Rochdale Olympic Ph2: BNC 849B.

The car was originally fitted with a 1.5 litre BMC diesel engine from new - a strange choice - but this had been removed before it came to me. It came as a bare shell, with only a decrepit front suspension present, and even the dashboard was absent.

As it was in such a poor state I decided to avoid all metal in its reconstruction. To this end I constructed a new rear section to take a DeDion suspension based on Ford Sierra parts, although I retained the original trailing arm mounting points.

I cut out a section of the rear floor to bond the newly made rear moulding into.

The rear suspension is a fabricated DeDion axle which uses the original Olympic Ph2 mounting point.

I did a similar thing at the front, where the chassis was reconstructed to take the front suspension directly. This used upper wishbones and lower track control arms with tiebars. The uprights were modified Ford Sierra units.

Keeping with Ford components, the engine was a 2 litre Zetec mated to a Type 9 box from a Granada and the gearlever extension was shortened to bring the lever to a comfortable position. Seen here in its finished form prior to painting.