The Triumph Dolomite Club - EzBoard Archive

Okay guys I'm taking my own medicine. We need to generate a bt more life on this bit of the board so here we go again...<br>
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Mine was...<br>
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A 65 Ford Corsair GT Auto....bought with shot big ends for 30 quid. Worst 30 quid (plus the next 200 on an engine rebuild) I ever spent...<br>
When it would start and run for more than five minutes it would either eject spark plugs or piss transmission fluid all over the planet. Spent many a happy hour finding fuel pumps of V4 zephyrs in breakers and explaining to plods that I couldnt find a front side light for love or money...<br>
Still have the clocks in a box in the shed. WHy?<br>
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Jonners

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Mk3 Golf GTi 8v, only car I have been tucked up with and only 2 months ago, to many reasons as to why I hated it but mainly the gearbox. I don`t have it anymore and will never buy a VW again. I should no better than to buy a VW anyway I was a VW mechanic once.

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Renault 5 GT Turbo.<br>
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Purchased it when it was 10 years old. Had wanted one ever since seeing a brand new one on my paper round in 1987. Should have walked away when it kept over boosting on the test drive but I liked the colour (That electric blue colour they did on the early S2's).<br>
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Driving experience. It felt like you were driving a watering can on wheels. Loud, rattly, everything looked cheap and was. Brakes locked up with little or no warning.<br>
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Engine decided not to work anymore after one of the rods made a bid for freedom at 120 (Flat out). Wrecked the turbo at the same time. Spent £1500 on a second hand block/turbo and getting it fitted. Sold it on rather sharpish after that for the same amount I paid for it. So basically 3 months of ownership cost me alot.<br>
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D161CRT may you rot in a garlicy grave!<br>
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VW POLO G40, rare enough, but this one was one of a small number built without a sunroof, why I have no idea as this helped make the experience even more hideous.<br>
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It was nicked and stripped, foolishly bought back by me from the insurance company in the vein attempt to make the car good.<br>
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I failed almost as quickly as this car ate superchargers, two in my ownership and one just before I bought it.....<br>
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18 mths of bad money thrown after worse, but I loved the little moneypit in a purely sadistic way, you understand! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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My first ever car was the crappest. A 1985 Vauxhall Nova 1.2. Real poverty spec, not even the L model. I should have seen the signs (half a GTE bodykit and a "phat" zorst), but at the age of 18 I wasn't going to let that get in the way. Exhaust fell off within the month, the water pump stopped pumping and started leaking, and I had to scrap it 2 years later because of terminal rot in both sills. That must have been 1994, so the car was less than ten years old. Only had done 80k if I remember correctly.<br>
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Brown and Orange Tartan cloth seats (similar to the TR7 cloth I think), Dogshit brown plastic interior. hateful, horrible little car. It trashed a rear wheel bearing and welded itself onto the stub axle, and threw a cambelt during those two years as well. Luckily the head wasn't an interference type.<br>
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Did I learn my lesson? Hmmmm, no, I bought a 1987 Cavalier 1.6L, which surprisingly caused me no hassle in three years of ownership apart from an ignition coil that went. I really abused that car as well, I was working in Berkshire and travelling to Yorkshire and back every weekend to see my girlfriend at the time. It went on three trips to Germany, and an epic "World Tour of Scotland" three week trip round campsites with 3 squaddies, a tent, and a trailer for our beer....<br>
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No photos of the Nova (my dad might have some), but here is one of the Cav.<br>
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<!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1927 ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br>
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I'm the one taking the photo. The guy on the right is Colin, was best man at my wedding, I returned the favour this year, and the guy who I bought my Dolly off.

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So many and so little space. Hmm, has to be ...... the Rover P4. Came with 10 months MOT and very little metal from the floor downwards. Paid £475 for it on flea bay and got it all back after phoning the MOT station and asking to meet the MOT testers guide dog<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :evil --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/devil.gif ALT=":evil"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
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They turned up from near Colchester to North London in about an hour of making the phone call to collect the car. Hehehehe. <br>
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Worst motorbike - brand new MZ301 Saxon Tour (in 1993) - the fusebox was crap. It looked like something out of a Christmas cracker. I nearly picked it up and hurled it over the A406 flyover as it cut out on me for the 12th time on one journey home<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START >: --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/mad.gif ALT=">:"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
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Deep joy.<br>
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Vauxhall Shove it - 3 gearboxes in as many months. <br>
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VW Baja Bug conversion, looked cool - or so I thought aged 19 but lost a hub nut, causing the wheel to start to slide followed by snapping the brakeline, shooting a junction and rolling the car at around 60 mph I think (I admit I was approaching th junction a trifle fast)<br>
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Scarily this is followed by Dolomite sprint that just won't start cause I can't fathom the ignition out. (I guess I'll get over the frustration of the last one soon enough - its a current problem - excuse the pun)

