It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I take a closer look at one of Britain's most intriguing and underrated sports cars, the Rochdale Olympic, with classic car enthusiast Robert Ballago.

I first encountered Robert and his remarkable Rochdale Olympic at a Supercar Sunday event, where it stood out amongst far more familiar machinery. We explore the fascinating history of this rare British sports car, renowned for its pioneering fibreglass monocoque construction, a design that was well ahead of its time and helped establish the Olympic as a genuine engineering achievement.

Robert shares the story of how he came to own the car after years of admiration, along with the challenges and rewards of restoring and maintaining such an unusual vehicle. We discuss what makes the Rochdale Olympic so special, from its lightweight construction and sporting intentions to the curiosity it continues to generate wherever it appears.

The conversation also reflects on the wider appeal of classic car ownership, the nostalgia these vehicles evoke, and the strong sense of community that exists among enthusiasts who dedicate themselves to preserving automotive history.

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A few weeks ago, I went to Supercar Sunday, which is a gathering near to where I live of, as the name implies, supercars, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis.

But there was one car there that truly took my eye when I announced it's the most interesting car there.

Most people look stunned, mainly because they didn't know what the hell it was.

Which is the reason I would like to introduce to the backseat driver, Robert Belago, to talk about his.

His Rochdale Olympic, his alpines, his Triumph TR6 and anything else.

By his own admission, if he sees an interesting car for sale, he buys it.

It was something I suffered from till I realised I'd normally know where to put them.

But, Robert, welcome to the backseat driver.

Thank you very much, Mark.

It's a pleasure to be here.

How did of all your cars, the Rochdale Olympic come about?

And also, what exactly is one?

I know what one is, but a lot of people won't have a clue what a Rochdale Olympic.

Well, right, okay, where do we begin?

Rochdale Olympic.

It's quite a special car, believe it or not, originating from Rochdale as its name implies.

And no, they didn't hold the Olympics.

In Rochdale, but it was named after the Olympics because of the, The Olympics of that year.

It was the reason that they decided to give it that name.

But the, the car, it's a small sports car, it's two plus two.

But the key thing about it, the main thing that really attracted me to.

To Rochdales for many, many years was that it's not got a separate chassis like old, old cars at the time had.

It's not got a monocoque as in the steel monocoque.

It's actually got plastic monocoque, a fiberglass.

Monocoque, because just put it in, they were technically a kit car.

Weren't technically, yes, only on the basis that they were to save purchase tax at the time, but they were together as a complete car.

The engine and suspension was taken out of them and then it was sold to the.

Sold to the buyer to be taken to be.

To be then.

To be then put back together again.

Yeah, but they weren't allowed actually to sell, to actually provide instructions.

So, yeah, going back to the.

Going back to the origins of the car, it was.

It was only the second car of its type with a.

With a.

With a separate monocoque.

And that's what, that's what makes it really special.

Yeah, I wanted one for.

For a long, long time.

I think I first came aware of them probably in the.

Probably in the late 70s, early, early 80s.

Just never had the chance to buy one.

Yeah, this one came along.

It had been sat in the museum for probably about five or six years.

Yeah.

I didn't really know that much about it.

I'd actually seen the car previously.

I'd even seen it for sale many years ago, but it never.

Things just weren't right at the time to get it.

This time I thought, I really want this car.

So.

And luckily enough, I was the winning bid and I've had the car for a year now.

It ended up in France at one point.

Yeah, it did.

You're really picking on the, on the, on the distant history of the car.

Yeah.

And it goes back even further than that.

I'd actually seen it for sale on ebay.

Yeah.

And I was busy with all the things at the time.

I saw this car that was absolutely, absolutely dilapidated.

It had been in a scrap yard for years.

It'd been one's back garden for even longer.

And how did it land in France?

Yeah.

And the, The.

The.

The buyer in France took it over there with the intention of restoring it.

The owner had actually seen the.

The owner's wife had actually seen the car and said, you're never going to do anything with that.

Yeah.

So it came up for sale again.

The guard actually restored it.

He saw it.

He.

He'd had the Rochdale back in the 60s and he wanted another one.

