Kess

I have found two cars I am considering. One the aforementioned RHD car. It is a Caterham with deDion rear and 1700 crossflow engine (webbers). The other is LHD Birkin with 2 liter Zetec (FI) and solid rear axle. Both have about the same miles. The asking price on the Birkin is $18,650 and the Caterham $23,500. Both are 2500 of miles away from me. With the Caterham I could drive to vist Flyin Miata and my sister in Denver (I would still be thousands of miles from home from there) and I guess I could ship the car or drive some more. Both cars look nice and come with extras. Is it harder to re-sell a RHD car? Would the Caterham hold value better? Sounds like I could get past the RHD without too much trouble. Thanks for the continuing help in my search for the right car. Gary

I have found another car I am interested in. It is a right-hand drive car. I had passed on another car as it was right-hand drive and I was not sure if I would like it. I like this car and thus I am thinking hard about purchasing it. I am curious to hear from other right-hand drive owners what it is like driving in the US. How hard is it to get used to shifting with your left hand? I am not too worried about tolls since the car is small but curious about this as well. Thanks again for the help. This is a great board and I plan join once I find my 7. Gary

I am the two-time bidder. It was still below the reserve at the bids I made. Just trying to find the reserve to see if I was really in. Not sure what gets folks to bid it up past that point with 6 days to go. About 1.5 hours from Montreal so your car is closer Ian (likely much nicer as well). Gary

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I have spoken to the owner a bit further. I am thinking it over. If the price were as you suggest it might work for me, but at $14K in present condition it seems too much. He may try to get it running himself and try to sell it again. There is a Caterham for sale I am looking at. About the same mileage and it is a 1994. It is running with a 1700 super sprint. On e-bay so will have to see how high it goes. Still looking! Gary

As I have been researching Westfields and came upon quite a few for sale in the UK. Some look really nice. Not sure what shipping costs and then there is the issue of not seeing it first. I suppose I could hire some one to look the car over, but much harder to know what I am getting. I guess even better I could fly over for a little shopping spree and still make out to the good and have a good trip! I do not know what the limitations are on bringing such a car into the US. I suppose if it had no motor then it would not be a problem. I think I have seen if it is over 15 years old it might be okay. The other issue is the right hand drive, but I have been told I could get over that. Not sure as I have not tried right hand drive to see what it is like.

Again thanks for the feedback. The owner is looking for $14K. I thought if it were running and drove well that might not be too bad. Now that I know that neither of these are true and that the motor may not be that great even if I get it running I have more to think about. If I were any where as good as Skip at working on this stuff it might be more doable project for me, but it looks like way more work to replace the motor/trans than turbo charging a Miata. I did build my garage as a clear-span and put a giant I-beam in so I could use it to pull a motor. Just not sure I can make it all fit together. I hate to see it disappear back into his garage for 5 more years. He seems very intent on getting $14K as he says that is what a new kit would cost without a motor/trans. While that may be right it would be a new kit and would not need so much to be replaced. I guess if I could buy it for the mentioned $6-8K it might workout. In the meanwhile I guess I will keep looking. I have a lead or two on a Stalker as well. As with all these project cars so much is dependent on how it was put together on the first place and if the bugs were worked out over time. A Birkin would be nice as well if I could find one that was in my price range. I will keep looking and talking on this one.

Thanks all for the comments. Keep them coming! I guess I could replace the engine/transmission with something else (a nice engine/trans from a Miata would be fine as I like these). But all this brings me back to how much this car might be worth in its present state. Would it be a worthwhile project to put the time and money into? Any thoughts? Gary

I am trying not to get too carried away. I know I cannot drive the car before I buy. I suppose I could be buying a car that needs a new/rebuilt motor as well as brakes. I would want new tires as these 21 year old ones must be hard as rock. Not sure what else. Maybe change the bench seat out and I would want weather gear I think. So what is a project like this worth? Any thoughts? Thanks! Gary

Here are few more photos.

A little more info on the car. It has not run in 3-5 years. All fluids would need to be replaced. I got a photo of the engine. Not the best shot. Not sure what it is (crossflow?). It has rear drums not sure if that makes it an SE or SEI. The tires are original so they would need to be replaced as well. I am going to keep researching.

I sold my Superformance S1 4 years ago now and have missed having a seven for the last few years. I have been looking for a possible replacement and have missed out on a few cars for various reasons. I recently found a late 80's Westfield for sale. The price is okay and the car is not too far away. It was completed in the early 90's and only has 1900 miles on it! . It has a bench type seat. It is pretty complete (it would need working wipers for my state inspection and I think new tires). I am attaching a photo so you can get a look at it. No where near as menacing as my S1 or many of the newer cars, but I thought it might be fun. Looking for information from other Westfield owners about experiences with the car. It looks much like the present Westfield kits but I am sure things have changed. Any help greatly appreciated before I make the 3.5 hour drive to go see it. Thanks! Gary

Hi, The photo link takes me to a folder of most beautiful 7s. Which one is yours? Do you have other another local for photos? I am on the lookout and would like to see how the car looks. Thanks! Gary gary AT GMSR DOT Info

I am on the lookout to replace my S1 which I sold several years ago now and miss. A Cat would be great and this one looks very nice, but $38K is a little too rich for me!

As a former Superformance owner (and now looking for a replacement 7) I thought the door/window that was offered on that car was a great design. The door was hard and snapped closed. It had a Lexan window that moved up and down in the door on a track. It used a knurled metal knob to hold the window in the desired position which worked great. With the door on and window down there was very little buffeting. With the door on and the window up rain was not a problem either. It sealed very well up to the top and the doors and top fit easily into the trunk. It was also very easy to lift the door off when I did not want it.

