- Berkeley built campers and thus became skilled at GRP (fiberglass)
- In 1956 released their first car, a lightweight (650lbs) monocque fiberglass car using a motorcycle engine and sequential gearbox with multiplate wet clutch
- 2 stroke Anazi 322 engines at first, British Excelsior 328 and 492 engines later, Royal Enfield 4 stroke engines last.
- Front wheel drive and transverse engine before the Mini!
- Chain driven and without the benefit of CV joints. The Spicer universals grab and pull near lock like an old 4WD truck.
- Sold heavily in the US and actively raced both here and abroad
- In 1959 the Austin Healey Sprite came out… a “real” car with a “real” engine at the same price, killing Berkeley sales.
- In 1960 a hastily reengineered three wheel “cost cutter” version was released. This was sold as a motorcycle and could be driven on UK roads without a full license. It became their biggest seller, but only sold in the UK.
- 18.2hp, 65mph top speed.
- This car was a 1976 “MOTOR Magazine” car, updated with instrumentation, red leather seats, wool carpets, modern lights, lime green paintetc. It was seen in the magazine by a US politician, bought and imported. And immediately repainted white.
- Approximately 15 T60’s are in the US (I personally imported two and owned 4 at one time)
AUTOWEEK
November 13, 2006
Alex had to come in from the UK to finally drive a Berk!