Subsequently, he.

He ended up buying the car and restoring the car.

So that was its time back in.

That was its time back in France.

Yeah.

But I think more interestingly is.

Is its time before that, because it was.

Young chap bought it.

He was looking to be racing.

Racing cars.

Yeah.

And he got an Olympic because it was light monocoque, was absolute, absolute groundbreaking technology of the time.

So he ended up getting this, getting the Rochdale hotting the engine up quite a bit.

Yeah.

And he had it for probably about five, six years.

He was in various races around all the uk, UK racetracks at this time, likes of.

Likes of Alton Parks, Netterton and the rest of them.

And then it started to be used as a road car.

Yeah.

So the road car, as the road car, it was being used for even things like towing a boat.

I've got a history of it towing a boat.

The least likely car, really.

You would think so, but I've got photographs of it towing this boat and then it starts to get to be become quite an old car.

And as old cars get, they get neglected.

Yeah.

And with the intention of oh, one day I'm going to do it up again.

Yes.

So it never happens.

You only have to watch certain television program to realize for my cars to restore.

And it never happened.

Still the cast of the.

Unfortunately the guy who owned at the time he passed away.

Yeah.

The car still stayed there for several years later.

And anyway, lo and behold, eventually poor guy passed away and the.

They ended up with the car being taken to a scrap yard.

Yeah.

Of course, with it being a fiberglass monocoque, it's not got that much steel in it.

No.

So it just stood there.

Yeah.

Until scrapyard closed down.

There was legislation changing where scrap yards were having to clean up the racked and they needed to get hard surfaces.

This was taking up space.

Yeah.

That's when it got onto ebay.

Yeah.

Consequently went to France, came back again and the.

The gentleman that actually bought it.

Gentleman called John Plant.

Yeah.

And he did an excellent job of restoring it.

Probably spent about two or three years.

Two or three years doing things like getting the bodywork back into the condition that you.

That you saw it.

Saw it the other week.

Mechanicals.

He didn't have to do much too much to.

At all.

I mean what engines in it.

It's actually the original engine is.

Is the engine that is the B series engine which you're getting lots of.

Lots of British cars from the MGB through to.

Through to.

Even I think even Morris Marines have had them.

Yeah.

But the.

It's.

It's originally the.

Yeah.

And you'll still see.

You'll see.

Still see Riley 1.5s at classic car shows and Rochdale owners, you'll often say, oh, there's a donor car.

So.

But yeah, it's a.

It's a.

It's a fairly, you know, fairly basic mechanic.

Fairly basic mechanically, but easy to.

It's easy to maintain, it's easy to run.

Yeah.

I mean they had a variety of engines put in them didn't.

Because I mean you could to a degree providing it went in the all.

Yeah.

You could put what you wanted it.

Absolutely.

And this is the, this was the beauty of cars like that.

Basically.

If it, if it fit, then you could, then it would, then, then you could use it.

If it didn't, you'd make it fit.

So, so it was, it was fairly straightforward.

And you do, you do see them with, with, with Master MX5 engines these days and you know, and things that are even more exotic.

But the thing is, because the car's so light, it doesn't need a lot of power to, to get it around really fast.

Yeah.

So, I mean, what's it like to drive?

Because I mean, not being funny, you're like me, you're, you know, slim line or only a tiny car.

Well, yeah, that's interesting that you mentioned that.

Really, the seats really hug you.

Yeah.

And one of the reasons that I wanted one because I was getting worried that I'm getting to the stage where I might get my struggle getting and out of cars like this.

Yeah.

So I bet getting one sooner rather than later, it's easiest to get in them.

It's easier to get in and out of than a lot of modern cars.

Yeah.

So, you know, on that, on that basis it's, it's, you know, it's, it's nice to be able to get in and out easily.

Yeah.

Driving it, it's just like, it's just like traveling back in time.

I mean, what suspension do they have?

Oh, the suspension, front suspension, torsion bar.

Same as on, on a mgb.

Same as on Morris Minor.

It's a really, really, really, really simple suspension system.

Yeah.

At the back it's just a live axle.

Yeah.

