We drove up to Westfield and promptly got stuck in a huge traffic jam in the middle of Stourbridge. It seems to be one of the most congested areas around at the weekend. Having got to the factory we got shown around and then given the keys to a demonstrator and told to go away and play and come back in an hour. Very impressive service. When I spoke to someone later they said that they could not get the demonstrators insured against people driving them away, but thought that they just had to do this anyway. As for the car itself it was huge fun, although somewhat marred by a huge rattle and omitting to notice the speed bump that I was approaching at 40 mph. Anthea (my wife) insists that I grounded the car, this is clearly not true... The rattle is possibly the result of a previous encounter with the speed bump. This is one of the demonstrators, but not the one that I drove.

Then on to Quantum, just in time for a huge storm, and the wet-weather gear for the Xtreme is not yet done so... I thought the wipers weren't working until I realised it was on the inside. On the way home I decided to buy a Westfield. I had particularly liked the chassis on the Quantum (a stainless steel monocoque) but I think there's slightly more chance of getting my knees in the Westfield. Nice car though. The problem was, what precisely to buy. Westfield offer the cars in three forms: A basic kit, which means they sell you just the essential bits and you can source everything else from a variety of places, including Westfield themselves who do a large price list of bits and pieces. (They've recently revamped this list. Previously it was just about incomprehensible but, with the addition of lots of diagrams, it's now much better.) A modular kit, which involves the same amount of assembly as the basic kit but without the fun of traipsing round scrapyards to locate the bit you want. Westfield sell the kits in six "modules" which you can buy as you go. Fully assembled. The last of these, to me at least, seems to miss the point. The problem with the second one is the price, I guess because most of the bits are new. The problem with the first one is the scrapyards.. We decided to compromise and order the first two modules, which is essentially all the chassis, bodywork, suspension and brakes. So, I phoned up and ordered it.

The problem is, what colour to get it in? We decide the only way to know for sure is to go to Westfield again (I've got a feeling this trip is going to become familiar) and decide. This time we take another friend up with us--one who's sulking as he's just bent his very expensive TVR--and we just happen to manage to get another test drive. Eventually we decide on yellow (which means having two yellow cars!) with blue bits inside and to supposedly keep the weather off. When it comes to keeping the wet out, both Anthea and I want to get a tonneau cover in addition to the soft top. We both have fond memories of the MGB we drove many years ago, before children arrived, and especially driving the MGB one-up with the tonneau in place. The photo here is snaffled from another web site, but it shows what we want to achieve.

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