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Hi all, new member of the forum.
I'm currently building a Burlington Arrow. It came to me as a Berretta, but without the fancy wings, so Arrow it is.
I used to run Burlington Motor Spares in 1984. Sold my first one to a chap I kept in touch with, but this one came up for a donation to British Heart Foundation. It was advertised as a chassis, but turned out to be almost the whole car, Spitfire +.020 rebuilt engine, overdrive box, all new joints, nuts, bolts and even varnished new plywood panels, so just needs a clean up and paint before putting back together.
It seems a shame there's very little about Burlingtons on the 'net, despite hundreds being built.
I particularly would be interested in which suspension set ups people use to get height, ride, handling right.
I don't have a Burlington but I remember them from the days I was a member of the TSSC. I had a Marlin Roadster in those days. Some were fantastic but equally, some were absolutely awful. Of course it very much depended on the builder, on their skill, budget, and what they considered beautiful!
With a resurgence in the interest of re-bodying (avoiding the SVA), I'm surprised nobody offers a traditional style roadster.
Robin,
considering that Haydn Davies still sells the plans on a DVD, it is surprising that there aren't more Burlingtons about being built.
One problem might be that I don't think anyone makes the GRP bits any more as far as I know.
And for SSs that's much more important as the SS was sold as a ply/GRP tub to which ally and GRP panels were attached.
Similarly, the lovely Berretta with flowing wings is not provided for, although the chap who used to make the parts (Roundel Mouldings) still has the Berretta moulds and is prepared to make some parts for a reasonable price. My own Arrow is in fact a Berretta, but without those parts, hence my building it as an Arrow to save costs.
I used to have one which I built over a period of 10 years. Originally based on a 1200 Herald but ended up with Vitesse power and GT6 overdrive gearbox and diff. Great car to drive but a bit over-powered and under-braked. Sold it few years ago as I lost my storage and wasn't using it. It was replaced with a 718RSK which has also gone and I now have a Bonito and another 718 being built.