But because the car's so light, it handles extremely well.

Yeah.

And the ride's very nice as well.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it's like you said, a lot of people who owned them would have raced them, won't they?

So, I mean, I conclude the Rochdale as a whole, because I mean, were there other cars besides Rochdale Olympics?

I mean, were there other models in the Rochdale range?

Yeah, I mean the, the, the first one was the Rochdale gt.

Yeah.

But it's got conventional chassis.

Yeah.

Rochdale unfortunately is a car manufacturer.

They, unfortunately they disappeared very, very quickly because of a fire in the factory.

Because the story was, if memory serves, because they're basically a fiberglass coin and health and safety wasn't what it was back then.

The guys like preparing the molds to produce the bodies used to have to go outside on A frequent basis to get blasts of fresh air, didn't they?

Absolutely, yeah.

Keel over with the fumes.

Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

Polyester resin's not the nicest thing to be working with.

I suppose the Ben if it is, they don't go rusty, do they?

They don't but a lot of them do get off the road to find themselves off the road.

Because the front, there's a, there's a tiny bit of metal at the front which basically holds the engine in, in place.

It's like a front sub frame and that does go rusty.

But the owner's club supplies replacements.

Not very expensive to replace but they are a bit, bit tricky because it's actually bonded into the, into the body work.

Yeah.

And I conclude if they're damaged, if the body's damaged, it will repair reasonably easy, won't it?

Again, this is the beauty of fiberglass.

And again through the owner's club all parts are available.

Basically if you, if you have a front end smash and you've got a broken wing, you just cut the wing off and you bond in.

Bond in a new one.

Yeah, yeah.

Can you get part.

So absolutely all the body parts reveal through the owners club.

As far as mechanical parts concerned, it's all everyday parts and even things like the lights and windscreens all readily available.

So it's relatively an easy classic car to run.

Yeah.

And it's like you just said earlier, I suppose if the engine goes bang you can either buy a Gold Seal because I mean you can buy all the original engines for MGs and things.

Absolutely.

You can have a Russian blood and shovel master in it.

Absolutely, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

We had a recent meeting at St. Catherine's St. Catherine's Hospice, there's a regular meeting there every, every, every month.

Second Sunday of every month.

And another Rochdale came along there.

Yeah.

And that's actually just fresh out of restoration and that's got, that's got the same engine as mine and.

But it's got a five speed gearbox and he's been using that as a, as a, you know, as a regular car going up and down the motorway, gets 50 to the gallon out of it, keeps up with modern carrot with modern traffic.

What more do you want?

I mean, what, I mean, same older are the drum brakes all round.

Oh well, can you upgrade them to this or whatever?

That means drum brakes all around.

Yeah.

Dynamo rather than alternator.

Right.

A lot of people have actually upgraded them over the years because they are nices to drive with disc brakes.

They are nicer to drive with the reliability of an alternator and stuff like that.

With dynamos.

You can't really start fitting spotlights and everything.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Won't work.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And I've got to be honest that this is the first car I've ever had with drum brakes all around.

Yeah.

And it takes a bit getting used to, but it surprises people how quickly it pulls, pulls the car off.

There's no weight to it, even with drums.

I mean, you only need to put, shall we say, better, better friction, better friction surfaces on the shoes.

Yeah.

And they will stop quite well, won't they?

Well, believe it or not, the, the previous, the previous restorer, John Plant, he actually reused the original, the original brake linings and it's still got the original brake linings in now.

And yeah, it does stop it well.

It does stop it well.

Do you use it much?

Probably given your somewhat extensive collection of cars.

They're all vibe for a day out.

That's it.

That's exactly it.

That's exactly.

I'm happy if I get to work on.

Work on each one every, every weekend.

So.

But yeah, I get it out at weekends.

If it's a nice day, I'll take it out.

It's one of those cars that it's no effort to use, so it's, it's just a real pleasure to drive.

Yeah.

And it's a real wind down, wind down toy as well.

Yeah.

Because you just sit in it and all these troubles just disappear.

1960S drama when you get inside it.

And I mean, it's like I said, much the annoyance of a lot.

