• Where are Paul and Donna
  • Where are Paul and Donna

1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of Journey

This is a story of a 1958 Berkeley SE 328. It belonged to my father-in-law who gave it to our daughter. Now dad (me) will be getting it running and back on the road. I thought that FindPenguins would be an easy tool to use to document the process. Baca lagi
  • Permulaan perjalanan
    12 Mac 2026

    Road Trip: Lafayette, IN to East Windsor, CT

    8 Mac, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    Today we loaded up the Berkeley into a U-Haul (6x12) and headed from Keara & Eli's home to bring the car to my home shop. Donna & I took our time - two days - the travel trip was pretty clear sailing all the way. We stopped in DuBois, PA for the night - and made it home by 4:00PM on Monday. We unloaded the car - and returned the trailer to U-Haul.

    We had been travelling for 17 days - happy to be home. Just in time to Spring forward into Spring. The 2 feet of snow we escaped was melted. Our dirt driveway is a mud pit (normal for this time of year).

    Now the journey begins to get the car looking good and running great.
    Baca lagi

  • All you need is Fuel, Air, and Spark

    11 Mac, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    Yes, that's all you need to get a car to go Vroom. The fuel in the tank has been in there for years, most likely decades.

    Today, Day 2, I pulled the gas tank, filled it with denatured alcohol, and nuts to rattle around inside.

    I let it set overnight, then took it the next day to the car wash and power-washed the heck out of it until the water was coming out clear.

    Then it took a day to get it all dry. Bought some fuel filters and mixed up a fresh batch of 2-stroke fuel. 20:1 is the ratio the Kohler manual recommends.

    The dirt on my finger is from the bottom of the gas tank. It took a couple of days but the inside of the tank came out surprisingly well.
    Baca lagi

  • She shined up nicely.

    12 Mac, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☁️ 39 °F

    The best type of friends to have are those who you buy them breakfast and they give you a morning to help you detail your car - or in the this case your daughter's car.

    A shout out to my good friend, fellow Corvette buddy, and we have done many projects over the years - Thank you Ken Nelson.

    We washed it - Then clay barred it - Then buffed it with a mild paint correction paste, then added a coat of polish.

    The paint is an old school single coat enamel, no multi-layer with clear coat. It is very chipped. Most likely will get some touch up paint to hit the chip spots. Let's get it her running and stopping before we even think about a paint job.

    Right now, she is a decent 20 footer survivor car. And with the wash, clay bar, buff, and wax she is pretty shinny.

    What do you think? How does she look?
    Baca lagi

  • She's Alive!

    13 Mac, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

    A big thank you to a new friend, Chris Beckwith. Chris is a member of the Berkeley Car Facebook group, when I first posted about bring this car to Connecticut, he offered to come up to my place and check it out and help me get her started.

    She BEEPS!

    She LIGHTS UP!

    She WINKS on the RIGHT and the LEFT!

    We spent about three hours - trying to get spark - Duh! I forget to reconnect one of the wire.

    And then - VROOM! She's ALIVE!

    I have attached a bunch of assorted photos I took so I don't lose them.

    Because of other commitments - I cleaned up the shop - and gave my wife her parking spot back.

    But, there will be more to this story - stay tuned!
    Baca lagi

  • Shinny Hub Caps

    20 Mac, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    This car is 68 years old, and getting the hub caps to shine is a challenge. I used California Custom Aluminum Deoxidizer as the first coat - and then - Mothers' Mag & Aluminum Polish to get them to shine. I did two applications of the Mothers' polish and lots of micro-fibers.

    They will never look like new, but they do have a nice shine and give the car the little boost that it needs.

    Some days in the shop are mechanical - other days are a bit of spit & shine. Today was one of those days.
    Baca lagi