I'm 33 years old and all ways been a bike guy, Ive loved the hot rod world from a fare as i would never have guessed i would ever own a car that would or could fall in to that category, Ive made allot of friends in the last 33 years from all different parts of the custom world, i had a very close friend who was a very talented airbrush artist, he is no longer with us to see what i am about to do but i know he would have been one of the 1st people wanting to add his little part to the car, so i do have loads of hands to help in in different parts of this build, but as i have never built anything like this before its going to be a hell of a job for me trying to intermix what i do no with what i want to do, now to the Berkeley.
19?? Berkeley t60 coupe
The photo above looks really nice and a mint little car that at the time was 100% Berkeley as fare as i know, i don't no much about it or when this photo was taken as back then they did not have time stamps but it must have been taken before 1979 when the DVLA changed over all there records to the new computer systems instead of paper and pen as this i not on it, so im having to go thru the process to get it back to a known reg so i can keep the year rather than having to re reg as a kit car/q-plate, don't think its going to be to hard but you never really no an till you start to do it.
The following photos are where this story really starts, every old car has its own story to go along with its age and this is just one of this cars bits of past, this is a story about a guy and a girl who is deeply in love they did most everything together including hobbies, there was baby's, fun times and funny times involved in this love story but we wont get to fare involved in the hole thing we can start where it really matters, the lady and man that owned the t60s had 2 little girls and not long after the mum was taken from them, there father keeped there mums spirit alive for many years after and promised to keep the cars an till the girls where at an age to decide what they wanted to do with them.
This one was kindly given to me by one of the girls and she has keeped one for her self witch has been garaged for the last 28-30 years but not having a lot of space to store them and being that his eye sight is not what it once was the coupe made its home on the frount drive, it was stored for some of the years and work to put a new engine in it had been started but the garage got broken in to and the 350cc engine that it was made with was taken so that left this little car without a hart and it all come to a stand still there after, the photos below are of the 1st time i went up to see her and must say it was love at 1st sight.
Now once again i would like to say Ive never taken on something this big and i really wanted the chassis to be in a half decent state but when its been sitting for that long you have to expect it to be in a bad way, the doors did not line up any longer and the body had sagged allot in the center, in turn the roof front mounts had snapped and the angle of the roof had dropped, and in one way this was a good thing as it gave it the funder race stance to the roof and got my brain thinking about the look i wanted, the engine bay was missing a bit iconic part of the cars history and the rust had set in, i could rock the car from the back and have little or no movement from the front, i reached in to the car to check the chassis state, reached down and grabbed a hand fall of rust and at that moment i was ready to run the other way down the road never to return, but i looked in my had for the second time and it hit me that i was sitting in something that was once some ones pride and joy, what i had im my hands was 55 years of this cars life and the lives and story's of man woman and child, how many people get a change to hold a bit of British history in the parm of there and and have the choice to bring it back to life? so was sold on the fact that i could do something with what i had there, i must say it was not allot but it was something.
Finely found some one to collect her and as she did not move very well it was a matter of lifting her on to the back of the truck, no easy feet when the inside is full of water logged rust and bits of steal, did not help that i suffer from back problems and cant lift to much otherwise my back gives way, but we still manged to get the back on and by this time my back had broke just as much as her's had, as we slid her up the back of the truck a bolt on the underside of the engine bay got stuck and there was a crack, the center of the car was now touching the floor and the doors also where sitting on the bed of the truck, she looked very sorry for her self at this point and i was not shore if we where even going to get her off in one piece, but she seem to come back off a little easier than she went on and i manged to hold her back up on the way off.
Had her home now for 2 days and in the 2 days Ive got a lot done even tho my back was killing me, Ive now got a box that's 2 foot by 2 foot that contains 90% of the chassis, the inside has been cleared of all rust particles and un wanted/needed metal, manged to salvage some bits that i will be using in the new build, gear lever,, hand brake, speedo, rear mirror bracket and will be getting the steering wheel re-coned as i love it, got an old door and slid it under her back and got her jacked up and straitened out with doors closed, gave her a bath as i be leave that things never look as bad when they are clean, took off the roof so little cripple me could get in side and get it cleaned out easier, but will be needing to fine some one that makes after market chassis for the T60 its ether that or my good mate stave will have to build a frame of some sorts for me, so if your reading this and you no some one, please get in contact with me as the info and help will be fantastic
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