Ever since my brothers started to enter sports car racing I had the urge to do the same. After college and a marriage to the greatest gal in the world plus a new baby, sports cars were not in my future.
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| John Aibel (far right) with his wife Susan (2nd from the right) and friends c. 1964 |
That was until Fred uncovered a Berkeley that was dirt cheap. There was no engine in the engine bay, but there were boxes of engine parts. The key word here was CHEAP. I bought it all!
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| Not John's actual car, but you get the picture! 1958 Berkeley |
I rented a garage in our rented garden apartment, and brought the Berkeley to our new home. Working with the light of a Coleman lantern I started in on the new acquisition.
Fred and I located a new 328 cc engine for it. I was able to put this together with the transmission and drive train of the 492cc the car originally had. To my amazement the engine started right up, with blue smoke billowing out the tail pipe. It was a two stroke cycle engine, like an outboard motor, so this was to be expected. Next I had to adjust the multiple disk clutches just right. It took me a while to figure out how this motorcycle type clutch worked.
I registered the Berkeley for the road, and proceeded to learn how to drive a progressive transmission car. The engine and transmission were motorcycle sourced and the gear lever moved from first gear to fourth gear in a straight line, not in an H pattern. With all of about 28 horsepower, I was able to detect the slightest upgrade in an apparently level road.
One day driving in the city of Passaic, New Jersey, I had to stop at a red light. As I was stopping the engine sort of coughed, but kept running. When the light turned green I naturally put it into first gear and released the clutch. To my surprise the Berkeley went backward! I immediately put the lever into reverse and eased off going forward across the intersection. A two cycle engine will run just as well in either direction, and obviously that was what happened that day!
I took the Berkeley up to Lime Rock Park, CT for a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) driving school. I must hold the record for the slowest lap of the circuit! It was so slow that the club would not issue me a competition license. I do not blame them at all.
At this event I met a fellow who seemed to be a Berkeley guru. He had factory tools and owned a beautiful restored 492 Berkeley. He told me to bring my car over to his shop and he would put in a center cylinder to increase my engine from a two into a three cylinder engine.
This unique engine has a built up crank, so he separated the crank installed an additional throw and crankcase and center cylinder. This cylinder did not have any cooling fins on the two sides that were adjacent to the two outside cylinders. This causes this cylinder to run much hotter than the outboard ones.
In the boxes of parts there were at least two sets of cylinder heads. One set appeared stock and the other ones were milled down for a higher compression ratio. I specified to this mechanic that I wanted him to use the standard heads.
The day I picked up the car the mechanic told me I had a real Hot Rod of a Berkeley. He proceeded to spin the car around in its own length gunning the engine to spin the front wheels. Wow, now I could get my competiton license!
Off to Lime Rock again. I sure had a lot of power until - “Ka Boom” - the engine blew up!
Yes, the Berkeley "guru" had installed the milled heads and the middle piston had a big hole in it.
I never did get my SCCA license.
Back at the mechanics shop I had to work with a flashlight out in back of the shop to install a new piston. I put on the stock heads and sold my nightmare to the mechanic. As far as I know he still owns her.
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