RUMCars Forum
General Category => Unusual Microcar Discussion => Topic started by: steven mandell on April 23, 2016, 11:52:23 AM
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The crate is 127" long by 54" wide by 47" tall, and has an "all in" wieght of 1300 lbs.
Can you guess what is in it?
Hint - box could weigh as much as contents.
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I wouldn't have a clue but I'm interested
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Cursor?
Tripod?
One of Barry's rolling chassis'?
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Here is a clue for you.
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It's summat four-wheeled?
Go on, help us out a bit more; which country does it hail from originally & what time period? :D
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Cursor?
Tripod?
One of Barry's rolling chassis'?
I would never sell a valuable British car outside of the UK Stuart.............
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I had thought the Berkeley had arrived from Alaska.
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that third ramp suggests it has an outrigger?
:-\
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I demand that this topic be withdrawn immediately ! It might be off topic , we just dont know 😀😀😀😀
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Book him, Danno!
Its a Hawaiian sidecar outfit with grass skirt ground effect seal.
Its an empty box, Customs got there first.
Its full of one legged Mexicans who have hopped it.
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It might be a huge roll of paper listing all the reasons not to buy a microcar ?
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It hailed from England in 1958, but has been in North America for the last 55 years.
No one legged Mexicans were exposed to injury by this endeavor, nor should Barry be held accountable.
Cursors and Tripods are valuable?
The point causing most confusion is the double ramp on the right. It was placed there on the insistence of my assistant. However it would not have been needed if he trusted me not to veer at all to that side during my descent. The location of the ramps flange supports on the trailer necessitated placing the right ramp either on the support or on the angle iron that is part of the trailer's frame more to the center, but not straddling both.
The track of the vehicle is barely accomodated by the original ramp mounting flanges, and the crate was loaded off center by forklift at the depot where I collected it- hence the attempt to provide some wiggle room for a planned for straight steered decent.
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Looking at the small piece of red car sticking out the front of the box and the cowl over the headlight i would say Berkeley.
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Yes, Al got the car right but the country wrong.
This car was owned by a single meticulous engineer in Quebec for fully 50 years, before I bought it from him based on his lead ad in Jim's Vintage Microcar News magazine in September of 2014.
Many problems with an unethical shipper who decided that he was no longer interested in delivering it to Los Angeles AFTER he had picked it up and moved it a couple of hundred miles, became a source of almost unmanageable complications and significant stress for the last one and a half years of my life.
Getting the Canadian Police involved in what is typically considered to be a civil matter was more helpful from afar than I have experienced in my own environs. But dealing with this stubborn unethical shipper, and several different US border agents with their own bones to pick added another year of stress and complication, and couple of thousand dollars more to my burden.
However unethical, difficult and expensive my troubled path, the shipper's crate and carefulness was apparently up to snuff. No damages were to be found from the prolonged storage that his reversal of commitment created, or shipping in the well built crate.
Although today I did find a glued back together glass tail light disc type lens. Does Richard have one to sell?
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Show us what your after Steven
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Was not French Canadian? They have the reputation of being very awkward, if they want to be. It was the car I was thinking of, but I got my wires crossed somewhere. It looked a nice car, from memory.
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Yes, a very French Canadian, but not Alaskan.
You have a very photographic memory indeed, as you apparently accurately remembered its image based on some portrait you painted in your mind from a previous description that must have mentioned by happenstance to you more than a year ago. ;)
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Its got a spare engine you wanted hasn't it. If not then perhaps there was a Alaskan Berkeley after all. But it came to nothing. Did the Goggo gent up there have any success? Sounds like you had more trouble on an 'internal' shipping than one from France, via the UK and on in. It suggest Nick might have been right not to get embroiled with the French export officials. Some nasty tales have gone round about failed importation to France. Not the same as export, of course. Not sure that Nick ever got involved in any of that, but I am sure he told me of a lost car he was aware off one Mannheim yonks ago. I have heard horror stories of stuff going into the USA too. Imposed extra fees and serious damage by agents of whom so ever customs use to search containers. Its all something of a calculated risk, but to many complex cargos go wrong, without rogue freight forwarding traders!.
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Do we actually get to see the car or just the trailer?
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is it real ?
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Quite.
Same meticulous engineer owner for 50 years, and only 10,500 miles on the clock.
Can you guess exactly what is in box # 2?
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Yes, so I will leave it to the others.
