How Daryl Beesley got his start.

My childhood was in the 60’s and mine was a little different than most of my friends. We all played together, but while other kids were learning to play baseball with their father’s, mine was teaching how to read blue prints and run machinery. May be if the other kids had drill presses and a turret lathe in the basement their live would like mine. You see, when my grandfather retired Beesley Machine, he let his sons split up the equipment. I think from the time I could reach the switch I was running that turret lathe.

Growing up we did not have much money, but we did seem to have a lot of materials lying around. So when my buddy’s got out their new toy guns to play army I would have to cobble something together. A piece of phennoelic tube for the body, some wood for handles, a small piece of pipe for the barrel, a hose clamp and some screws and my machine gun was ready for the battle.

I did not have a tricycle either, but that did not stop me. I found one that a neighbor ran over with the car. So I took it apart, flipped the frame over, found a new front wheel and a plastic seat that was from a like a small dinning set. When I was done I had my tricycle. It looked a lot like a big wheel, but they did not come out for at another 10 years.

Here we go again. When I was about 11, my buddy’s all got minibikes. If I was going to go riding with them, I would have to come up with something. There was my older brother’s bicycle (the Mattel Stallion) and miscellaneous other parts. I envisioned a Mini-Chopper that got my dad to help me build. In a few weeks I was riding a custom all chrome hard tail mini-bike with extended forks, a 16” skinny spoked front wheel, a fat 12” tall rear, powered by a 5 horse all aluminum 2 cycle. Several years latter you could buy something similar, but they were never as cool.

As far back as I can remember I was taking thing apart and creating something new out of the leftover parts.

In 1971, I was 15; I got his first real job at the same machine shop my father worked. The owner was retiring and I was brought in for the summer to help get the all the final jobs out. Since, I have held positions as a machinist, shop forman, design engineer (mechanical and electrical), programmer (MRP, engineer calc, machine controls), engineering manager and business owner.

More to follow.