1961 Rochdale Olympic

This was on the stand of the Rochdale Owners Club at the Northern Classic Car Show in the G-Mex Centre, Manchester in August 1990.

It's a 1961 Rochdale Olympic Phase 1 which has a glass fibre monocoque body and was sold in kit form with a choice of various engines, this car having a 1,380cc BMC A Series engine.

On 28 January 2019 I showed a photograph of this car, and other Rochdale models, that I had taken at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester in 2018.

Rochdale Cars

These cars were on the stand of the Rochdale Owners Club at the Footman James Classic Car Show Manchester at EventCity in September 2018.

This is a 1956 Rochdale Type C, originally with a Ford side valve engine, but now undergoing restoration and has a Ford Kent engine. Its registration number is XUM461, but that doesn't show up on the DVLA database.

This is a 1959 Rochdale GT with a Ford 1,172cc side valve engine.

This car is a 1961 Rochdale Riviera, one of only 5 cars thought to still exist. It also has the Ford 1,172cc side valve engine.

This is a 1961 Rochdale Olympic Phase 1 which the Rochdale Owners Club's website says had a 1,380cc BMC A series engine, but the DVLA record says the car's engine capacity is 1,100cc.

This 1959 Rochdale Olympic Phase 2 also has a BMC A series engine which the DVLA record says has a capacity of 1,114cc.

Jowett Jupiter Rochdale

This is a car I photographed at the Northern Classic Car Show at G-Mex, Manchester, in August 1989.

I recorded it at the time as a 1955 Jowett Jupiter Rochdale, or in other words it's a Jowett Jupiter with a body made by Rochdale Motor Panels & Engineering, who at that time produced glass fibre bodies to fit a variety or cars - more usually Austin 7 or the Ford 10 and Popular. The car appears to have been displayed on the stand of the Rochdale Owners Club, but the brochure of the event doesn't show that club as having a stand that year. There was a stand for the Jowett Car Club Northern Section, but there's no mention in the brochure of this Rochdale-bodied car. Incidentally Jowett cars were made in Bradford, Yorkshire, and the Rochdale bodies were made (of course) in Rochdale, Lancashire, which is just over 20 miles away on the other side of the Pennines.