1962 Rochdale Olympic

I agree, it looks like a widened rochdale olympic

Scorpio V6? Whoah! Plans sound good. Is the K series the V6 or 1.8 VVC? Look forward to the build thread.

Wow, I missed this. Love it. Always thought these were well cool.

Hi Guys,
Glad some of you are liking it. I will put a proper build thread together when I have more time. Here are some photos of the bodywork changes in a vague chronological order. Firstly, I take no credit for any of the work, I have the cash - and some headscratchingly crazy ideas - the skills belong to Keith Hamer of Scholar Racing 96. Keith is THE expert on these cars and luckily for me is not afraid of modifying the original.
This is the car stripped of everything. The car looks like a shell separated from its chassis but there is no separate chassis. These cars are a monocoque a la Lotus Elite (or canoe as my dad likes to tease).

This picture shows the somewhat shocking result of me ordering lovely 16" Image deep dish split rim alloys, and Keith fitting BMW E30 axle. We're gonna need a bigger boat!

I had wanted to widen the arches to a certain extent but this really set the ball rolling for some serious body mods. We wanted to blend the extra width in with the original shape as much as possible, while adding a little more muscle to the body. This is the car with the mods being mocked up



This really tested Keith's patience as getting the curves right was quite a challenge - and I am pretty fussy! A lot of matting and resin was used and Keith was high from the fumes for months!



This shot also shows the custom sub frame that Keith made from scratch. This has been bonded into the body and is a work of real dedication and engineering expertise.
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Alongside the work to the exterior, a lot of work has gone into the interior. I want to keep the car v. light so want a minimal interior. I have a set of red leather Lotus Elise seats to go in. I spent a fortune on some bespoke magnolia Smith dials to my own design (I will take some photos!). These were made by Speedy Cables who were brilliant. They did loads of designs for me and charged no extra on top of their standard service.
The dash design is very simple with the gauges mounted within the curve of the dash. A wooden Moto Lita wheel and minimal switches and gauges. I have taken the Porsche 356 as the inspiration for the dash.
There will be a lightweight wool covering for the floor (not really carpet) and a lot of bare painted surfaces. This means that a lot of work has t go into sanding the interior to a very smooth finish.
I painted the entire interior with LizardSkin which is a US made sound and heat insulation material, popular with hot rodders. This means less weight than traditional sound deadining but with the same effect, it can also be sanded very easily down to an excellent basis for paint.



Keith has now completed the painting of the interior, under bonnet area but I have not been up to see it yet (the car is 200 miles away!).
Here are some pictures of the car with the bodywork further progressed. Ignore the poor finish to the drivers side wheelarch, this was not completed at the time. The lower frontal panel is still due some thought also.



Love this shot (poor quality though) as I think froma distance it really shows how compact and well resolved the body mods are -

These photos are quite old now and I will get more done on my next visit.
Hope you like so far. If you don't like it, don't be rude, I am far too sensitive
...oh, and yes, we are going to put doors on it!
Cheers

That looks fabulous! I heart it!

Awesome project. Its great that you're so honest about paying somebody to do the work. I love building cars, but if I had the cash i'd pay somebody to do it every time.

Matt

Knew nowt about these cars, now I do. Just brilliant

Thanks for the positive comments guys, glad other people 'get it'.
Engine plans are finalised too.....so Engine -
In the course of me owning it, it has always been set up for a K series engine out of Rover/MG/Lotus (depending on how honest you want to be that it is an engine 1st seen in a Metro).
Choice seemed logical, largely because of the lightweight compact design.
First, I bought a stadard 1800 K series out of an MGF, decided after a while that the car would merely be 'nippy' with that. Got rid of that one when I got hold of a 1.6 K series on throttle bodies, mated up to a BGH Rocket Type 9 box. That was dynoed at 171bhp and that seemed a better plan. This came out of a Syla Stryker hillclimber. Then, time went on, 250bhp hot hatches became common and I thought....mmm, I need more POWER!!
Found a bloke converting his Exige to Honda Type R power, he was getting shot a very special K series.
1.9 block by Scholar Engines, VHPD head and throttle bodies etc. Dyno graph to prove 248bhp and healthy torque. So, did a deal with Keith on my previous K (he will use for another project) and bought the Exige unit. Using the same Type 9 box, Emerald ECU, carbon airbox, oil cooler.
Battery relocated to boot.
BMW E30 LSD should provide a bit of fun.
In all this time, with 3 different engines, not even turned a wheel.
Still, no idea on how this will drive, never even driven a standard car but to be honest, this will bear no comparison.
Keith and I are often talking about what the car will weigh, I will be happy with 750kgs, should give a nice power to weigh ratio.
As suggested, best arsed cars should be a thread, I remember Retro Cars did this as a feature once.
I will get more pictures up soon of the oily bits.