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[Pluscat]

Chris, that must still hurt, selling that D-type (chassis XKD 551 ?). I hope you did get a chance to drive and enjoy it....
A lotus 23 (or a decent replica like the Xanthos 23) is on my wishlist too. But getting a thing like that roadlegal could be very difficult, if not impossible nowadays.

Back to the XI:
I guess that the first four chassis were "pre-production" cars. Was there a prototype made before these four or was "VTK 715" the prototype?
Were the pre-productionframes numbered 1,2,3 and 4? Or did you start numbering the frames when they were made in house? In other words was the first chassis made in house by Westfield numbered 1 or 5?
Do you know howmany "series 1" Westfield XI were eventualy made in that first productionrun (1983-1988)?

[chrissmith]

No prototype, no pre-production, just go for it...numbering started at 7 as I did not want the first customers to think we had not made any...sad but true
the chassis records were left on my departure but about 110 were made.
I think it should be remembered that in those days there was no business plan, no financing only a gut feeling for making a business work..never heard of H&S
employment law ...but it worked, well I think it did..

Chris

[Pluscat]

So in short:
The first 4 frames were made by Midas, and received no framenumber,
All following frames were made by Westfield "in house"
The fifth and six frame had also no frame number
The seventh frame was the first frame to receive a framenumber (being the number 1 or 7, Chris?)
All following frames had a frame number up to about 110

Another question: My cars framenumber is JB W11 38
W11 stands for "Westfield 11", 38 is the actual frame number.
But what stands JB for?

Another one:
Well, there is also something like a production or assembly number. That the number on the brass plaquette. My car is 73 83 KR
The first number is the actual assembly number (number 73 in my case)
The second is the year of assembly (almost always 83)
The two letters give the type (KR= kit RHD, KL= kit LHD, FR= factorybuilt RHD, FL factorybuilt LHD)
Am I right?

Chris, the very first Westfield 11 your mentioned as being "VTK 715". I found a very old salesbrochure, with a picture of "VTL 715"
I assume you made a small typing error ("K" instead of "L")?

[LA 11 builder]

I have a bit of an off the wall question: the first series cars had their body molds pulled from an actual Lotus eleven, the only one in LHD I have seen has a very clear hand print in the glass as well as a twin cheeked butt print! Any idea whose? The hand is just where you would expect it to be if one was pushing the car and the butt print was behind the passenger seat where an owner or a mechanic would sit during a victory lap around the track.

[chrissmith]

VTL 715 was the first one built. That was built in the garage at my home at Westfield House. I don't recall if there was a number added to it. I sold the remains to a friend of my daughters in 2006 and he is in the process of rebuilding it. Not sure also about number 2,but no. 3 had 7 allocated to it and those numbers followed from then.
JB stands for Jack Bouckley (since departed) who was the first fabricator/welder who I employed...lots of "welding" stories there one day.
As far as the hand print and bum print well you have me there..All we wanted was to make them as quickly as possible, get them through the door and get paid, sounds bad but all that was done with no financial backing, especially from the bank, but that's another story...

I will dig as deep as this old head will allow

Chris

[Westfield 129]

My car has the hand print and the bum print.

It doesn't have any special numbers on the brass plaque at all, other than the VIN of the original donor car. The chassis number plate welded to the front top most tube says only " W11 129".

The car probably has close to 75,000 miles on it, and is driven nearly daily.

You did a good job on the chassis, as there have been no problems with it at all, but the little suspension bushings don't last long in the rear. Only a few hundred miles, at best, unless they are run loose so that they can rotate. This seems to extend the life to about 2000 miles. I always keep a lot of spare bushings around.

[chrissmith]

Post 68 cars were difficult to get into the states so it was easier to call them reworked Sprite /Midgets...your mileage record has to be congratulated especially by me and in some ways I envy your dedication and enthusiasm. Mark Hancock in Roanoke still owns the 1st S1 type 7 that went to the US.

I am so pleased to hear from you

Chris

[biggles]

Hi Chris

I'm an eleven fan but can't run to the 9 grand kit price, and in any case I don't fit the standard chassis and I think they've done the final 'final' batch of kits now. My plan would be to get hold of some bodywork and then fit an existing, running and registered kit rolling chassis to the body. Ideally this would be a W7 crashed or tatty example, to keep it westfield (obviously I wouldn't be so low as to claim it as an 'original' W11 and the higher chassis sides would give it away anyway). Hopefully then I would avoid IVA and keep costs down a bit. I probably wouldn't bother with doors, just climb in over the top, so it wouldn't matter to me if the chassis side rails were a bit higher.

I haven't measured up the rear of the W7 chassis, but can you recall if it is too wide for the midget axle?

It's a bit of a shame the kit price was much higher when you reintroduced the W11. I have vague memories of the pre-lit 7 being £995 for the starter kit, and the the 11 being about £1995, back in the 80's. Or are my rose tinted specs getting foggy? I might have bought a kit and then tried to squeeze myself in (shoulder room is the problem)....

Anyhow, nice to see you here. You certainly created a beauty, and I just love to see them out there racing, mixing it and embarrassing much more powerful machinery!

Best regards
Biggles

[Pluscat]

Chris, before I "Blitz" you again with my questions, I would like to thank you for all the information you are sharing.
It was a bold step to start making cars without any businessplan and financial backing. You did well, very well, in my opinion.

After you decided to make a Lotus XI replica, how did you go about?
How did you start making a replica from scratch? (I wouldn't know were to start.....)
Did you make any designs,drawing or plans or did you just start building and see along the buildproces were to go?
Did you weld the frame for VLT 715 in your garage, or did you take the designplans to Midas to have them made the frame for you?

[chrissmith]

Biggles...many thanks for your compliments...

I visited Midas to look at their work knowing that they made the Donkervoort frames. The frames for the 1st 4 were similar in design and suspension to the ones that they were already making, so it was a joint design thought to come up with my requirement.
I knew people with original lotus cars who were happy to lend me panels to have moulds taken. Once I had GRP and the frame it was a question of putting all the parts together. I had built my own race Sprite in 68 so was more than familiar with all the runnung gear. No designs were drawn only nuts and bolts. One of the first things to have made was the steering wheel. I found a guy in Walsall who used to be works manager for WALPRESS who made me the first wheel. He still makes a variety of retro wheels today..Lovely man Dave..

Ask away

Chris