Westfield cars in Australia?

[Bishop]

Does anyone know how long Westfield UK has been making the super 7 replica cars?

There is like this whole weird thing happening here in Australia with Westfield sports cars, it's somewhere between weird and wrong.

Here I was a couple of weeks ago watching that special "A racecar is born", and I figure what the heck, and check out Westfield cars on the net, only to find though that there are 2 companys called westfield sports cars.

One is operating out of Australia, the other imports from the UK, yet both use the same exact logo and name.

To cut a long story short we have a company in Australia who basicly seems to have bought a UK westfield like 15 years ago and just decided to set up shop in Australia and start making copys!!!

Something about it all just seems wrong to me, but we have a whole Westfields scene over here that is totaly based around the Australian group (over 500 Australian westfields made and sold), and the Australia westfields guy is claiming he is going to take the UK importer to court and shut them down???

Am I missing some info here? cause that just seems wrong, the Westfield is originaly a UK car right?

It's no wonder everyone is going for the Birkins here, you don't know what the right way to go with a westfield here.

[DickieB]

Stick with your AUS Westfield and their Toyota 4AGE or 4AGZE power - marvellous engine.

[Bishop]

Actually I'm not such a fan of the 4AGE in any of it's versions, I was even more looking towards the New Zealand super 7 reps because they all come designed to run the 3SGE standard, the 3S is a lovely engine with great torque in stock form, and some engine parts are so much cheaper.

As for the Australian Westfield, maybe I'm too ethical, because it seems so wrong to steal a company whole image like that?

[gregh]

The UK Westfield website has this on their world dealer page

Westfield Sportscars ANZ PTY LTD

Replica Motor Company

7/55 Poole Street,

Welshpool

Western Australia

6106

Phone : (08) 93561415

Fax : (08) 93561423

www.westfield-sportscars.com.au

Are you saying there is another Westfield company in Oz?

regards,

greg

[Bishop]

Yep, just remove one thing from the web address...

www.westfieldsportscars.com.au

And that's the Australian Westfield site.

It's weird, it even has it's own club and owners group, they even use the same model codes for their versions of the kit car, but it's not the UK car.

Does anyone actually know where Westfield UK got their name from? and by that I mean why did they name the company Westfield?

[ChrisG]

It does seem very odd, as you say they do seem to be two seperate companies but with identical products, logos etc. I did a quick Google and came up with this, which has a disclaimer at the bottom confirming they are two seperate companies.

Chequered Flag Motorsport / Westfield Sports Cars Australia link

You all should have bought a Locost, then there is no question of who copied who

Chris

[7SE]

why did they name the company Westfield?

It was the name of Chris Smith's house.

IIRC he needed a company name when he started making 11 replicas to sell to the US.

[Fat Albert]

The first sales of the Westfield se7en were in 1983 by which time Eleven sales were approx 60.

Westfield - The Story isbn 0 952 8086 33

published by R. B. Publications

contains most of the key milestones

[CharliePsycho]

I gather Westfield foolishly did not get a world wide patent and the Australian people imported one and just copied it in OZ...

Yes it's a copy... Yes it is perfectly leagal... (As far as I understand it)

If you approach the copy people about interchangeablility of parts they go all quiet tho.

I was looking as I want to move to Oz (my wife is Australian) and it looks as if I can just take mine with me as a personal import (you are allowed 1 per person if you per year, provided you have owned the car for a year aboad -  and you get to shortcut their equivilent of the SVA from the looks of it) and I wanted to see about the availability of parts.

As it happens I want to move to Perth area which is where Westfield UK importers are (whom the 'Oz' westfield will have a hard time shutting down as the are known as Westfield UK) so parts should not be an issue - Engines are much more restricted tho...

As I understand it, the imported Westfield is heavier than here as there are different side impact requirements in Oz, otherwise it is identical... The 'Oz' Westfield has, from what I can gather, had a little 'drift' from the original and certainly hasn't had the level of on-going development that we have had here in terms of lightweight components/bike engines. Certainly there seems to be an mumbling of lack of customer support on the Aussie Clubmans Website with them almost appearing grumpy! Westfield UK imports on the otherhand seem to be going out of their way to be helpful giving test drives and advice as fast as they can...

It seems like an interesting situation over there... what can you say about a country where you shouldn't need the hood for your westy 99% of the year???

[Bishop]

Well that's cool, I never found that Australian posting board, it does seem though that the UK version is much more up to date than the Australian built version, looking at some of the bits of info I have found here and there (and I found a few build ups of both) it seems the UK kit has much better details and quality too, I don't think the Aus version even comes painted or powdercoated.

That side impact thing is a Queensland law I think, our states can be a pain in the ass, laws are diffrent in every state in Australia regarding kit cars.

From the emails I got from both places, UK Westfields does claim to have an international patent or something, it's just that Aus Westfields have an Australian one, so it will be interesting to see who wins that battle.

The weather here is not bad for open top driving, but it can at times be too hot, gel coat has a habit of not lasting long in our heat.

[Bishop]

Oh and thanks for the info guys.