Good God.

Somebody's actually brought an interesting car to this event.

And I think the thing is most people have to clue what it was.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So do you get that a lot?

What is it?

Sometimes people say, is that some kind of Porsche?

Yeah.

In fact, in fact, when I was, when I played, the day that I picked it up and I hadn't paid a huge amount of money, money, money for it at all, I was, it was on the back of.

Back of a.

Back of the trailer and I was towing it back, pulled into a petrol station, went to pay for me fuel.

And there was a young couple and there was.

The guy said to.

His.

Said to the lady, oh, see that there?

That's a very expensive Porsche.

Wow.

It looks very similar to lots of cars, but nobody knows really what.

What it is.

Yeah.

I mean, what, was it drivable when you bought it or had you got work to do to it?

Well, it been.

Bear in mind, it been sat in the museum for five years in England.

Yeah.

Down in Devon.

And it hadn't been used, so there was nothing intrinsically wrong with it.

It just needed the recommissioning of a car that had been sat in the museum.

Yeah.

So my.

My policy on these things is drive it and see what needs doing.

Yeah.

So.

So it was things like it was drivable within.

Within.

Within an hour of me getting it home.

Yeah.

So it was starting and running, not stopping so well, because the brake fluid was fairly old, but changed the brake fluid needed a couple of brake cylinders on it and it was more or less as you saw it the other day.

Yeah.

So it's just something you enjoy, having it.

I mean, I know you've got a few cars here and there.

Is it one you keep at home?

It is, yeah, it is, yeah, yeah, it is.

At this moment in time, it is, yeah, yeah.

Ye.

Now, one of your other passions, and given the Rochdale Olympic, is fiberglass.

You are quite fond of another car or another make of car that became famous because it was a fiberglass body fitted to a Renault 4 saloon car.

You're into your Alpines, aren't you?

Ah, right, yes, yeah.

Yep, yep, yeah.

I mean, was there any correlation.

Did you see any similarity between the Rochdales and Jean Radley's creation?

I don't think that's what drew me to Alpines.

I think originally I saw as a child that we regularly used to holiday in Europe.

Yeah.

And regularly used to see.

I see Alpines always on the.

On the outside lane in the motorway, flashing past us as we'll be there in our Ford Cortina or Chrysler 2 liter or whatever it was in the day.

So they always seem like really exotic cars.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Phenomenal looking coupe car at the time.

I just love the look of it, love the idea of it being a French 911.

Yeah.

And that's really what appealed to me.

Yeah.

I think that my other.

One of my other cars, which probably has more similarity in concept to the.

To the Rochdale.

Yeah.

Is actually my Wooden chassis.

Marcos's.

Just put it in.

You like unusual cars, don't you?

Oh, definitely, definitely.

I think that, I think that's something that's, that's something that I've always been known for.

Yeah, because I mean like the Marcos, you found yours in Canada.

But you had a three liter as well.

I did, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I didn't intend to buy a Marcos.

The day that I bought my first Marcos.

Yeah, I actually wanted a Janetta, a genetic, a Ginetta G21 one.

Yeah.

And I went to see this G21.

It was, it was down in Birmingham and I.

It was beautiful red, red body work.

The owner had put Ferrari badges on.

It and there's somebody near to me as Ferrari badges on a Rover 820 which looks even more infeasible.

And as much as I love the G21, I just couldn't bring myself to buy, to buy a car that, that, that, that had been, that had been modified that way.

Yeah.

And I'd gone all the way down to Birmingham from, from Darwin back in the day and I thought, oh, I do do want another car.

What else is there for sale in Practical Classics?

Yeah, Birmingham down to Worcestershire.

It's not so far.

There was a Marcos there.

So drove down towards, Rang the guy up, you see.

Marcos still for sale.

Yeah, it's still for sale.

I said, well, I'm down in Birmingham at the moment.

Can I see it this afternoon?

Yeah, yeah, you can.

Went down to see it and fell in love with it.

Yeah.

And that was that would.

That.

That began my Marcos, Marcos journey.

Now that was a three liter.

That was a three liter, yeah, with the Essex V6.

