It appears that only 8 Olympics were shipped to the US and Canada, at least according to the Rochdale Owners Club. Of the 8, only 3 others are known to have survived. This is said to be a 3 or 4 owner car. The original owner shipped the car over to Chicago after a 6 week European tour in 1963 and then sold the car in the summer of 1964. From there on out, the history is a bit fuzzy. The current owner has decided to sell it and have listed it here on eBay in Dallas, Texas with bidding just at $995.
1963 photo with the original UK plate taken in Chicago. The English Rochdale Owners Club had lost track of this unit for 51 years.
The car appears to be resprayed and the nose has some damage. Other then that the body looks to be in good shape.
The interior appears to be OK. The exposed wiring harness is not a pretty site though.
There are also some spares for you to work with. No doubt you will have the only one around for miles and miles.
Cheers, Robert
Last time they tried craigslist: http://barnfinds.com/1963-rochdale-olympic-rare-little-racer/
Hope they have better luck this time!
Neat little cars ! and heck, where you gonna find another one? That can be bad or good… As mentioned in the previous BF article comments,… It has the ‘look’ like it’s styling was borrowed from Ferrari (front) and Jag, (rear) … even with the Porsche/VWesque headlights and the early English/Italian style taillights, it still is a neat little car…Think of the gas mileage with the Ford 4 banger!…The interior kinda has that early Italian racer look which being pretty much ‘bare bones’ would do nice for a weekend driver. The price seems to be about right for a kit car this rare, and the new owner might even find out it was a factory build, which would be a huge plus to resale pricing… Wouldn’t mind owning it for the novelty…
Hello Oldstuff 1941,
This is a factory built car. This is part of one of the replies from the March posting:
“My name is Tony Stanton and I run the Rochdale Olympic History Archives for the ROC here in the UK. I think this is a car lost to the club since 1965. Can someone please send me the link in to the CL site and an e-mail address for the current owner?”
Cheers,
Robert
Thanks for the info Robert…
Pete’s a good digger….finding stuff way before those other two idiots….I’ve sold and made a little off of deals with him….he know’s his stuff !
This is different… and I like different. Looks like s porsche mated with a saab… I d like to have this one!
Somebody needs some lessons in electrical wiring. What I see is a hornets nest.
I was born in Germany in the 50s. My father was a career U.S. Army soldier and we had a big family. I do recall seeing so many foreign cars in Germany, France, etc, in my youth. I just always thought how strange they looked compared to american cars.
I do appreciate looking at these cars. Thanks Barn Finds, for putting them out there of us to look at. I learn something everyday.
It’s listed on his website for $$8500.
The front bodywork has some serious roughness to it inside the engine compartment and I’m wondering if that is not factory standard and it has sustained damage due to a frontal collision. Looks like it was originally yellow, too. Cute looking car, though.
cheers….JeffH