what got you into.....

[JeffC]

another post got me thinking.. 5 people I know after seeing and having a blat in my car  have either gone and bought or are currently looking for a westy.. (sorry chaps )

So what got you into buying / looking for your first westfield

[slippy]

Not really sure me & our kid have always loved them when we were younger and even then we knew Caterhams were over priced and Westfields were cheaper and in our opinion cooler, then our kid consolidated a few debts, freed up some moolar and bought one I then followed suit selling my beloved Ibiza Cupra 1.8T and bought a Westy

Me and Funbobby went for a quick tw*t, sorry blat, tonight and I had forgot how much fun it is

Love it I tells you LOVE IT !!!!

[Mark Stanton]

In 1987/88 a work colleague showed me an info pack from Westfield and said he was gonna get a kit and build it  

4 weeks after he showed me brochure an order was placed, mine         2006 and he still hasn't got one      despite my persuasion from time to time  

[slippy]

How did you get into it Jeff

[Peter Cox]

After the nervous breakdown, my therapist told me to look for a hobby. However, having children turned out to be more work than I thought. When insanity was diagnosed (in latin "midlifecrisitis"), I was free to write cheques without impunity, so I bought the Westie    

[Gavin]

My dad has had a Westy for around 6 years that he built him self with a little bit of help from me (well getting in the way mainly)

I have allways liked them and really got the bug after driving my dads, but never thought I would own one for a long time yet.

Last year I went on the coast 2 coast got the bug even more and within 3 weeks I had one of my very own.

Ever since I have been totally skint, spent most of my free time tweaking and polishing in the garage and spend any warm dry weekends out on blats with a huge smile on my face  

Must say it was worth every penny, much more enjoyable than savings  

[JeffC]

called up a pals house  must have been in 1999 with the intention of selling him a mitsubishi evo 5 he is as impulsive as me !! ..  but he was on building a r/hood  and he must have planted the seed .. sold him the evo same night , came home looked for a westy or a c/van  but couldnt stretch to one financially  so went out and bought a robin hood same week      painted it , was bloooody brg    modified almost everything  it ditched the pinto  fitted a red top vx   sold it 9 month later for £3000 profit  

had a few year spell on mtr bikes few of me pals came off and i was had  to many close shaves so sold up..

Feb last year dont know why but again got the horn for a westy , tried to buy a few megablades but unrealistic reserves always got in the way.. bid on a zx12 powerd westy  and won it on ebay that was in the money and in Ireland !! drove it back in the sleet/ snow sold it bought this  busa spent god knows how many hours and  more ££££ than i care to think on it  and here we are    

[westyblade]

Always fancied one and eventually bit the bullet and got a megablade.After a spin out in Jeffs zx12r couldnt get back in mine so bought a megabusa.Had a few probs with it, sold it and got another megabusa which is getting colourchanged shortly as its BRG    at the moment.The most fun you will ever have keeping your clothes on    

[Buzz Billsberry]

Originally was gonna buy a Caterham or cobra. but went to the local Caterham meet but they put me off as most of them were arrogant ******s(not saying they are all like that, I went to the USA with some great Caterham guys)

I then went to a local cobra  meet all they did was pull each others cars apart cos' it was so cheaply put together or it wasn't the right manufacturer… again ******s!

I went to the Westfield met in Sherburn near Leeds; met Paul  from Plays-Kool with his pristine  orange and blue quality westy(bought by the duck now someone else has it) gave me a boat load of information, he then introduced me to the rest of club members, Steve Robinson, John Hoyle senior, Rocket Ron Siddle etc and they really made me feel welcome…I thought this is what sort of club I'm looking for; that was 2000.

Since then my two westies have generally bin like a vampire on my wallet.

Buying a Westfield was the most irresponsible, ridiculous, stupidest thing I've ever done...but what the hell I love me V8 and my old 2.0 16v XE as pictured below plus the social side of the WSCC is one of the great points of this fantastic club..I’m sure looking forward to seeing everyone again in the summer

Buzz

 Please, consider your environmental responsibility.

Before printing this e-mail ask yourself: "Do I need a hard copy?"

[JohnCh]

I loved the Lotus Super 7 since I was a kid and fell in lust with the Westfield 11 after reading a couple of Peter Egan articles on the car in Road & Track magazine.  Several years later (March '96) Egan wrote a road test of the SEiGHT and SPa (SEiW with crossflow, 14" wheels, and the full interior) and I promptly began lusting after the latter.  Fast forward about a year when the consulting firm where I worked hired a new VP to open an office in the San Francisco area.  I began corresponding with the new guy and discovered that he too was a gear head.  When he mentioned that he owned a Westfield, I scored points when I asked "SPa or SEiGHT?"  (se7ens of any kind are very rare in the States).  It turns out he had bought the SPa featured in R&T.  I began working on his projects, and was granted Westfield driving privileges whenever I had client meetings in the San Francisco area.  We kept in touch after I left consulting, and he continued to say that if he ever sold the car, I had to buy it.  That finally happened in April of 2001, and I've owned it ever since -- although after a major rebuild it is now a completely different car, so I guess you could say I'm now on my second Westfield  

-John

[pistonbroke]

Went out to buy a car in June 1965

38 years later I bought a Westfield instead

     

btw its in the finest "BRG"  (WRG actually)

as I am sure all you connosuers know, there is no such colour as British Racing Green !

[oioi]

i grew up in the passenger seat of a succesion of tr's.  my dad always talked of building a westfield, and when i was about 10 we went to visit the factory.  he didnt buy one, but i have a great photo of me aged 10 stood next to a narrow body wrg chassis.  after owning a succesion of front engined rear wheel drive convertibles at the ripe old age of 25 i bought my own westfield narrow body - somewhat bizzarely in wrg.

i sometimes like to think that the body i stood next to at 11 is the same one i bought

my dad still talks about buying one...