So what made you want to downsize engine wise?

Right.

The three leases were quite at times a bit of a flat, flamboyant car, weren't they?

Yeah, they were.

Yeah, they just seem to be taking cost out of the car all the time.

They kept on making it, trying to make it lower cost but more appealing to the market because they were a.

Bit of an E type ish car, weren't they?

Yeah, they were, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And just one thing, the one thing I remember is to adjust everything to the driver.

The driver didn't move, you turned knobs, which meant the steering column came out towards you and the pedal box came out towards you, so you stayed put and everything else Adjusted to fit you exactly.

Move to it.

It all moved exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You had a little knob on the right hand side and, and that, that, that.

That would be what would adjust it.

So.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One of the many, many, many little details on cars like this.

That's.

That's quite intriguing.

So, I mean, have you still got the three liter?

I have still got three liter, yeah.

Yeah.

Not that three liter, though.

All right, another one.

So, yeah, my original three liter, I was actually losing my storage and they're not cars that you want to keep outside.

And I foolishly decided to sell it.

Yeah.

And that a bit like the Rochdale ended up in France.

Yeah.

It was a retired airline pilot that decided to buy it.

He still got it.

To this day, we still keep in touch with each other and he regularly takes it out.

And he still enjoys the car.

He's now in his 70s and he still enjoys driving it.

What the main thing is, it is approved for racing.

It's FIA approved for racing.

Weren't all the microscopes.

I mean, there was the Mantula.

Oh, the Lemong.

I think that was the Lemon car.

That's much, much later.

Yeah.

And it's a steel chassis car, and that doesn't really interest me.

Yeah, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the interesting chassis that interests me.

Hence the, hence the Rochdale.

With the, with the monocoque.

With the fiberglass monocoque.

Yeah, the, the, the.

The wooden chassis on the Marcos is just wonderful to see.

You know, when you've got wood joining the front and back wheels together and it works as a racing car, that's incredible.

And I conclude you'll get a lot of flex and things like that which will all add to the feedback from the car.

You'd be surprised how stiff it is.

You really would be surprised how stiff it is.

Is it like the Morgans, is it?

No, no, it's very, very different with the Morgan that still comes.

I mean, that's the frame on a steel chassis, but it's still the.

A lot of the cars fabrication is based on wood, which is ash in the Morgan's case.

Yeah.

With the, with the Marcos, it's actually, it's actually marine ply.

All right.

And you know, it's just bonded together.

Marine Ply.

Yeah, it's.

It's made up of many hundreds of pieces.

Yeah.

And that's one of the reasons they stopped, stopped making them in and they, they moved from wood to steel.

Yeah.

Because it was just so labor intensive to make it in wood.

Yeah.

But it is surprisingly, it is really, really, surprisingly stiff.

And you know, you can jack one corner of the car up and the other or the other side goes up is, you know, that stiff.

You don't see, you don't notice any flexibility in it at all.

For those not quite sure, go and watch an edition of the Roger Moore Saint.

So that engine, I mean, it was a very torquey engine, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, that's.

That, that's like the up market version.

Oh, that was again, that was a car that I saw in my childhood.

Yeah.

He never did.

Yeah.

So eventually I did.

So you've had one of them at all?

I have, yeah.

Yeah.

And we've still got it, so.

No, no, unfortunately, I actually sold that to the mem.

To a member of the Malaysian royal family.

Oh, like you do.

It sounded like an absolute scam.

But I'd had the car for a few years and unfortunately, as you do, when you've had a car for a while, you get used to it.

And, and I decided, oh, right, I've got so many cars.

Decided to sell it.

Got a phone call one day and it was, it was.

The car had been for sale in one of the classic car magazines and the guy was asking about the car.

He said, I'm not actually asking about myself for.

About it.

About it for myself.

It's actually a member of the Malaysian royal family.

Yeah.

That is interested in buying.

I thought, this sounds like a scam.

Yeah, go on, pull the other one.

So I end up, I end up thinking, well, I'll just go with this and see where it goes.

I'm.

The car's not going anywhere.

Yeah.

Until I get, until I get paid for it.

