Ron Loversidge and Philip Edmends to meet up 60 years after epic car journey

Ron Loversidge and Philip Edmends, Rochdale’s intrepid duo who drove a car to Barcelona and back in 12 days during the 1950s, are due to meet up again in April for Ron’s 80th birthday.

Ron is planning on celebrating his 80th in Ireland, and hopes Philip, who also turns 80 later this year, and his wife Pat can make the celebrations.

In 1957, the Rochdale couple hit headlines when they drove a 25-year-old Austin Seven to Barcelona and back in 12 days.

At the time, Ron was 20 and Philip was 19. They named the car ‘Genevieve’ after the film of the same name.

Motor mechanic Ron bought the car for £25, having serviced it often at Deeplish Garage on Salkeld Street.

‘Genevieve’ had a top speed of 60 miles per hour and did about 47 miles to the gallon.

They drove from Rochdale to Dover before sailing to Boulogne. The rest of their journey took them through Paris, Orleans, Chateauroux, Limoges, Brive, Souillac, Cahors, Toulouse, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Perpignan, Gerona, and finally, Barcelona. The round trip covered 2,400 miles - and they didn’t even get a puncture.

They were, however, fined 10 pesetas (then 1s 8d) by a policeman in Spain for driving down a one-way street.

Ron moved to Australia four years after the feat, and Philip currently lives in Shaw.