[markcoopers]

1996, and could not insure a 16v clio for love nor money. Mate at work had a spitfire and was always telling me how good it was to drive something a bit special. Did a bit of reading in CCC mag and that was it. Autotrader found a red SE 1700cc x-flow offered for the right money by David Knight.

Wanted a bit more power, so purchased/guinea pig developed a V8 vindicator vulcan, and lost a lot of money on that. Then a chocolate coloured 2.1L Pinto, then a 4.2 drag engined V8 (cool), then another early X-flow which we swaped to 4AGE power and then ran out of money. So early 2004 I purchases a late CVH car, swapped that engine to a Zetec and then ran out of track. Now have several piles of bits and lots of crazy plans

[Spire]

Went to Donnington show last year to have a look at what was available in my price range. Did the usual kick tyres and sit in them ended up sitting in a R***N H**D. Looking at the finish and design decided it looked c**p even unsafe (lightweight model). Went out side to the infield to look at all the club cars and was sold on the Westfield's from both finish and looks. Came away from show a bit depressed now needed to save for a year or two to buy the Westfield Kit.

Got home look on Ebay and spotted a Westfield chassis for sale. Now the pride owner of a Westfield (well or most!!!!!!!!! Still never been in a Westfield or any Seven type car yet, hope they go as good as they look.

[Boomy]

Waffle mode on...

I literally woke up one morning and went "hang on, why haven't i tried one of those?".

I had owned many cars over the years, most of which were relatively quick i suppose but i soon realised i was utterly bored of what modern motoring had to offer.

I owned an old shape E21 X reg BMW for a while after getting my first house for example and after selling it i wished i had kept it and had the experience and cash to make it a 100% mint example.

There was a time i wanted something flash to impress my mates etc and would of probably looked apon a mint 323 simply as a car the owner had got because he couldn't afford a decent new shape 3 series.Stupid now looking back now of course but hey, it was a material world i grew up in.From Fila BJ's, Sergio T-Shirts and real (not the Tarah fakes from the market) Farah trousers, we wanted the best we could afford and wanted to impress.

However, in the back of my mind, as i got older, i realised i missed the days of sitting in the back of my mates Mum and Dads 1600e Cortina and my Grandads Capri etc.

I wanted the cars from the professionals tv series.I wanted to once again have that excited feeling i got when i ran down the stairs to watch a car chase in the sweeny that involved granadas and jags.

Like i say, i was bored of modern motoring, i wanted that back to basics, rattling dashboard, raw edge experience again.

I started to look quite often at more classic cars (believe me i would own many if i had the choice) but felt i didn't know enough about them or cars in general to take the risk in buying one.Especially as it would of been a quite expensive one no doubt.Added to that my garage at the time, even though it was close to my house was an on block affair.It just wasn't what i would class as a pleasant place to work on or cherish such a car.

I even toyed with the idea of getting a mini as a second car because again, i loved hooning about in them when i was younger and would of happily left it outside all year round.

When we moved house to where i am now, despite the garage not being perfect (as in attatched to the house where you have the luxury of say walking through a kitchen door to get to it) it was a much better setup than the one i did own.Yet again, i played safe and ended up with an Audi A4!.

However the hankering for something else was never going to go away.

I had got a few cheaper cars aswell once we moved here.I got an astra for exmaple simply to use for work and save running up the Audi mileage.I then got the Omega estate i still have now purely as i had never owned an estate car or an auto and i began to realise expensive cars (for me at least) seemed like a total waste of time.

The far chaper examples of vehicle i got drove just fine, didn't have starship mileage, passed MOT's with no real issues etc etc etc.

Due to having lost a fairly decent job and having a bigger mortgage (the usual stuff) it was then i decided to simply keep the cheaper cars, sell on the Audi and see what back to basics type motor i could also afford.

I'm no good with money though (by choice - not here long enough to care about it) and never will be.If there is something i want, the bills are paid and the freezer has food in it i will spend my last pound and be skint for a month if it gets me what i want.

Due to this, i had spent quite a bit of cash on fun and frolics so was limited as to what i could get and it was an advert for a tiger of all things i noticed that suddenly made me go "hang on!"

How could i of been so stupid to of ignored such cars all these years?

How could i of spent so much on other motors and not been happy with something like the tiger and a cheaper everyday car?

My mind was made up.I knew nothing about them of course other than what they looked like.I had never been in one or even heard one running (until i went to Detling) but i knew, without even getting in one that this would be exactly what i wanted.

It was an MSN conversation that eventually made me end up with the pre lit i have now.

I was talking to a friend who i had shared many online gaming experiences with and he suggested another gaming pal of ours was selling his car.

I couldn't believe i had known him for so long but had no idea he even had the car.

I spoke to him, sorted some cash, got a lift to his house, got driven approx 10 yards in the motor and knew it was going to be mine.I didn't even drive it before i purchased it, i didn't need to.

I handed over the cash, worked out how to get in it properly and drove it away.

Like i said before, i am absolutely in love with this style of motoring now yet at the same time gutted i didn't spend wads more cash on such an addiction when it was available to me.

It has not only made me realise what i was missing all these years, it is also giving me a ton of experience in terms of fiddling with motors.

I haven't wanted to drive to simply experience the pleasure of driving since i was 17.Owning this car makes me want to be in it all the time and live for ever.

Added to that, the people who share the same passion here have been nothing short of fantastic with the advice given and being made to feel welcome in such a way just goes to show what a top bunch the Westy crowd are.

A faster one will be mine

...waffle mode off, safe to come out now.