1979 Triumph Dolomite Sprint

[@stuwhite2337]

Lovely and the same colour as my MGB!

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

I loved my T reg Dolomite 1850 HL in Russet Brown, my interior was more beige than brown. Apart from the vinyl top roof and the alloy wheels it looked the same.

[@JohnEvans-zo7kk]

Brilliant handling cars. I was lucky enough to own two in the eighties

[@Richardturpentine]

I loved mine STX 891S 1977 Carmine Red best colour in my opinion.

[@gimble447]

“Smells lovely inside just like a classic car should” well it certainly isn’t the “ leather” you kept mentioning fella 😂

[@easydriver31]

@@gimble447 it's usually the fuel 🤣

[@gimble447]

@@easydriver31 He needs to get that looked at then, it’s only running SU’s, not side draughts! they say that the familiar smell of cars from late 50s up to the 70s comes from the horse hair pads that the seats are filled with ageing ( it’s only a name they aren’t made of actual horse hair) prior to that most cars did actually have leather (and not brown BL vinyl like we have here) that also gave a similar smell with age. I know both my own cars from the early 70s certainly have that familiar smell I remember as a child when they were current 👍

[@kevdavies3445]

had 2 in the 70s and 80s i loved them also 3 1850s i would love to own another but silly prices for minters now

[@easydriver31]

@@kevdavies3445 they are fantastic cars, did look st a resto project of one but being British Leyland, it would need more welding than the car was worth 🤣

[@fizrar6]

Nice car but shame about the black & white number plate. Doesn't make it look more original because yellow and white number plates were in use in 1979/80

[@gimble447]

Completely agree, that loophole was closed up sharpish after it was mistakenly opened in the 2018 changes, unfortunately it opened up the legality from the original 1972 cut off rule to include up to 1980, as you say just looks completely wrong and not in proper keeping at all, ( just because it mistakenly became legal doesn’t make it right) it really is a pet peeve of mine too and even the amount of cars I see that are AFTER 1980 with them fitted has raised sharply in the last few years and people are just flaunting the rules and really it should be far better policed tbh. The irony is that back in the day when yellow and white plates came out is that many changed their plates to them from black and white/silver, because they wanted to look more modern!!! 😂

[@easydriver31]

Yh we spoke about it but he decided the older style suited the car better

[@gimble447]

@@easydriver31 yup his car, his choice obviously

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

It suits the black and silver around the rest of the car so not an unpleasant effect….

[@lewis72]

Only the HL and Sprint Dollys had the black boot panel. Std 1300 & 1500 were the same colour as the car. The registration plate colour scheme is wrong for this age of car. Should be black-on-white for fronts and black-on-yellow for rear. A shame that the 16v engine wasn't very reliable, could have been used on more cars throught the BL range.

[@easydriver31]

@lewis72 thank you, yes we spoke for a while about the plates

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

They should have done a “Dolomite Sport” model with the 8v TR7 engine, would have been an easy upgrade from the 1850 HL..

[@lewis72]

@@johnmoruzzi7236 Yes, seemed a bit odd that only the TR7 got the 2-litre 8v Triumph engine and only the Dolly Sprint got the 2-litre 16v engine (I know there were a handful of TR7 Sprints though). I wonder if that engine would have been better in the Rover 2000 SD1 !

[@johnmoruzzi7236]

@@lewis72 Triumph was on the way out in the late 70s, the Stag / Dolomite / TR7 V8 and slant 4 was a dead end. BL had developed the O Series engine for RWD (Marina) and FWD (Princess) in 1.7 and 2.0 form, so that was the obvious choice for the Rover.

[@lewis72]

@@johnmoruzzi7236 The slant 4 wouldn't have been at a dead end if the'd used it in the SD1 though, which was my point.