Anyway, sure enough, this, this prince contacts me.

Yeah.

And he wants, he wants more details of the car which I send through to send through to them and he said, yes, I want to buy the car.

Yeah.

I conclude being a royal, it's a, being good nick.

He won't want some restoration problem.

It was, yeah, I mean it was, it was an excellent condition.

Excellent condition.

And apparently the import duties into Malaysia were very, very high, which he, you know, even though his royalty is still out to pay.

Yeah.

So he wanted one that was.

The cost of the car was significantly less than the import duties on it.

Yeah.

Anyway, he decided he wanted to buy it sight unseen.

And I thought, okay, yeah.

I still didn't believe he was some member of the royal family.

Although everything that, that, that I'd googled about it all seemed to seem to stack up.

Next thing is the money hits my account.

Yeah.

Nobody contacts me to collect the car.

Yeah.

I have the car for about another month before the transport company contact me to say, oh, we work on behalf of.

Yeah.

This particular royal, royal family member and we'd like to come and collect the car now.

Yeah.

Oh, right, okay.

Well, I've got the money, I've had the, I've had the money for.

This cannot be a scam.

Yeah.

Anyway, sure enough, collect the, the, the car.

The transport company come and collect and they say, oh yeah, he's, you know, he, he loves, he loves British right hand drive cars and if you ever get anything interesting again, please let us know.

He will probably want it to his collection.

Yeah.

So.

So you mentally ran through the list of everything and thought, here, hang on, there's a lot of them he can have.

No, no, definitely not.

Definitely not.

So I think every, every car like that I've sold, they always grow it, I've always grown to regret.

So yeah, now I'm keeping them.

Problem you learned you regret.

I mean, I think back to the cars I've owned.

Certain ones you were delighted to be rid of or you were surprised that you actually managed to sell it for another bad price.

Then you realize, I should have kept that.

It's worth 10 times what I paid for it.

Yeah.

And sometimes it's not just the muncher value, it's just how it makes you feel.

Yeah.

You mentioned my TR6.

Yeah.

The only man I know had a TR6 laid up for 10 years because it needed no exhaust and then decided you'd go to Spain in it.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, that was actually my GT6.

All right.

But my TR6 was a different story with the TR6.

It was, it was that, that I was, I'd seen classic car prices going up and I thought, oh, I'd, you know, I never have enough classic cars.

Yeah.

And there's a friend of mine who, who always wanted a TR6.

Yeah.

And I thought, oh, well, if I get TR6, he can warm.

He can, he can, he can, he can borrow it.

Yeah.

And it will fulfill his, his lifetime's dreams.

Yeah.

So started looking for TR6s, went to see a few.

Most of them were.

Weren't particularly good.

This particular one, it was quite unusual because it was the, it was the, the purple color that you see.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the.

Anyway, bought the car, decided to do the, the, the Club Triumph Round Bitten Rally in it, which is going around the uk.

It's about two and a half thousand mile journey that you do in one weekend.

Yeah.

And it did it without any trouble at all.

It was quite an enjoyable trip.

Yeah.

But same as with the Volvo, I'd had that for that for a few years, got used to it, sold it and now I think, oh, I wish I still had it.

Yeah.

What about the Triumph GT6 that was laid up and you suddenly decide, we'll go to Spain in that.

All right.

Yeah.

The GT6 was, that was actually the first car that I ever bought.

I was actually 15 at the time and my dad didn't even know I was buying it.

But I've seen a. I'd seen a copy of Thoroughbred and Classic Cars.

Now there's a blast from the past.

I used to read that in one point.

I actually used to write for that.

Magazine and it had on the front cover that particular, that particular one, there was a saffron yellow GT6 and the metallic blue Morgan Plus 8.

Yeah.

And I thought, I can't afford the Plus 8, but GT6s, they're not very expensive.

Yeah.

So anyway, I bought the best example that I could for about 400 quid and it was actually.

Okay.

400 Quid.

It wasn't a bad amount of money, was it?

It was quite a bit of me pocket money at 15, though.

Yeah.

So anyway, so I had the car and as soon as I could start driving, that was, that was my car.

