safe, drivable and able to pass IVA. However, it will also be a car built as quickly as possible, with the least work required to meet those goals. It will not have additional finesse work, it will be built with care and passion for the marque, but it will not have the high level of attention to detail that just takes to long to achieve commercially, it will not - unless explicitly paid extra for, in fact have anything above and beyond the basics. That's fine, as long as you understand it.

 

But you know what you're getting.

 

A kit bought car on the other hand, (depending on age of course), if it's from the SVA/IVA era, then you know must have been built to a safe standard, sufficient to pass the (rigorous) test. Beyond that, it's down to the original builder. It is perfectly true, there are some absolutely shonky builds out there! But the average is probably what a factory build would look like given infinite time to refine and do things that bit better, whilst the above average builds take the car places the factory could only dream of, and would double or more the cost of the car, if they tried it commercially.

 

So you need to examine a car more closely, and get a feel for what to look for and how to spot a good one.

 

The thing that can throw a complete spanner in the works though, is that very few Westfield builds whether they're factory or not, remain static; a huge proportion of owners will modify and change the cars over the years, often starting immediately once IVA is out of the way. I've seen factory cars out there, where for one reason or another, not one trace of the original factory build still remains!