Owning a Berkeley]
Graham Higgs, Worcester Until 2000 I was just into classic bikes – then on a rally, my wife had a run in a T60 Special. She loved it, so I bought her a T60. It was a wreck, so I gave it a ground-up rebuild. It’s now our regular runabout and occasionally tackles hillclimbs.
I then bought a B105 for myself. It had been in bits for 35 years and lost most of the rare parts. It’s now raced and rallied. Next came an SE492, bought in three big bits with a wheelbarrow and several boxes of parts. I rebuilt it over 12 months to run in the 2008 Liège-brescia-liège Rally – nearly 3000 miles down to Italy and Slovenia and back, no problems,
After that I had the chance to buy the 1957 London Motor Show SE492 Coupé deluxe, a unique car that was retained by the factory then stored from 1961 until I found it and restored it to motor-show condition. My latest Berkeley is the SE492 you see here, bought in a shocking state with a Triumph 650 engine fitted. I’m getting it ready for Liège-brescia-liège 2018.
Why do I do it? It’s interesting attempting to replicate the different methods and skills lost over time, from woodwork to electronics, upholstery to welding – it’s all good fun!
Ray Bell, Redhill, Surrey In the early Seventies my elder brother bought a scruffy T60, crashed and rebuilt it. To me, it looked the embodiment of speed and style. One Saturday his mate turned up in his B95 – a terrifying apparatus, lurching on its suspension as the vibrations of the engine sent hot oil and smoke spewing from every joint. It exuded raw energy.
At 19 I bought a T60 project with a Mini front subframe, but sold it a year later without completing it. In middle age, I bought a very smart B105. Gradually I learned to appreciate its curious character – half sports car, half motorbike. It’s designed for going as quickly as possible using the minimum means, and totally engages the driver’s attention.
In 15 years I’ve rolled the car and repaired it, rebuilt the engine several times, replaced a driveshaft outside an Italian hotel on the 2008 Liège-brescia-liège Rally and at some point undone just about every nut and bolt. Lightweight, compact and simple enough to rebuild with a basic toolkit, it really is a brilliantly inventive assembly of rudimentary technology.
Colin Pears, Leicestershire In 1988 I was 24, newly married and only had a motorcycle licence. When I went to view a T60 hardtop covered in a tarpaulin, my wife’s comment was something like ‘You brought me all this way to see that heap?’ But I could see the car was complete, hadn’t been bodged and simply needed restoring. We bought it to restore.
I then bought another T60 to drive, a red soft-top that was taxed and tested. We had great fun but it needed regular attention and was taking my time away from the rebuild. So I bought a converted T60 soft-top on a ladder frame with a Mini engine. It proved to be the most unreliable and unsafe car we ever owned, culminating in a near-fatal accident in 1989.
After that episode I decided to stick to standard cars. Frankie, the hardtop T60, was finished in 1990 and has been on the road ever since. I restored it in an unpowered garage and it was sprayed by a couple of great guys in the RAF military spraybooth one weekend. It should have been red with a white roof, but I wanted a BRG car.
The restoration cost £2000, a lot of money then for a Berkeley but I had no intention of selling it and it’s turned into quite an investment, giving me much pleasure over the years.