1975 Triumph Dolomite Sprint

[davepoth]

silentbrown said:

Breadvan72 said:

They could get 150, but not consistently, and the figure for production cars varied around 125-135 BHP. Compare the Lotus 900 series engine, a twin cam slant four, which in two pint two litre form would produce 160 to 180 BHP.

Initial 900s in Jensen-Healeys were about 140BHP? And, Alfa 2000GTV twincam was 130, so the Sprint is hardly far off the mark.

Five years later, with a turbocharger, Saab were only getting 145BHP from the 2-litre...

IIRC the Sprints racing in CSCC Post-historics were getting about 200+...

The other thing is that the Sprint makes peak power at 5250rpm, which is really quite lazy for a sporting saloon - there's plenty of torque on tap even at low revs. The exhaust manifold (which is wedged in under the engine and not brilliant) is a limiting factor for higher rev running - but to get a tubular manifold in is quite "interesting"...

[anonymous-user]

The Dolly is in the workshop for a bunch of stuff - carbs, tail lights, cool running and so on.

The dented door (careless gardener) is to be replaced by a brand new skin that I found on eBay.

[anonymous-user]

Woot!

Dolly selected to be one of the PH fast car lineup at Donington in July.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Janluke]

Fantastic

Great spread of cars there

[anonymous-user]

Back from the garage after some tweakage, and going like the clappers.

[Alex10391]

Breadvan72 said:

A classic car is a time machine. On Sunday morning I was up early, and spent half an hour or so in the autumn of 1976. I went out into the cold dawn, started the Sprint using full choke, left it running to warm up, wiped over the outside of the fogged up windows, and set the not very effective demisters to work on the fogged up interior. I set off, wearing coat, scarf and gloves, the heater being very mid 70s. It being 1976, I may, allegedly, not have worn a seat belt for the first mile or two. I was definitely wearing a seat belt when the almost forty year old car (registered late December 1975), with its engine and gearbox fully warmed up, may possibly, allegedly, have indicated a speed quite a lot more than somewhat above 70 mph on a camera-free bit of the M40 (pretending to be the M1 or M6), but I couldn't possibly comment on that. Then some twisty country roads, in and out of third and fourth gears and in and out of the newfangled overdrive (electrically switched in, not yet called fifth gear), a pause for some photos, and home for tea and toast.

Anyway, this morning, for a bit, I wasn't me (a 53 year old bloke alive in October 2015), but a 38 year old bloke alive in October 1976, but sadly not alive in October 2015. That'll be my dad then. RIP, bloke.

Brilliant post sir - really gives a great insight into what owning a car like this is like and what it's all about.

Love the idea of imagining being transported back to when it was in its prime. I love that experience of nostalgia that cars offer like few other things can.

Stunning photos too, if ever yellow was the definitive colour for a car, the Dolly Sprint is surely a great example.

Alex

[99t]

Where is BV these days? I miss his fleet updates

[RedRob67]

Just found and read this topic - brought back memories (good and more challenging!). My first job was in car restoration, specialising in Stags. We bought a tidy Dolly Sprint and fitted a Stag V8 into it - it required some work on the sump, crossmember and engine mounts, but was a relatively straightforward conversion. It should have been, as the slant four was half of the Stag V8 after all. We also added Stag hubs, brakes and wheels, and it was a great little sleeper, although it sounded a bit naughtier than the usual Sprint... :-D
We bought another for spares, so my Westfield ended up with Sprint dials (including the "warning pie display"). In another related coincidence, my father had a couple of HPEs, a 2.0i followed by a Volumex - rolling road tuned, lovely looking thing, until some numpty rear-ended it on the M6. The only time my mild mannered father confessed to thoughts of exacting violence upon a fellow human being!

[lowdrag]

Bringing the thread back to life, A Dolomite 1500 HL is coming up for auction with a verified 80 miles on the clock. Read about it here:-

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/auctions/1977-triu...

[Mr Tidy]

How much!

If it was a 70s Ford then maybe!

And whoever came up with the BL colour chart in the 70s needs to be kept away from even crayons - most of them are just minging!

[anonymous-user]

I sold the Dolomite to a couple of blokes in West London in early 2018. They still have it. I do miss it.

[lockhart flawse]

Mr Tidy said:

How much!

And whoever came up with the BL colour chart in the 70s needs to be kept away from even crayons - most of them are just minging!

I dont understand that remark at all. In a sea of drab greys, silvers and blacks it would be great to see more cars in actual colours and some of the BL colours were great (that olive green and squadron blue). It is beyond my comprehension that anyone would choose a grey car. Apart from a silver and rust Alfa GTV 30 years ago every single car I have ever owned has been a proper colour.

[B'stard Child]

Was there a tidy up and posts deleted in this thread - I did a reply in here but the post has vanished - no email notification either???

[anonymous-user]

lockhart flawse said:

Mr Tidy said:

How much!

And whoever came up with the BL colour chart in the 70s needs to be kept away from even crayons - most of them are just minging!

I dont understand that remark at all. In a sea of drab greys, silvers and blacks it would be great to see more cars in actual colours and some of the BL colours were great (that olive green and squadron blue). It is beyond my comprehension that anyone would choose a grey car. Apart from a silver and rust Alfa GTV 30 years ago every single car I have ever owned has been a proper colour.

I like many of the BL 70s colours, and agree that colourful cars are fun. I have ended up with two grey cars at present, but have three colourful ones also, and one black one, and some sorts of grey can look OK.

I have never owned a white car, but am currently pondering changing this position.

[AW111]

I like variety in car colours - it makes the roads more interesting.
So far I've owned white, red, yellow, blue and metallic grey cars.

I've yet to own a two-tone one.

[andy43]

My dad had an 1850 in Mimosa yellow. Webasto and black interior just like that too. Lovely!

[anonymous-user]

The BRI Nylon seats in my Dolly may have been black or very dark grey when new, but had faded to a sort of bluish grey by the time I had the car. I think that the black and yellow Dolly was the only two tone car that I have had.

I have a friend who refuses to own red cars because, he says, they make him crash.