Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Twosheds
Darth Vader
Offline
-
Hey there Guest!
If you enjoy BCF and find our forum a useful resource, if you appreciate not having ads pop up all over the place and you want to ensure we can stay online - Please consider supporting with an "optional" low-cost annual subscription.**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this UGLY banner)
Rochdale
- Thread starter Twosheds
- Start date
Share this page
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
Re: Rochedale
Nice. I must have missed this one when I was there.
Looks like English Ford Anglia/Popular wheels.
Nice. I must have missed this one when I was there.
Looks like English Ford Anglia/Popular wheels.
aeronca65t
Great Pumpkin
Offline
Re: Rochedale
OK, yeah....I didn't get to the Jeff 500 until '06 or so.
I just saw the photos on Facebook. Simple, durable suspension design but probably lots of camber change.
OK, yeah....I didn't get to the Jeff 500 until '06 or so.
I just saw the photos on Facebook. Simple, durable suspension design but probably lots of camber change.
duffy
Senior Member
Offline
Re: Rochedale
Hi All,
from the Rochdale freak
The item below was recently placed in the guest book on our website :-
I have just purchased the GT as seen on the home page of your website - www.rochdale-owners-club.co.uk/
green with yellow stripe DAS 910. Fran, the previous owner planned to vintage race with it, but had continuing poor luck with the car eg. smoking electrics, occasional no start(fuel), bonnet flew up smashing windscreen and damaging the bodywork, etc... he just lost interest. I manage a restoration/repair shop and we were looking for an unusual candidate for a vintage race project. Now we have one. Just about everyone in the shop is excited about it.
Jim Booth, Pennsylvania, USA.
And below I have reprinted the details of The Rochdale GT
The GT was the most popular Rochdale of all, selling around 1350 units. It came about in part because Harry Smith's wife wanted a proper car, with a roof and seats for the children. With the help of a local lad, Richard Parker, Harry and Frank set about designing the GT. They took the F-type bodyshell, added a roof and modified the styling to suit it.
The GT bore a striking resemblance to the E-type Jaguar launched four years later, despite its smaller proportions. The body was more practical than the ST as it was stiff enough to be used on an unboxed chassis. It came complete with a fitted curved windscreen and opening windows and quarterlights (using the tops of Morris Minor doors); these were quality features rare in kit cars at the time. The inner wheelarches, bulkhead and part floor sections like the ST were bonded in, while the integral dashboard featured a centre panel which would take Ford instruments with glove pockets either side. The bodyshell was specifically aimed at the plentiful supply of knackered Ford 8 and Popular cars on the market in the late 1950s, and even came with tubular steel 'legs' so that it could be lowered over a Ford chassis, holes drilled and bolts inserted, then the 'legs' cut off and the car driven away.
The shell with doors, all windows and bonnet ready fitted was sold for ÂŁ140. The GT hit the market at the right time: it looked good, had space for small rear seats and was easy to fit. It wasn't long before Harry and Frank had to take on extra staff to cope with the demand and to make extra moulds.
The GT merited proper features in Motor and Autosport magazines at the time: both were most impressed. Autosport reported that shells were constructed of chopped strand mat and resin incorporating a dye, with thickness varying between 1/8 and 1/4 inch depending upon the different points of stress. A body took one week to complete, with no forced drying process; in fact on sunny days the bodies were lined up in the road outside the factory to cure.
Most GT bodies found their way onto Ford chassis, though a number of more unusual cars were created. One of the most interesting was a Cooper Mark IV chassis with a supercharged Ford 100E engine, MG TD gearbox and independent suspension all round. It claimed a performance of 0-60mph in 10secs and 112mph top speed! Other cars used the purpose-designed GTI/R chassis from Buckler; of the two surviving today, one is powered by an MGA engine. A number were also sold from January 1960 with Rochdale's own tubular steel chassis, a large diameter twin-tube unit created with its own glassfibre floorpan bonded to either GT or Riviera bodies. The lightweight chassis could be supplied with swing-axle independent front suspension, Watt linkage rear axle location and telescopic spring damper units all round.
