As with all our restorations the first job is to strip the car down to a bare shell and repair as necessary. this always involves removing the (often many coats) of paint to reveal the condition of the body below. Once all the paint is removed we repair the shell, this process also involves re-instating all the bulkheads etc. at this point we also make any modifications which may be needed to fit none standard components such as the engine, gearbox, or different wheels. This restoration has involved once again some radical thinking as the owner wants to fit a fairly lively 1900cc twin cam 'K' series which is to be modified to produce some 250 BHP.

One of my concerns when I learned of Alistair's plan to have this kind of power available (some 400 BHP per ton) was whether the standard 40 year old suspension could cope, the answer came from our race car projects which are BMW based. To this end we have fitted the Olympic shell with the necessary brackets to allow the use of BMW '3' series running gear both front end rear. This immediately gives us a very robust set-up which has as standard discs all round, independent rear suspension, and dependent on the donor used a limited slip differential which could be handy in planting the available power onto the road.

As you can see from the picture on the left we have made some progress on fitting the 16" rims to this car. The biggest problem has been to make enough space for the wide front wheels to turn under the wheel arches, to enable this to happen we have had to take 4" out of the front track and modify the front light pods. Now the interesting part of body modification can take place.

Many hours of what can only be described as fibreglass sculpture have produced the new wheel arches for this car, it is now undergoing the final stages of paint preparation before being finished in BMW silver metallic.

The interior treatment of this car has also involved some radical surgery as the design decided upon by our customer is a long way away from the standard Rochdale Olympic.

The engine bay has also been given a 'clean up' and we feel it is now a fitting accompaniment to the new engine.

We are very pleased with the results and have no doubt that it will stand the test of time just as the original has.

 

We have been working feverishly to make this project come to life, we are now at the final stages so it is time to unveil the (almost) finished product before it is shipped off to its owner.