Rochdale Motor Panels and Engineering were beased in Rochdale, Greater Manchester between 1948 and 1973, best known for making fibre glass bodied kit cars .
In 1959 they designed the glass fibre monocoque for the Olympic the only other such monocoque at the time was the Lotus Elite. After a factory fire the car went into production in 1960.
The Olympic was designed by Richard Parker to take a variety of engines including the twin cam 1.5 litre 91.5 cui Riley, Morris Minor, MGA and Ford 109E, unusually for kit cars of the time it featured wind down door windows.
With the Riley engine the car was capable of 0-60 mph in 11.9 secs and could reach 102 mph.
It is estimated that 250 of these vehicles were built of which 100 survive.
Remarkably the Olympic flame is still kept alive by a group of enthusiasts who own the original moulds making it technically possible to build a new Rochdale Olympic.
Hope you enjoyed this Mancunian edition of Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres, don't ferget to come back now !
