Blakely Bernardi
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The Blakely Bernardi is a kit car produced in the 1980s by Blakely Auto Works (also called Bernardi Auto Works in some references) of Princeton, Wisconsin, USA. Blakely produced a number of kit car models, including the Bearcat and Bantam.
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[edit] Design and construction
The Bernardi is a neo-classic design reminiscent of the 1950s British MG TD. The chassis is front-engine, rear-wheel drive with the engine located behind the front axle. It has a two-seat cab under a removable hardtop or convertible fabric top, working doors, and detachable side curtains of fiberglass and plexiglass. In keeping with the traditional look of post-WWII British sports cars, the Bernardi's front fenders stand away from the body,and the headlights perch on stalks between the fenders and the hood. There is a functional, though fairly small, trunk in the back and a trunk-mounted external luggage rack. While the body style and proportions generally mimic the MG-TD, the Bernardi is noticeably larger in body width and has sufficient room under the hood to accommodate an American small-block V8 engine.
An overview of the build process for a Bernardi Blakely appeared in Kit Car World[1] and gives significant detail about the Bernardi's general structure and some of its construction options. The chassis is a custom-designed ladder style built of square steel tubing. The mechanical components, including suspension, engine, and transmission, could be drawn from the Ford Pinto, Mercury Bobcat, or Ford Mustang II. Based on these donor choices, the suspension is relatively unsophisticated, with a solid rear axle mounted on leaf springs. The front suspension is a somewhat sportier double-wishbone design, built from the donor car's lower A-arm and a custom upper A-arm. There were also options for using several types of engine. The smallest allowed engines included the 2 liter or 2.3 liter 4-cylinder Pinto / Bobcat engines, and the chassis was also amenable to larger engines like a 2.8 liter Ford or Chevrolet / Pontiac V6, and even the small-block Ford V8.
The car's body was built at the factory and featured an unusual form of fiberglass construction. Instead of a single layer of fiberglass, as is common in other kit cars, the Bernardi body tub (the portion between the passenger compartment and the frame or road) used a sandwich consisting of one layer of fiberglass, one of stiff plastic foam, and finally a second layer of fiberglass.[2] The result is a heavier body than usual for kit cars, but one with reputedly greater stiffness and sound absorption than the single-layer approach. The colors for the visible parts of the body were molded into the fiberglass body parts as gelcoat and the cars often appear with two-tone color schemes.
[edit] Current status
The Blakely Bernardi was expensive for its time and marketplace. The company's 1984 price list[3] listed the full set of kit parts at $US 8,495. To complete the car, the buyer would have to provide a donor car and optionally an additional engine. Blakely also offered a completed turnkey car for $US 19,900 to $US 22,900 depending on the engine choice. In 1984, driving a base-model Chevrolet Corvette off the dealer's lot cost around $US 22,000 [4] and delivered a sportier suspension, better interior comfort, and a standard V8 engine.
A kit car's value is not captured solely in the cost of the car or its components, so a comparison with the Corvette's cost may not be fair. The Bernardi competed more directly against other neo-classic sports-car kits. Although the Bernardi offered superior body quality and the authentic front-engine design of the sports cars it resembled, its construction was more complicated than that of kits based on the Volkswagen Beetle, like the Fiberfab MG-TD. These VW-based kits are much more common across the United States.Blakely Bernardis, although regularly appearing for sale at specialty dealers, do not have the high visibility of many other kit models.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Bud Lang, "Building a Bernardi", Kit Car World article reprint
- ^ Blakely Auto Works, "Product Information Guide"
- ^ Bernardi Auto Works, "Component Price List", 1984
- ^ 1984 Corvette Specifications, http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1984-corvette3.htm
