Triumphant return of Rochdale's annual Classic Car Show

Date published: 21 July 2022

Rochdale’s annual Classic Car Show made a triumphant return at its new venue Falinge Park on Sunday (17 July).

The Classic Car Show featured vintage, classic and collectable cars and motorcycles, stalls, music, entertainment and refreshments with all profits going to charity.

Hundreds of classic cars and motorcycles were on display at the family event, attended by around 2,000 people. Over 150 classic car owners from all over the country came to display a wide variety of cars – ranging from 1920s Bentleys to brand new Ford Mustangs.

The undoubted stars of the show, however, were the Rochdale Olympic owners club who bought their rare sports cars back to their hometown.

Back in 1948, the year of the London Olympic Games, a small company was started in Rochdale, Rochdale Motor Panels. The company produced a series of kit cars, and in 1960 the Rochdale Olympic was created. Named after the games that were held in Rome in 1960 by designer Richard Parker’s wife, Hilary, 2020 marks 60 years since the launch of the Rochdale Olympic.

Richard was later ‘poached’ by Colin Chapman, and went on to design several Lotus sports cars.

The car was developed and built by Rochdale Motor Panels in Hudson Street, following several successful years building ‘specials’: cars utilising the running gear from the Ford 8 and 10 range of cars.

The Olympic was brand new, based around an innovative, fully-stressed, glass fibre monocoque bodyshell - only the second ever to reach volume manufacture.

Calculations and durability testing had achieved a combination of light weight and strength which resulted in a car of around 12cwt in road going form, and the associated manufacturing process was patented by the Rochdale Motor Panels.

Similar attention was attached to the aerodynamics, with extensive airflow analysis enabling the styling to be optimised to achieve a drag coefficient – comparable even with those of cars being launched today.

This combination of low weight and drag contributed to a car with impressive rates of acceleration and top speed which was not bettered by other sports cars until later in the decade.

Cars could be purchased either complete or in component form - the latter to avoid the punitive levels of purchase tax that were still being applied to car sales in the post-war era, and in total, between 1960 and the mid-70s, approximately 450 were built, latterly moving into a new factory in Littledale Street.

Owing to the durability of the glass fibre construction, many of these cars have survived and their owners are supported by the Rochdale Owners Club who provide technical advice and manufacture spare parts for the marque.

A significant number of these fibreglass bodied cars are still in use today, and the Rochdale Owners Club were in pole position when the Olympic Torch visited Rochdale in the run up to the 2012 London Olympic games.

The event was organised by the Rotary Club of Rochdale and supported by the Rochdale District Freemasons. All profits will go to the Rotary Club of Rochdale President’s charities. Volunteers from around the district played vital parts during the event, from managing teams welcoming and positioning vehicles on display, staffing pay-stations for visitors and helping to clear the site at the end of the day.