I thought I'd share some photos of my latest acquisition and use you guys for advice!
The story goes back a few weeks ago when a lady was asking what her Dolomite was worth on the Facebook group, having been wanting one for years now i decided to message her for a chat, It turns out that it was her father in laws car from new who stopped driving due to Parkinson's disease and when he passed away he left the car to his granddaughter, for the next few years it was sitting around until the daughter put it in her mums garage for storage where it's sat for the last couple of years, still being MOTed everywhere not not used, Mum is moving so the car now needs to find a new home.
So yesterday i went down to Saf Essex and took a look at it.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
This was the view on arrival at her house, It's a very rare 1500 SE, it's only done 59000 miles and although rather matt and scabby it seems very complete and original still.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
The wing has a nasty dent sadly where the old boy caught a post in his later years. Anyway after a test drive where it drove very nicely a deal was made and i took the old girl home, to much upset to the family who had known the car since new, the daugher had a photo of her as a child sat in the car (she's in her 30's now).
After filling up with petrol i decided to take the cross country route back home to Ipswich instead of using the A12 due the cars not been probably used in years and only done 1500 miles since 2006 that i know off, things started fine even giving me chance for more photos.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
Sadly after this things started to go downhill rather quickly, as i drove into Maldon there was a metal to metal grinding sound from the front brakes which got worse until i lost my brakes completely! In a panic i managed to park it into a farmer's field...
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
Bum hats.
There was blue smoke coming from the nearside brake which i thought was going to catch on fire and the expansion bottle was also bubbling over! There was even bearing grease running out of the wheel!.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
In the end (after a few phone calls) i managed to talk my dad into collecting me with his van and his 5ft tow pole to drag me back to his which was *great fun. In hindsight i should have got him to collect it for me with his trailer but where the fun in that?!
Anyway the cars now parked at his in disgrace, next weekend when i have more time I'll get the wheel off and find out what's happened to it, It's probably a seized caliper and the pads broke up, I'm worried about the head gasket too but I'm told these are easy to fix although this is all new to me as I've never worked on one before. I'm a bit worried about the brown rusty water all over the back of the block and gearbox too, I'm hoping it's from a pipe rather than the block?
Here's some more photos for now.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
The damaged front wing.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
It needs a lower half respray at some point as it's very scabby although it's still solid.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
The paintwork needs some serious mop action! I'm hoping it will come back.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
The boot area is still like new.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
The service sticker says it's due it's service at 26000 miles in 1984.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
This is the best part of the car, the interior is like new still and being the SE model it's very posh!.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
It still even has all it's original dealer keyrings and number plates. One of the keys is for the Unipart alarm under the bonnet with turns on and off via a key hole in the wing.
My 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE
Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE Advert 1979
I spoke to the lady i bought it from today and she's said she's found all the original paperwork, service book and brochure and has posted it out for me so that's great news too!