<p>1980 Inca Sprint - Running! <br>
1979 Blue 1850 Back on ebay after the winning bidder refused to pay<br>
1978 Inca Sprint Engine out<br>
1978 Yellow 1850 - probably only good for spares unless anyone is interested in it <br>
1977 White sprint in bits<br>
1973 Mimosa Sprint Project car - being done by someone else!<br>
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Mk II Golf GTi 16v. <br>
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Horrible torque steer<br>
Constantly breaking down<br>
Dull as ditchwater to drive despite being pretty damn quick<br>
Broke down a lot<br>
Things fell off weekly.<br>
Hateful hateful hateful rissoles that work in all VW dealership parts centers. <br>
Boring.<br>
In the 15 or so times something went wrong while out it only managed to limp home once.<br>
Utterly unengaging in all driving scearios except traffic light races with other FWD hot hatches.<br>
Can't fault the build quality of the bodywork but mechanically it did break quite often.<br>
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Wave to it at the side of the road for me MoreBHP.<br>
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(wasn't very reliable either)<br>
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And that from the most rated of Golfs?<br>
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Compare that to my sprint:<br>
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It was advertised as a sprint despite being a converted 1850.<br>
Had bits missing from the oil filter when I bought it, resulting in effectively having no oil filter and no bottom end after not very long.<br>
The doors fell rapidly apart.<br>
Has cost me far far more than any sane man would spend on an old shed.<br>
Now getting to the point where it barely has a drivers door.<br>
Isn't as quick on the straight or the corners as the golf.<br>
Few parts are available other than mail order.<br>
Very noisy above about 50.<br>
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And yet is so uttery engaging, rewarding, trustworthy and comfortable to drive here I am 17 years later having called out the AA to it just once. Even then is was a concious decision to not fix the fault myself (alternator, couldn't be arsed - winter)<br>
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Tinweevil

<p>1978 <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.triumphowners.com/704">Dolomite Sprint</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> Blue, a bit tetley. - Current daily drive.<br>
1972 <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.triumphowners.com/754">Spitfire IV</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> No name, in bits.<br>
1968 <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.triumphowners.com/705">GT6 II</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> Little blue, nice!<br>
1973 <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.triumphowners.com/755">Dolomite Sprint</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> VA41, seriously tetley.<br>
1980 <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.triumphowners.com/864">Dolomite 1500HL</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> Orange, really quite tidy.</p><i></i>

1986 Special Edition Mini. <br>
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Brought it when it was 8 years old, it had fallen apart by the time it was 10<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rolleyes --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> . Sold it to a mini enthusiast, who scrapped it after a couple of months because it was beyond economical repair!

<p>Debs<br>
Custodian of "Molly the Dolly"<br>
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Depends how you judge worst car, for reliability my worst car is easily any of the Dolomites I've owned! Especially the Sprint. But they are the best cars I've owned too so I'll forgive them all for the pain they've caused!<br>
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Its got to go to the 1.2 Merit Vauxhall Nova Saloon, what a bag of poo that was, offset steering wheel, full of rot, looked terrible, but strangely indestructible. I once drove it hard for 5 miles without any oil in the sump because the oil filter fell off and it still wouldnt die! It took a Sierra to shorten the rear end to finally kill it off!<br>


<p><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.smifter1971.pwp.blueyonder.c ... >Smifter's Dolomite Sprint Website</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>
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Scary XE powered 1974 Dolomite Sprint Trackday Experiment. Maybe someday soon<br>
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2002 Octavia VRS - 20 valves, leather, a turbo and 146mph - Czech it out!! </p><i></i>

Smifter - did it look nicer once it had been rear-ended by the Sierra? :P<br>
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Luckily I've only ever owned two cars. The Sprint, and my 1.3 fiesta.<br>
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Neither are bad - both are quite happy barreling along in lane 3 at illegal speeds (71, obviously) but I'll go with the fiesta just because it doesn't do power oversteer. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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I've had 2 Dolomites. The 1300 was very rusty. I loved that car, can't believe I cut it up. Best £50 I ever speant (but the £50 for my two TR7 engines was money well spent too!) <br>
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Soo ermmm yer, 1300 Dolly, well I've only ever owned 2 cars and it didn't have an MOT lol <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rolleyes --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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Hmmm, tricky,<br>
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Alfa Romeo 156 2.0TS<br>
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had it 22 months......2 gearboxes, 6 sets of front brakes discs and pads, 2 headlamp units, exhaust fell off, back brakes siezed, dashboard warning lights lit up like christmas tree for no apparent reason, drive shaft gaitors dry, but not split???....<br>
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I did 8000 miles in that car in 22 months!!!! hardly anything.<br>
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"but I loved the moneypit, in a purely sadistic way, you understand!"<br>
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When it was running right it was superb. Driving it home from work one evening it started making another "funny" noise, so I pulled into the nearest dealer and sold it on the spot, and bought an Impreza. 3 years later not a single problem with it, but it is totally soul-less.<br>
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Alfa is still going, saw it on saturday, still looking good I must say....might buy it back.....nurse.....<br>
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Mike<br>


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ive only actually ever owned dollies, 6 of them in fact, 3 of them bought as scrappers for parts, along with a mk1 1 metro that was a bit special (well 2 metros, 1 was a donor), a couple of minis and a toledo.<br>
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4 of the dollies were scrapped, I still own the other 2, and the toledo.<br>
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that seems weird now I've worked it out...<br>
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bizarrely I've owned 8 bikes - c90, 2 rd125's, an rgv125, a dt125, honda superdream, honda dominator and vtr1000.<br>
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still have the vtr, now 4 yrs... next bike will be a triumph... <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

<p>project orange - gradual progress<br>
project STEALTH - PASS!!! <br>
project white - AAARGGGHHH!!! too many cars!!!</p><i></i>

one of three . firstly a 1982 datsun stanza 1.6. fulll of rust but did have variable delay on the wipers<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> .. or a 1987 manta gte which was my pride and joy but I couldnt cope the handling and parked it into a wall (I am going to be very carefull with my sprint).or lastly a 1982 talbot sunbeam 1.3 gutless to the extreme<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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