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NJ title for Westfield


The Stig

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I am considering buying a Westfield that is currently titled in PA. I had a Westfield before moving from the UK and they ar really great cars.

 

The car was built in 1996 and titled at a 1965 Lotus seven but how will I get in titled in NJ? Is it based on the build date or the 1965 date? I am hoping the earlier date as I believe that gives me more options.

 

I am still totally confused about NJ titles for kit/classic cars so any advice appreciated as I cannot risk getting the car and then not being able to use it!

 

Thanks in advance

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Don't rush into this. NJ is probably the hardest state of all to get a seven registered. :( Getting a title is not the issue. The real issue is getting it through the specialty inspection process. I bet you cannot just plug in OBDII and get a nice reading without error codes faulting.

 

I have written pages on this topic over the last 2 years - I will PM my contact details and I can email some relevant docs to you to read and think through how you should plan to get through this process.

 

BTW - Is it the blue Westfield that you are looking at? I think SteveS1 looked at that at one point - may want to compare notes.

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Mike is the NJ registration guru. I would recommend getting a car that is already titled in NJ. You might get lucky with the 1965 Lotus title as long as it does not indicate Kit or Reconstructed in any way. Good luck, there are ways to get this done if you want it bad enough. I went through this with a new Caterham just a few months ago. PM me for more details...

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When I registered my 1965 lotus / caterham in NJ last year I genuinely didn't have a title as it came from CT and the CT DMV allegedly don't give titles out to old cars. I took along VIN rubbing, pictures and all the forms to register it as a normal car to the Somerville DMV and they promptly told me that if I didn’t have a title then it needed an appropriate bill of sale. It took me a while to get a the bill of sale that complied with the state requirements for warranties, notarizing etc, but when I took it back and paid the tax on the car and was instructed to get it inspected within two weeks. As blubarisax stated Mike (croc) is the NJ title guru.

The caveat here is that I may have been incredibly lucky and that none of this will repeat but if you have formal bits of paper highlighting it is a "old lotus" you have reasonable chance.

p.s. I gave hagerty full disclosure of all of my cars heritage and they were fine for agreed value insurance for 3000 miles per annum.

p.p.s Good luck – it would be nice to have another seven in NJ that doesn’t have 200bhp+ as I might just about keep up on the odd track day.

Edited by Sabbot
correction to original text
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Don't rush into this. NJ is probably the hardest state of all to get a seven registered. :( Getting a title is not the issue. The real issue is getting it through the specialty inspection process. I bet you cannot just plug in OBDII and get a nice reading without error codes faulting.

 

I have written pages on this topic over the last 2 years - I will PM my contact details and I can email some relevant docs to you to read and think through how you should plan to get through this process.

 

BTW - Is it the blue Westfield that you are looking at? I think SteveS1 looked at that at one point - may want to compare notes.

 

Hi Stig,

I looked at a Westy at Don Rosen Porsche-Audi like the one you are looking at.

 

It had a blue nose , no Agip stickers. Someone else on this forum drove it, hopefully

 

they will chime in IF it's the same car.

 

Good Luck, Steve p.s. somewhere on this forum there is a photo of that car that I took. Update- Yes , page 14 in the cars for sale !!

Edited by S1Steve
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p.p.s NJ have since moved to emissions only testing for inspections so if you come out of the DMV with plates then the rest should be easy.

 

I soooo wish that were true. Unfortunately for reconstructs, salvage and kit cars (which are usually on those titles) then they still need the "safety" inspection from what I can work out from chatting with the NJ DMV recently. The safety inspection is the killer and is completely separate from the usual 2 year biannual roadworthiness for normal title cars. As far as I know I am the last sevener person to make it through that ordeal of an inspection and prior to me was our Al, our club prez and he was 2006 which were the old "easier" rules

 

Now if you can get a title that is not a reconstruct or salvage or otherwise kit car (e.g. regular Lotus or historic title) then you bypass the issue.

 

Also there is a whole world of pain around emissions testing. In theory you can get a waiver from OBDII testing to use a tail pipe sensor but it depends on the time of the month, moon phase, number of spanners in the trunk of your car, whether the inspector got laid last night and so on.

 

Its not impossible but its not a decision to rush into.

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Hi Stig,

I looked at a Westy at Don Rosen Porsche-Audi like the one you are looking at.

 

It had a blue nose , no Agip stickers. Someone else on this forum drove it, hopefully

 

they will chime in IF it's the same car.

 

Good Luck, Steve p.s. somewhere on this forum there is a photo of that car that I took. Update- Yes , page 14 in the cars for sale !!

 

 

It also appears in the for sale pages about a year later at another PA dealer. I think it is the same car you saw with a yellow nose cone. Spec is otherwise identical. Its the only Westfield I have heard of in the MidAtlantic region and to have another blue one pop up is too much of a coincidence.

 

Given it is a crossflow then that floor underneath it at the dealers looks suspiciously clean! :D

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It also appears in the for sale pages about a year later at another PA dealer. I think it is the same car you saw with a yellow nose cone. Spec is otherwise identical. Its the only Westfield I have heard of in the MidAtlantic region and to have another blue one pop up is too much of a coincidence.

 

Given it is a crossflow then that floor underneath it at the dealers looks suspiciously clean! :D

 

It's the only one I have seen. I did sit in it, lots of room.

 

If you drain all the fluilds out, nothing will leak !!!!

 

 

" Tom for club President"- I'm his manager, He doesn't know it yet !!!! LOL

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  • 1 month later...

hi new owner and member here. i live in white plains, ny. just got a 97 westfield seiw, with a ford crossflow 1700. my car is stuck in a shop in the bronx, and i need wires, dist cap and rotor? got any local sources thanks andy in new york. 646-744-5757

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Yeah, welcome to the nuthouse. As Karl said, put Monday June 27th and if you can Tuesday June 28th on your calendar. A bunch of us are planning to do a trackday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, in Millville NJ.

 

No prior skill necessary, It will be a good opportunity to blow that carbon off the plugs and see what your new ride will do. Initial interest shows upwards of 15 7's may attend. It will be a nice get together even if you don't take it out on the track. No need to commit yet. Just save the date. More info to follow.

 

Tom

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