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No ! , so I will leave it to others 😀
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Is it the same as in box number C0363472?
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That is the number of the box that I am referring to.
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Here is the pichard of the taillight lens.
It is orange, and has PMG written in the central diamond.
It is only retained by the rubber surround.
Widest section is about 2 and 5/16".
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Well steven I havd none but ebay always do - pmg lens
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Lucas copy. Not sure which was original to Berkeley. But does it matter that much if the car is already so equipped. Should not be to hard to find. I think my few are all Lucas. You can obtain new bezels.
No guesses on the second box? It contains a tortoise called Toby. He is acclaimed for his ability to beat Hares, largely due to the surgical enhancement of a sealing skirt and model makers small ducted fan to fill and propel Toby forward. He steers by dropping his legs to the ground. He is the reason March went bust, as they kept loosing. He bit Stirling Moss once, he took a lichen to him. Ageing, he has become a classic, so I am sure that is why Steve bought him. He can take him walkies using the Badsey Bullet.
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Thanks for the tail light tips.
Al knows what is in the boxette that accompanied the big crate, and is clearly showing the effects that the stress of withholding his tongue has had on his brain.
In the interest of preventing further Grim sacrilage to one of Aesop's finest fables, will someone stick their neck out just a little further than the typically conservative tortise, and venture a guess at what it is?
It is practically a no brainier.
Curiously he did guess it's position behind the Badsey Bullet prototype correctly.
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Here you go..
Not cheap but looks to be correct.. but with some extra writing on http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PMG-Vintage-PT559-AMBER-Glass-Lens-1-Flat-Design-/281896911695?hash=item41a25d834f:g:f9cAAOSwnDxUiQ76
Grommet
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I think pmg could be correct originally Berkeley used other pmg lenses . On reflection if not too dear buy a pair as they vary greatly in shade
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Same meticulous engineer owner for 50 years, and only 10,500 miles on the clock.
My Bond has the same owner for 51 years and hasn't changed owner .....
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As al says almost identical to the Lucas ones and can use the same bezels , i do have some of them steven which you are welcome to at no charge - bezels that is
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Same meticulous engineer owner for 50 years, and only 10,500 miles on the clock.
My Bond has the same owner for 51 years and hasn't changed owner .....
But have you got 10,500 on the clock? More like 105,000 plus the multiple of your choice. (I think Bonds tend to go further than Berks, don't they?)
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As al says almost identical to the Lucas ones and can use the same bezels , i do have some of them steven which you are welcome to at no charge - bezels that is
Thanks Richard, I'll have a thorough look through the box of spare this weekend to see if I'll need them.
P.S. That is not my mystery box #2. ::)
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Here is a more recent photo of the mini mystery crate that no one has dared a guest at identifying yet.
What EXACTLY is it?
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don't skimp on the oil ,
(I bet its twice as good as my little Bond's ?)
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What engine is in your little Bond?
Are Bond wheel spares hard to come by?
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Is that Q for me ? 8" and not too easy and getting harder
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I have a pair of 8 inch Bond rims here. No idea why, but they were in with some other odd wheels. The Scootacar one has moved on. Some three point ones also, sadly might have been Flipper etc.
I ought to dig out the bumpers and some other bits I have for Bond. Better used than in my shed.
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Is it a triple!
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;) :D 8)
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So to recap. The Berk, if I remember correctly, is a low use triple SE492, and came with a spare engine. But for the nonsense with the freight forwarding company/agent a deal with which your very happy. More to the point it is a purchase of what many recognise as traditional, perhaps iconic, Microcar, as opposed to your predilection for the more modern French Fridges, while they are affordable. Not that this small stature limits your collection and interests. How long before your new building is full?
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It is full now. When I remove a Victorian sofa, and a couple of desks tomorrow, and shuffle the other vehicles around, I should just barely be able to get the Berkeley and Flipper inside .
However the more rustic, but thankfully not rusty Solyto, will reside in a lean to that I should be able to piece together before the next rain by simply squeezing some 5" thick by 9' long aluminum backed foam panels between the metal barn and block retaining wall that is 5 and a half feet away.
This should do until I get back on track pouring a 20' x 32' slab between my barn's present end wall, and block footing walls that I have already completed. That will allow room for a dozen fridges.
After that, it will get more expensive, but I am hopeful of creating a mezzanine loft to hold another 10 full size micros (please excuse the oxymoron) that I have laying about the house.