Could you post photos and an asking price? What motor is in the car? FI? 5 speed? Color? Thanks! Gary in VT

Hi Gunther, I sold my S1 several years ago for some other toys. Still miss it and keep thinking I will buy another 7 (my son really misses it). I keep looking. I missed an S1 with a rotary. I might try a Cat but and S1 likes yours would be great too. Good luck with the sale. If I find an extra $25K around I will drop you a line. Gary Former owner #45 Here is my for sale listing which has some cool original drawings and photos as the car was being prototyped for anyone interested. http://www.gmsr.info/pre2007/s1sale.htm

I have been trying to learn more about this maker without much luck. It looks like they were very into sports car racing but that is all I learned. Does anyone here know more? I am about 6 hours from this car so I am interested if they are known to be any good. Still looking. Gary

I have been looking at the Vintage. All that I have looked at are pre-owned and loved and improved and de-bugged. I appreciate hearing how they drive. As I said I know little about air cooled motor so that worries me. I have been hanging on the Spyder Club site, but you know how it is if you ask all the cars drive great and no one wants to say “on air” that one is better than another. Kind of like asking which 7 is the best. I am sure a few folk here have opinions on that. In the end I guess it all depends on what is best for you or in this case me. As far as the chick magnet goes I do not think my wife is too worried since I attract women like that George Clooney guy without the need for a fancy car. SWMBO laughed when she saw I wrote this - not sure how I should take that. I was pretty sure that a newer 7 would drive better as the breed has been continually improved. I hope to drive a Vintage 550 and then I guess I will know if it measures up from a driving enjoyment perspective. I will also keep looking for a 7. I saw a very nice Robin Hood that looked well put together but in looking into the kit it was not a tube frame and so I was not sure about it. I also saw a few Rotuses but once I got a better look I decided they were not for me. I guess a new IRS 7 would do the job. Thanks again for the help. I will be lurking on the FS pages. Gary

I am looking for a little advice and I know I am asking from a biased group but I still thought I would ask any way. I had a very nice Superformance S1 that I sold 3 years ago now. Maybe this was not the best decision but I had two sports cars at the time and my wife thought one would be better. I got a nice practical BMW M3 convertible with SMG tranny. I drove it for a while, but there was no love between us and I sold it without a second thought. Now I only have a very nice and fast 2000 turboed Miata which is fully kitted out at this point (coilover/roll bar/wheel & tires/brakes), so not much left to toy around with. My wife says I can get a second sports car (rather than a young girl friend) and I have been looking. I miss an even lighter more direct car than the Miata. So now the question; I have been looking for a 7 and have let a few slip away that I could afford. I am still looking, but in the meantime I saw a 550 Spyder and liked the look of it. I have been looking into them a little more. There are two primary kits Beck and Vintage. The Vintage looks to be a bit more performance oriented. They mostly have air cooled motors which I know very little about. Also these have swing axle rear suspensions which I remember work only so-so (I think the rear wheel camber changes under hard cornering which sounds bad – like 70’s era 911s I think). A few have water cooled Subaru motors which I know more about. These also have IRS. But I am having a hard time finding any for sale. Have any of you had any experience with any of these cars? Just curious to compare how they drive compared to a 7. I am looking for a performance car, but light open cars feel fast even when you are not going very fast. Thanks for your thoughts. Gary Former 7 owner

I am looking for a new 7 and saw this post. Based on the small warning from the poster I did a little searching. Here is a link to what I found: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/new-england-classic-car-co-c142328.html I plan to heed the warning from these prior customers of the seller. It makes sense not to provide additional advertizing for this seller. Anyone with a good 7 I am still looking. Gary in VT

I did not drive my car in rain too frequently. I did find that the demister worked okay much like a rear window system with much finer wires. I used Fog-X on the inside of the windscreen and with the demister the screen stayed clean. I once drove the car about 400 miles in a sitting in winter (February in Vermont)! With the heat on gloves and a jacket I was warm enough. You will need to look around to find some of the exhaust parts. I ordered the Supertrapp Superlight directly. I may still have the contact there if you need it. They had to make it special as they did not seem to have any. Not sure if I needed the Car Chemistry parts after I upgraded the rest of the exhaust but I could not detect any reduction in power so I kept the 2 disks in the header. The exhaust system was known to develop cracks so that may be part of the noise issue. I enjoyed driving my car without the need for hearing protection while still sounding powerful when I got on it. Use care welding the supertrapp as the metal is quite thin. Have fun! Gary

Hi G2, Car looks very nice! I am a former S1 owner (sorry to say- both my son and I miss the car). I collected quite a bit of info on the car from fellow owners (thanks Nick!) and I posted it on-line as well as some of the mods I undertook to make the car work better for me. Here is a link to the build manual it has a dash diagram as well! http://www.gmsr.info/pre2007/S1_Manual.pdf (that is my former car on the cover - just not at my house! I live in Vermont that is OH) Here is the link for my car when it was for sale. It has lots of info about the car which you may be interested in: http://www.gmsr.info/pre2007/s1sale.htm Here is a link to some of the mods I undertook. Some of my fellow owners gave me great suggestions and were very helpful. http://www.gmsr.info/pre2007/S1.htm You should checkout the S1 owner's forum. Pretty slow from a traffic perspective but folks on the forum can help you if you have S1 questions. http://performanceunlimited.com/s1/subscribe.html I am also happy to help based on what I learned. I would not mind getting another superlight sports car. If I can only find one in my price range I will be set. Gary

Hi, I am interested in the car and would like more info. Can you send me a PM? Gary at GMSR DOT INFO. Thanks! Gary Missing my old seven.

Yes I am IN!