Yeah.

But things come along looking to buy a house and things like that and needing a car that's more practical for everyday use.

Yeah.

The exhaust goes on it.

So at the time the, the, the neighbors next door to where my mum and dad lived, they had garages and I thought, oh, I'll just stick in there for a couple of months till I get enough money together to be able to get an exhaust.

Yeah.

A few months turned Into a few years.

Then it turned into over 10 years.

Yeah.

And the, the garages then needed to be vacated.

Occasionally ring you up and say, do you know you've got a car park.

They did do that.

Yeah.

Are you going to do summer weed?

Anyway, took the car out and it needed really, really very little work.

Oh.

And by this time it was, by this time it was free road.

Free road tax for, for classic cars as well.

So there was another incentive and I was really surprised how good it still was.

Yeah, it been, it kept dry and it needed a new battery and not much more else than that.

And we started using it at weekends.

Do longer and longer, longer trips going to places like.

Going to places like Scarborough.

Yeah.

For a day out in it.

And then they had the bright idea, oh, why don't we go to Spain in it?

And as I say, it was, it was a fun, absolutely fantastic trip.

Yeah.

And everybody loves it.

And that's the best thing about classic cars, Mark that when you're driving a classic car.

Everybody likes classic cars.

Yeah.

So it's.

Well they tend to, they remind them of, of their childhood and it's like somebody said, it's a bit rose tinted spectacles.

Everybody remembers the good times.

You don't remember us.

Years and years ago it were probably just as bleeding miserable as it is now.

Maybe not as bad, but yeah, yeah, they remember and remind them of their childhood and their next door neighbor's car, the dad's car, all sorts of things, don't they?

I mean they don't remember the fact that back then cars probably weren't as reliable as they are today.

Yeah.

I think we do take that very much for granted, don't we?

So, I mean, what else have you got tucked away?

Because I mean we returned to the Alps.

You had a few of them, didn't you?

I did, yeah.

Yeah, I did.

I started with a red GCA V6 Turbo.

Yeah.

And I'd made the mistake of buying a really low mileage one.

Yeah.

And the problem with low mileage cars like this is that all the seals.

On the old fuzzies ball.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I'd had that for about, probably about two years and I got tired of repairing it.

Yeah.

So I sold it.

Then I'd gone about two years without announcing it.

The trouble is the next store and it gets a car where everything's been fettled.

Yeah, exactly.

So after about two years I'd forgotten how painful it was to own the Alpine.

Yeah.

And I saw another one for sale so I Bought that.

Same model or different.

Same model, same model, GTA V6 Turbo.

So.

And what's that better?

No, not really, no.

But I really enjoyed it.

And then anyway, for whatever reason, again, you get tired of these things.

Yeah.

Sold it.

Forgot how.

Forgot.

Forgot how much I'd.

How much I'd.

I'd missed it.

Yeah.

And then.

But always fancy the A610.

A610s are even.

Were even more rare than GTAs and GT.

And A610 came up for sale.

So I had that.

Yeah.

I only needed that for a short period of time because.

And the.

Actually I actually got it because I needed a four seater car.

Yeah.

Now you wouldn't think that's not the first car that most people would think of when you need a four season, but that time came and passed so I ended up, ended up selling it.

Well then your eyes keep on, keep on looking in the, in the classified ads.

Yeah.

And another one came up for sale.

This one was unbelievably cheap.

Yeah.

I was actually in Poland at the time when I saw it in Auto Trader in the uk.

Yeah.

And I rang the garage up that was selling it at a really, really cheap price and they said that, well, we don't really know what it is and, and it's come from, it's come from a deceased estate.

Yeah.

So we think it's worth about five grand.

Yeah.

Oh, I'll buy it straight away.

I paid for it on my credit card because I knew it was going to go very, very quickly and I went along.

Couldn't believe what a fantastic car it was.

It was worth three times that amount and that was when they weren't worth.

They weren't worth a huge amount.

Yeah.

So run that car for a few years, then decided I wanted to change it for something else.

I think I went, went to an BMW Z4M coupe then.

Yeah.

