Rochdale Olympic Ph1: CNM 982C.

.....

This is the Rochdale Olympic following the accident. The standard of workmanship in the restoration proved it's worth as Robert only suffered a bruised head - and this may have been after the Rochdale came to rest when he un-clipped the seatbelt and fell towards the ground!.

The roof and remaining bits of front end have been removed. The new front end will be lowered onto the shell complete with roof, which with luck will result in a fairly complete looking Rochdale Olympic.

The wheels allow the Rochdale to be pushed outside for filling and sanding. This seems to have been going on constantly for the last few weeks, and apparently the sides are just about there (Robert likes to call them flanks). The remaining filling will concentrate on rectifying warping on the poop deck. The bonnet remains untouched as it's due for replacement. It was damaged a little when it ripped off in the crash, but that's no problem for Robert as he still has the mould he used to make it the first time around.

Bits and pieces have been appearing all over the car. The engine arrived yesterday. It's been down on the south coast being fettled. It had been through several head gaskets in the brief period between the original restoration and the crash, and this turned out to be down to Robert's torque wrench being way out of calibration. Detailed calibration tests were performed later (involving string and weights) which proved his torque wrench had been reading very low - hence the head gasket failures. And the loose main bearings etc. Anyway, having nipped up all the bearings the engine guy also lightened the flywheel.

 

----------