Coldplugs.com - Sports cars in the fifties and sixties

New England Sports Car Racing at Thompson and Lime Rock, A Lotus Eleven Le Mans team car, an OSCA, and more....

History of Berkeley sports cars in the US

Dealer material, racing, owner stories, and obscure technical references

   >>>>>>>>Clicking the picture in the upper right of a page generally returns you to an index page.
Comments, corrections, additions are welcome - please click here to e-mail me.
Thanks to all who have commented, corrected, and contributed - John Coelho

What's new?

June 2009

The old notebook computer I use for the site finally packed it in and it took a while to reconstruct everything. Fortunately the backups were all good and no data was lost. I've been slow applying updates - here's what's happening, courtesy to Thomas Lück. I'll try to get back to work soon.

 

April 2009

Updated the Berkeley US car list again.

March 2009

On the first weekend in June there will be a observance of the 50th anniversary of the Lake Garnett (Kansas) Sports car races. (At least two Berkeleys raced at Garnett; Guy McMurray from Midwest City, OK in 1960 and Dr. Rita Wetzel in 62, 63, and 64.) This looks like an interesting event  - click here to see the organizer's press release with more information.

Caption updates in the Thompson and Lime Rock sections. New mystery car in the Help Wanted / Research section. New photos in the Thompson section.

Added photos of the ongoing restoration of the Berkeley raced by Milton Schaefer.

February 2009

I have 200 or so possible updates in the queue and am prioritizing etc. With luck I can find the time to start updating this site again. Lots going on in my personal life - all good - so time isn't as easy to find these days. Sorry to everyone who has sent material and not yet seen it here.

Updated Berkeley owner's list.

August

We visited the Thompson Historical Society to see their interesting exhibit on racing in Thompson. Although my primary interest was sports cars racing, the photos of midgets in the early days were fascinating and, I suspect, rare. We also visited the site of the "sports car" section of the track and seeing the place again after all these years was terrific. (Please note that this is private land and that owner approval should be obtained before entering the site).

Added some photos to the Racing section for Thompson, Lime Rock, and "Others".

Updated the Berkeley owners list and added a photo or two.

July

The Thompson Historical Society is featuring Racing In Thompson at the Ellen Larned Memorial Museum on 2 August at 10am.  This will include an exhibit covering Thompson Raceway as covered on this site and the Speedway which is still used for stock car racing. See their web site for more information.

Added an interesting DB to the "Help Wanted" section and changed a few captions.

 

 Racing in New England - Organized by track. Currently Thompson, Lime Rock, and "Others". Mostly period photos, some good, some not so good. (25 March 2009)
 

Our cars whole and in part, lots of other cars. There are sure to be some surprises.Old Pics - Our used cars, parts, boats,  planes, two dealerships, a girl, 2 NY International Car Shows, and more.  Original basis for this site. All period photos. (5 March  2007)
 

Resources for the Berkeley crowdBerkeley! - Berkeleys in America. Our history project. 15 April 2009)

 

Unusual and humorous (4 November 2007)

 

Have you seen this car?Help Wanted - You have answers? We have questions (16 March 2009)

 

Picture of the  month quarter, some new, some recycled - Indulge me (17 February 2008)

 


 Links and Credits 5 February 2008

 

Coldplugs in the news (4 February 2007)

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 Jim - not too much longer. Hi Karen!