I am appealing to the Barn Finds community to help me decide whether I should bid on this pair of Berkeleys. I am knee-deep into a multi-year restoration of an S328. Parts are slightly rarer than hen’s teeth. Yet miraculously, two derelict Berkeleys have cropped up for sale here on eBay. Considering that the Berkeley Car Company (of Biggleswade, England, if you please) produced only of these 4100 fragile, motorcycle-engined cars over five years from 1956 through 1960, it’s astonishing to find not one but two of these little monsters right in my own backyard. These cars are located in Happy Valley, Oregon, twenty minutes from my farm. An opening bid of $1000 is required to kick things off. There is no reserve. I know for a fact that one Berk can fit in the back of a ’74 F250 (with the normal 8′ bed that all real trucks have). I also know that a Berk without an engine weighs about as much as a dining room table. What to do!
Charles Panter’s Berkeley Car Company began its existence as Berkeley Coachworks making caravans – ie, travel trailers. However, the seasonality of the caravan business challenged the company’s finances. Panter thought that filling the downtime by making fiberglass cars might help pad Berkeley’s coffers, so he partnered with Lawrie Bond (he of the Bond Minicar and the Equipe) to develop a sports car. Aimed both at racing in the under-750 cc class and the driving enthusiast who wanted a cheap but pretty runabout, the first car appeared at the 1956 London Motor Show, with a 322 cc Anzani two-stroke engine. It looked like a tiny Cobra. Berkeley’s next model was the S328, powered by the Excelsior 328 cc motor. Both models used a three-speed manual gearbox delivering power to the front wheels via chain drive.
Later models extended the fiberglass monocoque/motorcycle engine formula, gradually growing more powerful. I think the two cars we’re looking at here are a 328 and a B95 – the latter having upright headlights and a deeper engine bay to accommodate a Royal Enfield 692 cc two-stroke.
Aside from the rare parts shown in these photos – including side curtains, the spare wheel, one nice steering wheel, a couple of gauges – the seller also says she has a windshield, wheel hubs, and the tiny bumpers that passed for safety equipment. None of these parts can be ordered from a catalog and any of them, if found, will be ridiculously expensive. I am not in dire need of parts, but you know the story – if anything breaks, I’m up a creek! I am also a parts hoarder, I admit it. Is it crazy to make a pitch for these cars, or should I let someone else benefit?
“ I am not in dire need of parts..” And you’re smart enough to know you don’t want to be in that situation.
Besides if the sum of the parts out strip the cost, it’s worth going for especially if you can sell the extras. I’ll bet you’ve been around this business long enough to know that if you’re restoring a cool little car running a classic motorcycle motor..
Or in the words of the great Wayne Gretzky, “You miss 100% of the shots you DON’T take”!
The mechanics I work with say the same! … I used to buy old Bugeye carcasses and strip them for parts to sell thru Hemmings. It was a blast – I met the nicest people! If I decided I didn’t want the parts at some point, I could go that route.
“ I used to buy old Bugeye carcasses..” so, Michelle, that would then actually make you an automotive entomologist, right? 😆
Like what was said before-there’re those who just buy stuff fixed up, and then there’s those who buy it and fix it up. Both appreciate what they have but when you know what makes it work you seem to feel the heartbeat more readily.
Entomologist, pathologist, coroner…. yeah, that!
As a car nut with a build project going on almost constantly, I say go for it. Been doing Bugeyes since1989 and presently have the parts off a least 8 Spridgets like 3 sets of doors, hoods, suspensions, etc. but thanks to a hurricane I’m down to only to 7 engines. Attic’s full, back yard building is full, and cabinets in the shop are overflowing with small parts. Not being the only car nut doing this I think you should set an example and scarf up as much extra stuff as you can. All that for 4 Bugeys, two square bodies, and two Lotus Europas. They just keep coming on.
Sure, but build one from the two and then use any leftover parts for your other project. I had a 1959 4 wheeler with the twin but other projects took priority. I saw this last night as one of my saved searches on eBay motors is for Berkeley. So you might want to buy them before somebody else does. Because when they’re gone…
Absolutely, get them, NOW! The secret to the classic car hobby, or used to be, was get as many parts cars as you can. I had 4 Packards at one time. Unless you have a machine shop, that not many have, what’s to discuss?
Seems to me that every sign that every magical and mysterious power in the universe is telling you to do it…
If you don’t buy them and then need a part you could suffer Not-a-Buyer’s Remorse.
