Whats a Westfield?
Colin Chapman built 270 examples of the Lotus Eleven between 1956 and ’58, and some cars were raced in the U.S. all the way into the 1970s. It was such a widely admired car that British vintage racer Chris Smith built a replica in 1982 and sold 162 of them as the Westfield XI before he moved on to other projects in 1986. Now that track days have made stripped-down sports cars a fashionable item, the Westfield XI is back in production, and Manik Technologies in Richardson, Texas, has begun distributing it in the U.S. But remember that this is a kit car. You send Manik Technologies $19,990, then wait at the mailbox for the fiberglass bodywork, a powder-coated tubular space frame stiffened by aluminum panels, a fuel system, some suspension pieces and lots of wiring. Then you have to find an Austin-Healey Sprite or MG Midget circa 1968-’74 (about $2,500), strip the running gear and rebuild the engine (about $4,000). Just add 140 hours in your garage (or maybe twice that), and then you have
