Help advice to find correct type Westfield

[skypeller]

So I’m looking for some answers to help me get the right Westfield.

1)Last year I spent a day in a hired 1995 caterham super seven (what is a super seven compared to a regular seven????) it was red top engined on ITBs. It had the posh caterham 5 spoke alloys. It fitted me perfectly. It was really, really comfortable, I’m 6ft 3” and 110kg not fat but definitely not athletic...

The problem is I want to spend 7k max, I could afford a caterham but don’t want to spend that much to be honest,
Tonight I went to look at the most stunning Westfield narrow in British racing green with a yellow nose cone and crossflow Webber equipped engine, however much to my disappointment I could sit down in it but my feet had to be at the end of the tunnel past the pedals by about 6-10inches and I couldn’t get my knee in the correct positions to even attempt to drive it. My arse wouldn’t quite squeeze into the seat compartment either (not by much but just not enough space ... I believe they’re 15.5” if it were 16” it might have even fit... but the legs/knees were not happy) yet no trouble at all, not one bit, in the caterham?
2)But from my understanding the narrow Westfields are same dimmensions as a non SV caterham ??? Being a 1995 surely the caterham I drove was a regular s3 sized one?

3)Anybody found they won’t fit a narrow Westfield at all but are very happy in a wide body Westfield ??

4)Also what are the seat widths of the caterhams (s3, sv, any others) as I’m a bit baffled

5)When did they phase out the narrow Westfields and all become wide?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Equus]

3) I'm a fat bd (and 6'0" tall, with big feet, similar weight to you), but I fit in narrow bodied Westfields, Caterhams and Sylvas just fine, so a lot of it's down to individual proportions and comfort zones. A lot also depends on the seats fitted. But for what it's worth, I feel positively agoraphobic in wide-body Westfields - they feel too big to be 'snug' to me.

5) Dunno, but it was a long time ago. Mid 1990's, at a guess.

[Quinten]

As a 6'5 fat Dutch bloke with a wide body Westfield I can offer you my solution. Find a widebody with a top mounted pedal box (early SEW, possibly also some SEIW). Then fit some shell seats (JK, Intatrim, Tillet). A removable steering wheel is optional, but useful.

I too tried a narrow, and I couldn't even slide my ass into the seat...

If you're near Northampton, I'd be happy to show you around

[ugg10]

Worth a look and a cheeky offer. Looks a nice car, pretty good spec, but could do with a general tidy up. Note the size of the owner in the advert.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfield-SEiW/23277969...

Edited by ugg10 on Wednesday 23 May 22:47

[ugg10]

Worth a look and a cheeky offer. Looks a nice car, pretty good spec, but could do with a general tidy up. Note the size of the owner in the advert.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfield-SEiW/23277969...

Edited by ugg10 on Thursday 24th May 20:02

[skypeller]

Thanks very much guys, does anybody know if the caterham is kind of between the two? As it definitely felt more comfortable but wasn’t aware of there being a “wide” model of those especially before about yr 2000 ish 

Thanks for offering to let me try your Westy i’ll Give you a buzz when I’m over that way as the girlfriends family are over that way

[skypeller]

I like the one in the link but a little far to travel. There has been some similar to that come up for sale recently Shrewsbury way which is only 1 hour drive for me ..... just hope some come up for sale ASAP so I catch some of this weather

[Equus]

skypeller said:

Thanks very much guys, does anybody know if the caterham is kind of between the two? As it definitely felt more comfortable but wasn’t aware of there being a “wide” model of those especially before about yr 2000 ish ?

The SV is the 'fat bd' model of the Caterham; introduced in 2000.

If what you drove was a 1995 car, then it was a standard S3 chassis. Very similar in dimensions to the 'narrow body' Westfield, but as I said, a myriad of small differences might make the difference between cars being comfortable and undriveable.

I had a friend with a Fiat Twin Cam engined Sylva that I couldn't drive because the pedals were too close together for me... yet I owned and happily drove a Sylva Phoenix, with an essentially identical chasss, for well over a decade.

The S3 Caterham is relatively standardised (though even that can have different seats). Anything else, the bottom line is that you'll have to drive it to know whether you're comfortable in it.

[Steve_D]

You don't mention and may be relevant did the car you drove have seat pads of a bucket seat.

Steve

[skypeller]

The caterham that I fit in comfortably had padded seats no side bolsters. Similar to the Westfield narrow actually .... very similar looking seat even tried the narrow with no carpet or trim inside drivers side.... still no good

[skypeller]

well I’ve just been to the Westfield factory in person and I can’t say just how helpful they were!! Fantastic bunch! I sat in a wide body with lowered floor and it was absolutely perfect!!

Manager showed me around;

The wide without the lowered floor would be fine too he said because he was exactly same size and build as me!

[Andy665]

I have a wide body with non lowered floors you are more than happy to try for size - only over the border in Shropshire

[skypeller]

Great! I’ve pm’d you Andy