| Berkeley
Cars Limited of Biggleswade,
Bedfordshire, England produced small three and
four wheeled cars between 1956 and 1960. Most of
these vehicles used motorcycle-derived engines
from 322cc to 692cc and were front wheel drive. The
novel sportscar designs by Lawrie Bond were
produced in the Berkeley Coachworks factory owned
by Charles Panter, which at the time was one of
the largest manufacturers of caravans in Europe.
It was an ideal project for Berkeley, who had
developed considerable skills in the use of Glass
Reinforced Plastic, and were looking for
something to fill the gaps in the very seasonal
caravan market.
Laurie
Bond's design consisted of three large mouldings
(floor or 'punt', nose, tail) with no
conventional chassis. Production began with 3
prototypes, which were seen being tested with
enthusiasm around the neighborhood of Biggleswade
in the late summer of 1956. Berkeley carried on
their motorcyle engined cars until 1960, when
with increasing competition in the small sports
car market especially from cars such as the
Austin Healey Sprite, Berkeley decided to produce
a totally new car.
The
Berkeley Bandit was launched at the 1960 Motor
show. It was designed by John Tojeiro and used
the mechanicals and 997cc engine from the Ford
Anglia
105E. The car had a combination steel and
aluminium chassis with the usual Berkeley
fibreglass body. Unusually for a Berkeley the
drive was to the rear wheels, and the suspension
at the rear was through a swing axle layout with
coil-over-shock absorbers acting directly on the
rear hubs. This was achieved by modifying the
Ford rear axle to provide two short drive shafts
connecting through a pair of universal joints
giving full movement of the wheels whilst the
differential could be held stationary. The
car had disk brakes at the front and drums at the
back.
Only
two prototypes were produced; the original Motor
Show and press car, with registration number
700CNM has since been restored, whilst the second
prototype car registered YRX292, was last seen in
Swindon in the late 1960’s. The car was to
have sold for £798.
Unfortunately the
caravans market collapsed towards the end of
1960, and Berkeley's slumping sales forced the
company into liquidation. The company went
officially bankrupt in February 1961 and was
wound up
| |
Berkeley
Bandit |
| Production |
1960:
2 Built |
| Bodystyle |
Two-seater sports |
| Engine |
997cc Ford
105E |
| Engine position |
Front |
| Driven wheels |
Rear |
Only 2 Berkeley Bandit models were produced
before the Company was wound up.
(Article Copyright © MellY
Designs - Please do not Reproduce without
Permission)
|
