What do you recon to this?

[benadams]

its based on a 1980 ish cortina but was built in the ealry 90's. Has a 2L pinto engine, twin 40 dellorto's, new guages are in the middle of being fitted at the mo. Has the original bench seat in it at the mo altho it does come with buckets, but I prefer the bench. Also has a spare roll bar, and comes with a vinyl roof. new 15" alloys and tyres,

www.kitcarcentral.co.uk/viewtopic.php?topic=157&forum=3&0

[daxman]

Looks in good nick. Shame about the timeing and the job. I'd consider selling the numberplate, its got to be worth a punt on free adds as mothersday is comming!

[benadams]

New Car ad, different to above,......

WESTFIELD 2000 SE WIDEBODY , Manual, Petrol, 1994 , 3,300 miles, Metallic Oxford Blue, 1 Owner. 155bhp, Sports seats with harness, Wet weather gear, Spax adjustable suspension, Vermier timing gear, Gas flowed big inlet valve head, Electric ingnition, Twin 40 Dellortos carbs, 5 Speed Sierra Gearbox, RS 2000 Escort Engine, RS 2000 Diff, Serck Marston High Capacity Radiator, Superlite Alloys, Low profile sump, Kent Cam FR33. Folder full of receiepts etc! Full build detail!! NOT ON Q PLATE!!! Stunning Performance!! MOBILE:[phone] £6,495

[member8888]

Buy a Nissan Micra MK1 instead. More street cred.

[tomtvr]

member8888 said:

Buy a Nissan Micra MK1 instead. More street cred.

all these lotus 7 style cars look the same to me

which would you get for 3-4k?

[Sam_68]

tomtvr said:

member8888 said: Buy a Nissan Micra MK1 instead. More street cred. all these lotus 7 style cars look the same to me which would you get for 3-4k?

I wouldn't worry too much about Member's comment...if you read his other posts, you'll find that he has a habit of making slightly terse, provocative statements. I fear that when he isn't posting on Pistonheads, you'll find him under a bridge in the mountains, arguing with billy goats.

£3-£4K is at the lower end of the price range for Seven style cars, though, and there is a wide variation in the quality of design and construction. Since these cars are all about handling, I'd suggest:
1) Be very careful about buying a marque with no history of racing. If it is cheap and any good, chances are someone would have at least tried it on the circuits or hills. This will basically rule out Robin Hoods and LocUsts (not LocOsts, which have their own race series and are a different car entirely, just to be confusing!), and a few others.
2) Be wary of the ultra-budget LocOst-derived designs, since they will be more dependent on the individual skills of their builder. There are some good ones, but there are some real sheds, too. Some have home-built chassis, welded up with a MIG welder in the builder's garage, so you need to worry about chassis integrity and geometry.
3) Be wary of anything that uses donor suspension components (apart from uprights/live axles). The semi-trailing arms on a Sierra, for example, are huge, heavy things designed for a family saloon. Their geometry and unsprung weight makes them totally inappropriate for a car as light as a Seven.
4) There tends to be a big step up in both cost and ride quality between live axle cars and those with a properly designed independent or DeDion rear end. This doesn't stop a live axle car handling well and being a lot of fun on the road, though, and they are often better on the track. The second ad quoted above appears to be for a Westfield SE (live axle), not an SEi (independent), so IMHO it is rather pricey for a Pinto-engined car.
5) Unless you are confident in your market knowledge, stick to the well-established companies (Westfield, Tiger, Sylva, Dax). They have been successful for a reason, and if nothing else will be easier to sell on again in the future. Of these companies (and excluding the Tiger Cub, which uses Sierra semi-trailing arm rear suspension), only Sylva and Westfield regularly drop into the sub £4K price bracket. Sylvas are cheap because they don't look 'authentic', despite the fact that they have been verysuccessful on the race tracks and have superb handling. Westfields are cheap because they have been around for years and there are plenty on the market, though in this price range you will be looking at slightly tired live-axle variants, for the most part.

[tomtvr]

Thank you Sam, i will definatley take that advice onboard.

My first thoughts then are to up my budget to 5k or maybe slightly more and going for a Tiger imo the best looking of the bunch especialy with an aero windscreen type thing.


I just need to sort out some insurance, im only 20 and it will be my only car which will no doubt be a problem.

I might have to either buy a shed as my first car, or get my mother to insure it for me with me named.

[benadams]

So what would be a more realistic price for the Westfield Ad listed above. IS it a good car to buy? It says it has a RS2000 engine in - doesnt this mean it will be really quick??

[Sam_68]

benadams said:

So what would be a more realistic price for the Westfield Ad listed above. IS it a good car to buy? It says it has a RS2000 engine in - doesnt this mean it will be really quick??

I'll probably get flamed by all the Westy owners who reckon their cars are worth more, but if it was a nice example, and bearing in mind the low mileage, I'd expect it to be advertised at maybe £4,995 and the owner to be open to negotiation down to £4,500-£4750.

The engine is out of a Mk.2 Escort RS2000, which means it is a 2 litre Ford OHC (Pinto). This was a quickish car in its day but the engine as fitted by Ford only produced 110bhp, which would be regarded as pretty feeble by modern standards.

The engine in this particular car has obviously been tuned with twin carbs, gas flowed head and lumpy cam, so if it has been properly built it should be producing in the region of 150-160 bhp. As a result yes, it will be quick, but to say it has an RS2000 engine is a bit of salesmanship, as the same engine from a Sierra 2.0GL would have yielded the same results with the same level of modification.

[benadams]

Just found another possibility. Its in glasgow & i'm in Milton Keynes so i would have to fly up - just thought i'd get your opinions on it before i book a plane ticket!!!

book built locost 1.6 xflow, registered in may05.SVA'd in June 05. 400 ish miles since
registered, just been m.o.t'd last month as I'm getting ready to tax it as
the weather is getting better.
1.6 x-flow engine fitted with lumenition kit and vacless distributor. Lowered sump. Poly bushes all round. Adjustable rear trailing arms. Alloy
petrol tank. 10" mountney steering wheel. Cobra seats with 4 point
harnesses. Chromerzone exhaust.

£4250

I have photos of it but i dont know how to attach them. Email me if you want to see them - ask for my address if you want them.

Ben

[tomtvr]

Ben it seems we are in almost exactly the same position with what we are looking for.

can anyone put a value on this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl

I dont expect it to be cheap, but i really like it.

[Sam_68]

Book built Locost = alarm bells. Suggests that the guy built the chassis from scratch, from the plans in the Ron Champion book. May be good, if he has good welding and fabrication skills, but all professional companies build spaceframes on substantial jigs to avoid dimensional inaccuracy and distortion. Not saying that it's a bad car, but check everything very thoroughly.

Tiger Cat, as mentioned in my earlier post, is a budget 'single donor' kit, which uses the heavy semi-trailing arms and other suspension components form the Sierra donor. Personally, I couldn't live with the aeshetics of the rear wheal arches, which have unsighltly bulges to cover these trailing arms, but in any case it won't match the performance and handling of less compromised designs. Might make a nice little touring car, though, but I wouldn't pay more than £3.5K for one.