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Purchasing a Westfield


markcoopers

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This is an article written for Westfield World back in 2004, still relevent today.

So you’re thinking of buying a Westfield sports car, seduced by all that romantic imagery of blasting around in the sunshine, wind in your hair, exhaust blaring in your ear, the envy of all your friends. Truth is, if you are like me you have neither the time nor skills needed to build one and even less of the folding stuff to get the factory to build it for you. Yep, it’s pre-owned time, but where to begin?

Reading this article is a good start. No seriously, you have obviously found this site and started your research. Attending the local/national events and speaking with other owners will help greatly when it comes to doing your research and deciding on which car. This simply can’t be recommended enough, as nearly all the members started out in exactly the same manner.

In my opinion, the most important question to ask your self before deciding on a particular car is,
“What do you want the car for?”
You will find cars that range from purely road machines right through to strictly track only race cars, with every possible combination in between in terms of creature comforts, engine tune, quality and state of build. Get this wrong and there is a very real chance that your expectations will not be met, worst you might hate it. However, please bear in mind that pretty much everything can be changed should you not like it or your aspirations change.

“Which model should I go for?”
First thing to consider is that there is no “best” Westfield, every proud owner thinks theirs is the best and quite rightly so. There is, however, an enormous variety of cars available, one of which will be the best for you. You will probably be aware that there are SE’s, SEI’s, Narrow and Wide cars, all fitted with differing mechanics and engines in differing states of tune. To recommend any one combination over any other is truly foolish, suffice to say there is no one bad combination, just bad examples if you are not careful. My advice is to drive as many different cars as you can before deciding.

“What to look out for when viewing a car”
Now it might be difficult, it was for me with the first, but don’t get swept up in all the excitement and loose sight of the fact that you are spending a large amount of money on a used car. TAKE YOUR TIME!
Start with the V5 document and paperwork, is the car correctly registered? Colour, chassis number, engine cc/number, registration and registered keeper should all be checked against the car and the seller. If there was a previous owner, this will also be recorded and it’s always worth contacting them and asking about the car’s history. Check the MOT and Tax also match the registration and are in date, and ask to see old MOT certificates/service bills/SVA pass paperwork if applicable. It is very rare to find a Westfield being sold without any supporting build photos/diary and all the receipts. Take your time and go through them, checking that the parts can be found on the car. What you are looking for here is the knowledge and pride of the seller. A proud seller will talk all day about their car and will show you all the extra bits they have done and explain why. If the paperwork is wrong, or the seller is not really interested, or has little to say on the car, alarm bells would be going off in my head……walk away.

When checking the car itself, take someone who knows about mechanics if you don’t. Check that you can find everything you had receipts for, and I kid you not, that it actually has the engine in it you were expecting. Check all the electrics work, and that everything else fitted works as intended and is bolted on securely. Again what you are really looking for here is attention to detail; extra “p” clips to hold fuel rails, protective sleeves/shields around any pipes and wires, neatly trimmed panels, no scuff marks, traces of polish, etc.. It’s also worth noting how the car is stored, is it used as a dump in the garage or is it cocooned in cotton wool, and is the garage itself well kept or in a state of ruin.  All these little signs should reveal a car that has had time and energy lavished on it.

Lastly, drive the car, and I mean drive it! It is a sports car; does it go, stop corner and respond as it should? During the drive, use all the gears, get it warm and keep an eye on all the dials. After the drive let it idle and check again under the bonnet and look for any changes to the fluids and for leaks. Lastly once hot switch it off and after a few minuets try starting it again. The response “they’re all like that” is simply untrue.

If you are happy that the car is mechanically sound, in good order with lots of supporting paperwork then congratulations you have just found your “right” car. Negotiate the price and any spares/parts included and enjoy it, it will change your life.


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  • 2 years later...
The MK Indy is good value for money but does not handle as well as a Westfield IMHO :oops:
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  • 6 years later...

Great comments, but does anyone have an actual check list? Many thanks

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  • 11 months later...

Quick question, sorry if in the wrong place, I've just started looking, found one that looks good, it's on a 07 plate, but when checking on car checker it's showing as registered in 07 but is 15yrs old as though it's a 2002 car. Does anyone why this would be. And it is on an07 plate.

thanks

Edited by Mark Geezer
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I'm guessing - 5 year build time?

What does the seller say?

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No idea what triggers a date in car checker, maybe it is an engine number being picked up on the search and that came from a 2002 registered car.

What does the V5C say, I guess it's as a 2007 registered Westfield ?

Do you have any more info?

Cheers

Ian

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There are a fair few Westfields around with ten year-plus build times; five years or so is certainly not that uncommon. Don't forget, many have to be built around the financial and time constraints of family life.

As ever, the key is to view as many Westfields as you can, regardless of whether they're for sale or not, to accustom youreself to the details and variations, that way when you are looking at  prospective purchases, anything unusual or out of the ordinary will stand out more.

At that point, you can ask yourself if whatever stands out is a plus or a negative, or maybe ask the seller why something was done the way it was...

In the case of a car that's been built slowly,  check that everything seems to have been done "correctly", (nothing forgotten about, due to big gaps between sessions working on the car), nothing has been done cheaply, where it shouldn't be, due to lack of resources and so on. But fundamentally, there's no reason why the end result should be any different due to the longer build.

Mind you, some long builds are also down to really fastidious builders, who want to customise lots of areas, and achieve outstanding fit/finish levels, compared to the norm!

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Oh, and most will date the car from first registration/IVA/SVA pass, not from the date of individual components, or from the date a chassis/kit was purchased.

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