Which is very, very different.

And then of course you remember how, what a great car it was, another one came along and that's, that's my latest A610.

I've had that now for about, for about 12 years now.

Right.

No, no, you're not looking to sell that.

I'm not looking to sell and if anything now I'm just looking to, to add to me cars now.

I mean the one thing you can say is you look at the Rochdale Olympic and inside they are incredible, incredibly minimalistic.

You don't get a lot in them but I mean you don't.

It's tangible proof.

You don't need A lot of stuff inside a car for it to be a fully functioning, enjoyable car.

Absolutely.

Then you look at your Alpines.

And the one thing about the Alpines, they were staggeringly stylish inside, weren't they?

Absolutely, yeah.

I'm very, very comfortable.

But the one thing is the front seats were always unusual, weren't they?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The, the, the styling of the, of the, of the front seats, it's, you know, it's, it's almost, you know, it's, it's almost cubist in the way that they've, in the, in the shape of them.

Yeah.

And the.

I think it was in the Matra where, where I first saw radios being stacked stacked vertically rather than in conventional horizontal frontal way.

Yeah.

So, yeah, yeah.

The French interiors are all very, very unusual.

Yeah.

What else are you looking for?

I think the next car is going to be in an Alpine A110.

New one.

A new one, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I think that they look absolutely stunning.

I think the engineering in them is amazing.

Yeah.

And everybody tells me they're absolutely fabulous to drive.

They are.

I must say that because I am too old at the moment.

The moment.

But yeah, but I mean, the one thing about the new Alpine A110 is of all the what you would call recreations, I mean, the worst one in my opinion is BMW's mini.

Would somebody like to tell BMW what the word Mini actually means?

But you have your little Fiat 500, which is invariably much bigger than the original Fiat 500.

But the AL, the new Alpine A110, it is slightly bigger than the original.

And having spoken to certain people, like Mike Broad, who co drive drove them, Bernard Dianysh, who gave the original its first two WiC titles when that series was brought out, the modded one is better built, but they still, apart from the back end, they still retain the looks of the original and everything else.

And I think that's the great thing about the modding Alpine.

Absolutely.

So that, that's likely to be the next thing.

I think that's probably the thing that, that really, that really attracts me.

Yeah.

I've got to say that most modern cars, they, they're really appliances.

The A110 isn't.

There's a purpose for that car other than just being.

Taking you from A to B.

It's the reason I'd like to work it out because actually when you all want, you soon realize that given the minimalist luggage, they don't serve a phenomenal purpose.

Apart to put a huge smile on your face.

That's exactly it.

And I think that's.

That's what appeals.

That's what appeals.

And you say about the lack of luggage space.

Yeah, the same's true with the, with the, with the.

With the old Alpine GTA and the, with the A610 as well.

Yeah, Very, very little luggage space.

Yeah.

I don't think the Rochdale has much at all, really, does it?

More than you.

More than you'd expect.

Yeah.

Because it's got an amazing.

It's got this incredibly simple seat arrangement.

Yeah.

Where you can actually, if you want more luggage space, you just take the passenger seat out, you can load.

You can load your engine.

Go away without having to take anybody with you.

Now, that sounds marvelous.

If somebody wants to look at the.

The Rochdale, where does it appear at?

It's.

I regularly go to the St. Catherine's classic car Breakfast Meet.

Yeah, that's the second Sunday of.

That's at Bamber Bridge Bridge at the end of the M65.

And it's a really popular meeting.

Lots of friendly people there.

So that's, That's a regular, regular visit and I'm generally taking it to more and more classic car events around the Northwest.

I'm also, I. I also occasionally go out to.

To.

To the event that's held at the Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland.

And again, that's a.

That's a regular Honda.

Robert Belago, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting to you, to a man with so many cars, but so many interesting cars, because you're like me, you find most modern cars.

It's like you said, it's an appliance.

It might as well have fridge, your freezer stamped on it and they've no character of modern cars.

But once again, Robert Belargo, it's been a pleasure chatting to you and thanks very much for joining me on the backseat driver.

Right, thank you very much, Mark.

It's been a pleasure too.