Currently you suffer Fear-of-Missing-Out.
Do you have room to store them? Stack them? Hanging light fixtures?
Projects attract parts vehicles via some invisible, sentient power.
My brother’s 3100 drew two broken trucks to his barn. Unbidden, free. My 550 attracted a bike, a sidecar and a motor before I got help.
It cannot be chance that put these near you.
This is kismet.
But don’t overpay. Good luck.
this is as far as i will go as devil’s advocate…
michelle, are there any parts that you can see that you truly need for yours? even just one? if no then sit back and watch the auction.
now as howard A. and the rest have said… do it. yes you can be the hoarder and you already have demonstrated the ability to sell off the hoard later.
Buy them!
Michelle- many moons ago (12?) we bought my kid a hard tonneau cover for his one owner 95 F250 extended cab, 8 foot bed, 7.3 4×4, off of S.E. 172nd, which runs from Foster to HWY 212. Across the street (west side) was this BIG barn or outbuilding & nothing but farm land. The guy thought there was classic cars in there. I dunno, probably long gone by now.
If you know enough to ask the question, surely you know the answer. As bad as these “cars” look, they are surely much worse, something I have said before. The GRP looks like it is pretty much gone in terms of degradation. Clearly they have been outside for the majority of their derelict lives.
“It looked like a tiny Cobra.”
Man, I have to really squint super-hard to see that! You must be really hooked.
Did you ever hear of the now-defunct Front-Drive Museum in nearby Brighton, Colorado?
Starting bid has been lowered to $800. Wait a bit to see what the seller does. They may take an offer for them as they seem to want rid of them.
as a self described Berkeley addict RUN there is nothing left of value here (perhaps the id badges if they have a title?)
I currently have 5 of these and the most parts in the world. I ship parts all over the globe every month and even Im not interested in these
Why are you asking Barn Finds? I thought that’s what wives or girl friends were for. (Having neither, auto/motorcycle insanity ran both off long ago)
Ok, I’ll ask: Is Michelle Rand a girl or a boy? The name sounds like a girl, but the automotive knowledge seems that he’s a boy. In any event, the spouse may play a part in dragging two more project cars into the backyard.
I really enjoy the perspective that Michelle brings to describing classic cars. Somehow even with the most common cars, that have been written about ad nauseam Michelle manages to find something fresh to add to the conversation. I didn’t realise that classic car knowledge was the sole domain of the XY chromosome. But if you absolutely have to know look up Alfa bits magazine January 2014
Aw, thanks! You described my goal exactly – find something new to say about a car we’ve all seen several times before.
Ha ha, girl. But not Girly. In real life I run a business but I have been taking cars apart – often to no good effect – since I was 21.
I’d say go for it. At least start the bidding. Though you may have just invited competition…maybe a self imposed hurdle so you can justify not to bid…?
The B95 would be my pick….with a proper (four stroke) engine.
I am restoring a ’59 with an Excelsior 3. I watched these race in the early 60s and have had a yen to restore one for many years.
You will kick yourself 6 months from now if you don’t
I was in Hood River, Oregon a few years ago and watched as yet another Berkeley was extracted from a barn where it had obviously languished for decades. I believe Oregon is truly the happy hunting ground for old weird and even significant imported cars. I once found the Bentley S1 Radford countryman prototype in a warehouse on Marine Drive, I found a ’34 Bentley boat tail roadster being used as a chicken coop in Grants Pass and a 392 Hemi powered Victress kit car in Independence, Oregon which matched the Chevy 409 powered one I found in Portland. But back to your question – yes, buy the Berkeleys – you can make bird feeders out of them if nothing else!
A Bentley boat tail roadster being used as a chicken coop?? You’ve got my attention..
Loooong story but the car had quite a history involving W.O. Bentley himself, Spanish Dictator Franco, the 1936 LeMans race, Capt. Eddie Hall, a religious cult in southern Oregon, the late actor Alan Smythe, and more. The car still exists, I think it is still in San Diego or Escondido.
Michelle,
You have a Berkeley, so you know what they are. You also know the parts can be a bit pricy. You also have a farm, and that suggests you have a place to stick ’em. And they are an easy local transport.
The biggest reason for buying them is this: If you walk away from them now, within a year you will need at least one rare part on these cars.
Were you the one who paid $800 for both cars?