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1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of Journey
  • 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. Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 12, 2026
    Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    Road Trip: Lafayette, IN to East Windsor, CT

    March 8 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    All you need is Fuel, Air, and Spark

    March 11 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 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.    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    She shined up nicely.

    March 12 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 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?    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler
    1

    She's Alive!

    March 13 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 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!    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    Shinny Hub Caps

    March 20 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 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.    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    A can of worms.

    April 23 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    I knew exactly what was going to happen when I opened up this can of worms. Once you start digging into a wiring system of any car - it's not good. It is a journey into a black hole of no return.

    But this journey needed to be done.

    So, I do not know if my father-in-law did the conversion from the original engine to the Kohler snowmobile engine. But, it appears there are three wiring systems at polay here. 1) The factory Berkeley system, 2) The Kohler snowmobile system, 3) The Tom Drause (My father-in-law's) custom wiring, and NOW 4) Paul's enhancements.

    Lots of ground wires needed reconnection. I have snipped and replaced ends to just about every connector. Also tinning the bare wires where needed. Running new wires that were once 2 or 3 wires (of different colors) sliped together. So, hopefully, this all makes sense now.

    I am adding fuse blocks under the dash, and a ground terminal block. This car is 99% fiberglass so you have to run a ground circuit as well.    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    Added. little bit of Spring to the Berkeley

    May 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    From day 1, for the past many years I knew that the throttle pedal was broken. It would not return to the up position when stepped on. When my friend John Bubela came over he quickly saw the solution; instead of a wonky spring under the dash at the gas pedal - he told me to add a compression spring at the firewall mechanism. Problem solved! It looks factory!Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    Getting the fuel connections right

    May 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    A couple of extra clamps never hurt on fuel lines. The new fuel filter is installed. Next I need to put the gas tank back into the car. So, the steps and the milestones are small - but I will take the forward progress.

    Because I know I will drop the same bolt 100 times into a place that is hard to get. Or need a different thread nut that I don't have in inventory, which means 30 minute round trip to the hardware store. Why do the easy tasks always take the longest?    Read more

  • Where are Paul and Donna1958 Berkeley SE 328 - A Different type of JourneyTraveler

    Berkeley's Never had fuses or relays

    May 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    So, wanting to do things right, since I had to rewire a lot of the spaghetti wiring I am adding fuses boxes and relays. I have never really understood how relay circuits work. I do now, since the Berkeley is a very simple wiring diagram it was easy to work with ChatGPT and learn how to put this all together.

    My father-in-law had added a fuel pump, but it was not wired to anything yet. Som, this prompted the idea of the relay block. Then I switched the fog lights and the headlighs to the relay.

    I think it looks great.    Read more