Copyright © Malcolm McKay - Early Rochdales Registrar
Kind regards and a Happy New Year to you all
Tony and “DUFFY”
ps If anyone reading this thread has owned a Rochdale, or knows someone who has, or if you have a photograph of a Rochdale especially from the 1960s please contact me on rochdale-olympic@fsmail.net (please put rochdale in subject line.)
few photos here of Rochdales https://www.flickr.com/groups/rochdale_cars/pool/
Hi All,
from the Rochdale freak
The item below was recently placed in the guest book on our website :-
I have just purchased the GT as seen on the home page of your website - www.rochdale-owners-club.co.uk/
green with yellow stripe DAS 910. Fran, the previous owner planned to vintage race with it, but had continuing poor luck with the car eg. smoking electrics, occasional no start(fuel), bonnet flew up smashing windscreen and damaging the bodywork, etc... he just lost interest. I manage a restoration/repair shop and we were looking for an unusual candidate for a vintage race project. Now we have one. Just about everyone in the shop is excited about it.
Jim Booth, Pennsylvania, USA.
And below I have reprinted the details of The Rochdale GT
The GT was the most popular Rochdale of all, selling around 1350 units. It came about in part because Harry Smith's wife wanted a proper car, with a roof and seats for the children. With the help of a local lad, Richard Parker, Harry and Frank set about designing the GT. They took the F-type bodyshell, added a roof and modified the styling to suit it.
The GT bore a striking resemblance to the E-type Jaguar launched four years later, despite its smaller proportions. The body was more practical than the ST as it was stiff enough to be used on an unboxed chassis. It came complete with a fitted curved windscreen and opening windows and quarterlights (using the tops of Morris Minor doors); these were quality features rare in kit cars at the time. The inner wheelarches, bulkhead and part floor sections like the ST were bonded in, while the integral dashboard featured a centre panel which would take Ford instruments with glove pockets either side. The bodyshell was specifically aimed at the plentiful supply of knackered Ford 8 and Popular cars on the market in the late 1950s, and even came with tubular steel 'legs' so that it could be lowered over a Ford chassis, holes drilled and bolts inserted, then the 'legs' cut off and the car driven away.
The shell with doors, all windows and bonnet ready fitted was sold for ÂŁ140. The GT hit the market at the right time: it looked good, had space for small rear seats and was easy to fit. It wasn't long before Harry and Frank had to take on extra staff to cope with the demand and to make extra moulds.
The GT merited proper features in Motor and Autosport magazines at the time: both were most impressed. Autosport reported that shells were constructed of chopped strand mat and resin incorporating a dye, with thickness varying between 1/8 and 1/4 inch depending upon the different points of stress. A body took one week to complete, with no forced drying process; in fact on sunny days the bodies were lined up in the road outside the factory to cure.
Most GT bodies found their way onto Ford chassis, though a number of more unusual cars were created. One of the most interesting was a Cooper Mark IV chassis with a supercharged Ford 100E engine, MG TD gearbox and independent suspension all round. It claimed a performance of 0-60mph in 10secs and 112mph top speed! Other cars used the purpose-designed GTI/R chassis from Buckler; of the two surviving today, one is powered by an MGA engine. A number were also sold from January 1960 with Rochdale's own tubular steel chassis, a large diameter twin-tube unit created with its own glassfibre floorpan bonded to either GT or Riviera bodies. The lightweight chassis could be supplied with swing-axle independent front suspension, Watt linkage rear axle location and telescopic spring damper units all round.
Copyright © Malcolm McKay - Early Rochdales Registrar
Kind regards and a Happy New Year to you all
Tony and “DUFFY”
ps If anyone reading this thread has owned a Rochdale, or knows someone who has, or if you have a photograph of a Rochdale especially from the 1960s please contact me on rochdale-olympic@fsmail.net (please put rochdale in subject line.)
few photos here of Rochdales https://www.flickr.com/groups/rochdale_cars/pool/
Similar threads
| Thread starter | Title | Forum | Replies | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rochdale GT for sale on e-bay UK | Other British Cars | 0 | |
|
Rochdale Olympic on ebay | Other British Cars | 1 | |
|
Rochdale Olympic in Australia | Racing | 1 | |
| D | Rochdale Olympic on E-Bay | Other British Cars | 21 | |
|
|
Rochdale Olympic [help needed?] | Other British Cars | 43 |
Similar threads
-
-
-
-
D
-
A friendly reminder - be careful what links you click on here. If a link is posted by someone you don't know, or the URL looks fishy, DON'T CLICK. Spammers sometimes post links that lead to sites that can infect your computer, so be mindful what you click.