The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

1974 Triumph Dolomite Sprint For Sale

£7,995.00 O.N.O.

This is finished in Leyland White (NAB) and was painstakingly resprayed by myself over the period of a year.

During this body strip down, I also addressed areas of rust and either fabricated my own replacement panels or fitted new ones.

I originally bought the car as red with a rotten webasto sunroof and brown interior, and proceeded to respray the car in white just as the Professionals’ car, and whilst doing this, I fitted a new roof skin to cover the hole the Webasto left, and sourced an entire set of black interior bits, seats, door cards, the lot. This Sprint is magazine-featured in the Dolly Club, with a backstory and further photos.

Good points:
Previous owners’ family owned for over 40 years.
The shell is structurally in great condition, with few spots that could be addressed by any prospective buyer, the previous owner spent some time addressing rust issues so that I didn’t have to worry about it.
Brand new Payen Head Gasket fitted.
Refurbished Carburettors and Manifold fitted.
Lumenition Magnetronic Electronic Ignition.
12V Electric Radiator fan, temps always stay on half.
12V Electric pump with inline filters and pressure regulator.
New S/S sports downpipe and big-bore exhaust system.
Brand new Defender Brake Servo retrofitted, stops on the dime, arguably better brakes than my modern Subaru.
Rebuilt Brake Master Cylinder and brake lines.
Rebuilt clutch master cylinder and brand new clutch lines fitted.
Brand new clutch slave cylinder.
Fuel tank has been welded and sealed.
Underside waxoyled including insides of door skins.
Overdrive engages and works great.
Two SIM Cibie-replica spot lamps fitted.
New thermostat and temperature sensor.
12V auxiliary fuse box fitted which manages all of the 12V electric additions such as elec ignition, radiator fan etc.
New vinyl roof.
Many new exterior trim, badges, chrome trim etc.
Original Radiomobile radio and new dash-mounted speaker, no speakers or holes in any of the door cards, the interior is almost entirely period, bar two period-style buttons retrofitted for the horn and washer pump.

Bad points:
There is a crack in the windscreen from my stupidity when refitting the windscreen after the restoration, though the car will come with a replacement windscreen, rubber seal and chrome trim as apart of the sale (I may still do this myself if it doesn’t sell for the right price).
Rust spots have reappeared since the restoration, particularly the front lower valance area, bottom of doors and rear lower arch section, as fighting the rust is a hard task on these half-century old cars.
There is a very slow engine oil leak, and I suspect it is coming from the oil pump, as I have already fitted a brand new transfer housing o-ring, and this didn’t solve the problem, somewhere in the mass of spares coming with this car is a brand new uprated oil pump seal which should fix this.
Although I’ve tried my best to tune the carbs up, they would benefit from a proper set up from a specialist, as the engine isn’t immaculate and is a little tired since it is largely original and 50 years old. Though when set up, this car is surprisingly fast for a 50 year old Sprint.
Paint within the boot and engine bay is poor and largely under sealed rather than body colour as should be; this is how I bought it.
There is a slight leak of engine coolant coming from the pipe beneath the thermostat, again easily fixed, and I have replaced the original coolant circuit going up to the heater matrix with brazed copper pipe, not original at all and some may scoff at it, but it works just as fine.
The starter doesn’t engage properly sometimes, and instead grinds against the flywheel, doesn’t affect the start up, just give it another go.
Radiomobile radio works intermittently, possibly a loose wire or dodgy connection.
Rear seat backing has some holes which are pictured, and black interior has slightly faded to blue over 50 years of sun.
Rear exhaust rattles quite a bit and could benefit from new mounts and U-clips.
Carpet was originally brown and has been refinished in black, though areas of brown are reappearing around the front footwells.
Shell looks to be originally brown, followed by being sprayed red in the 1990s, and finally in white by myself last year, if you’re looking carefully in the nooks and crannies you can find remnants of brown, but this car is otherwise a complete and shiny white colour.
The interior is not in pristine condition, the headliner could do with renewing and the carpet is a tad shoddy in the front footwells.

The car can come with more spares than you could possibly imagine, ranging from interior trim and clips, to spare distributor caps, spare carbs, inlet manifolds, seats front and rear, ignition parts, almost enough spares to build another car! There is a lot of value just in the spares, and it would take a van to fit everything in, so you get the idea, but they’re no use to me without the car so they can go with the sale for the right price.

I’ve covered a lot here, and probably missed even more, but this is a genuine sale as I’d like to buy a 50s British classic instead, so I may be interested in a Vauxhall Cresta, Ford Consul or the like as a swap or part-ex. Any questions please ask away, viewing is available in Ceredigion.

My mobile is 07860 651012 should you want to discuss anything further.

I cannot seem to add images here, please send either your phone number or email to me if you’d like some photos.

Thanks for looking.