Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Sorry folks, not really Lotus orientated but has anybody owned/seen a Westfield Eleven? Just wondered what their build quality was like. I am not however about to give up any of my Lotus' to get one.

Martin B

Hi,
I have a Westfield XI that is under construction at present. I'm generally quit happy with the build quality and completeness of the kit. I think the RHD is a little better than the LHD as I have found some of the LH specific panels that are obviously hand finished rather than the machine finished parts that I received mistakenly. I went for the Ford Type 9 'box and would do so again.

I'm not sure what a kits costs these days but overall I'm very happy. Go for it!

Ian

PS. Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions.

I had one. Factory build, 5 speed gearbox, jubilee sp?cial ?dition. The car is an eye catcher. Give you the feeling to pilot rather than driving. It goes fast as the shape of the body offer no resistance to the air. Exhaust sound is great.

Now i personnaly had many quality issues. Engine was replaced under guarantee. Other problems occured and i had to sue westfield. I won.

Now the car is reliable ( new rack, new rad, new engine...) and i sold it and bought my sprint.

I guess the new owner Will enjoy it more than me. The driving is very extreme : wind, no trunk, heat issues, very low, restricted tight cornering abilities, no roof...

This picture was taken in the office basement...as i was using it sometimes to drive to work

Now that's a commuter car I can relate to!

Ian

The seven is more convenient. With the 11 i had some hard Time taking corners inside this parking especially when other cars are behind you in the morning, and the flat floor was touching the agressive small speed bumps.

The 7 is more convenient.

However i wanted an 11, i got One, enjoyed the good and the bad sides. Still i can cross it on my to-do list before i die.

11: Check!

The owners club http://www.wscc.co.uk/ have a forum dedicated to the X1 http://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/index.php/forum/79-xi-plus/ you might like to have a look through here. The WSCC has however become a pay only forum, you can look but you cant post anymore until you pay a fee. You can get a temporary membership though. I think it is such a shame that they are driving away newcomers and us who want to just pop in there quickly, but that is how it has become. Still, there is a load of info on there so if you find it helpful then you can pay up.

I had one and loved the experience. It is more pure than the Seven or Elans and by pure I mean raw. I had a RHD car in the USA with the head fairing and it was difficult to se surrounding cars. I only felt comfortable driving it on country roads...getting there through city traffic was scary. I have a long story I can pass on to you if you are interested. If so email me at ross at homebuildercoach dot com.

Ross,
I love the Lotus Eleven, most of us mere mortals can't afford or justify owning an original so the Westie is a good alternative with lots of original DNA. After all most of the ""originals"" bear not a lot of resemblance to how they came out of the box back in the day.

Here's a "real one". rebuilt using the original panels as a guide I think? Driven by my pal Don Hands and friends.

Helped build the first twin cam eleven in 83 efortless straight up to an indicated 130mph & would have kept pulling at that spd. You are right pure raw fun. At times bloody wet!!!! My good friend who owned it entered the Brighton speed run in 83 or 84 & as it was midget based he was in the mg class where he was hammering everthing till he jumped a tooth on the cam timing, but still did very well. ah memories he even went on honeymoon in it doing the Alps on route curly

They seem wonderful cars. A friend ordered one in 1986 or so with a Lotus twincam and LHD. Here it is in 1987 ...



and several years later in 2005 at the start of one of our hillclimbs.



Andy