Triumph 1300 fwd/Dolly 1.3

[captain_70s]

Hi there everyone.

I've been thinking about getting a classic car as a 1st car for a year or two now and have thought of all sorts of sutff (Almost bought a a £300 Reliant Rialto!)
Then my attention was brought to the 1300 fwd and Dolly 1.3, I'd thought about Heralds, Minors, Allegros, Marinas, Avengers but overlooked the Triumph series somehow, and didn't think the Dolly came in anytihng smaller than a 1500.

Looking at the cars thay are pretty little things that appeal to my taste, with the wooden dashboard and 4 door saloon style, I'm now looking for any info anyone can give me on them, especialy from owners as they'll know the best, or about Dollys and Triumphs in general.

Mpg, Insurance, rust spots, common mechanical faults, anything that could be help to my quest to see if its managable (or as much as a classic car can be!) and pursuade dad to give possible (financial! ) assistance.

It'll be living outside behind the house on a drive way and will do a high millage, possibly over 100 miles a day some weeks. And it'll be a daily driver, so hows parts backup? I'm also 17 (may be 18 by the time I get a car) so insurance is a worry, how much do you reckon it'll cost?

Sorry if this has all been covered before, but I figured it'd be a good idea to group it all up into one place. I did look thorough the archives 1st in my defence!

Cheers,

Anthony

[DavePoth]

Hi there, and welcome!

A 1300 (FWD or Toledo or Dolly) is a really nice choice for a first classic car.

I say Toledo as well because they're the other model in the range, and all came in the UK with a 1300 engine. Trim levels are a bit lower, but still really quite plush compared to competitors.

Parts availability is great for mechanical bits (all spitfire/herald based for the 1300 model) although a little harder for bodywork and trim (most stuff can be found on ebay or on here though without much effort). So long as you are willing to get stuck in and do basic maintenance yourself it'll be a cheap way to get into motoring. With oily bits being so cheap and easy it makes sense to buy the car with the best body possible.

The only issue may be that the gearing is quite low on a standard 1300 of any variety. This can lead to it being a little "busy" at high revs on motorways or fast A-roads. But the axle can be swapped for one with a longer ratio, or an overdrive gearbox can be fitted (both of these would come from a 1500 model).

Insurance wise you shouldn't pay any more than for a similarly engined modern car. Some of the younger members will be able to give a bit more detail on this though.

[Purplebargeken]

Hi and welcome. My first car was a Toldeo and it was great. That was quite some time ago though

A 1300 Dolly or Tolly is a really good car to start with. No power steering though

Interiors can be upgraded with bits from other cars, including modern seats from Rovers, etc. These are cars that you can work on and learn about too. No pain in the arse electronics to faff about with (unless you put 'em in).

Lots of help and advice on the forum with regards to upgrading, etc. As mentioned before. The mechanical bits are cheap and easy to get hold of. Best to make sure the car you choose is as sound bodily as possible. Try ebay. There are some project worthy 1300's on there at the moment. Worth a try. Have a look at: 370220952147. Looks good enough. The interior could well be improved for very little outlay. What's your budget? B eefertwo on here is selling my old Toledo. It is now a 1500 with overdrive and he is looking for around £500 I believe. It was a tidy car and I upgraded the interior with FWD seats, much comfier

Whereabouts are you?

Ken

[captain_70s]

Lots of help and advice on the forum with regards to upgrading, etc. As mentioned before. The mechanical bits are cheap and easy to get hold of. Best to make sure the car you choose is as sound bodily as possible. Try ebay. There are some project worthy 1300's on there at the moment. Worth a try. Have a look at: 370220952147. Looks good enough. The interior could well be improved for very little outlay. What's your budget? B eefertwo on here is selling my old Toledo. It is now a 1500 with overdrive and he is looking for around £500 I believe. It was a tidy car and I upgraded the interior with FWD seats, much comfier

Whereabouts are you?

Ken

Hi, I had seen the 1300 on eBay, Must say its quite pricey for a Cat D write off though, even if it is solid. My budget will be around £500-£1000, I was thinking of a Morris Minor, but although they are simple and common they are also expensive.
A Toledo would be alright, personaly I prefer the styling of the Dolly and appreciate the boot space, but it will still be a capable car.

I'm located in Scotland, Dumfriesshire, Whithorn, about 30 miles East of Stranraer. I'll be commuting to college in Dumfries, or to Newton Stewart to catch the bus to Dumfries.

I prefer the fwd's interior, and it'll have the cheapest insurance being a fwd rather than rwd. I prefer the Dolly exterior though, or the 1500's quad light approach. A 1500 would be a bit heavy on fuel and insurance for me though, a 1300 is pushing it, most people my age wouldn't get a car larger than 1.2, or one that does less than 40mpg. So even a 1300 is quite a risk for me.

Anthony

[Purplebargeken]

You could always get Beefertwo's car and put a 1300 engine back in it. You could sell the 1500 lump..... sorted. The fwd seats were in really good nick as well. It was bought from me by a chap called Martin who took good care of it, and then on to Craig it went. £500 is well within your budget and you wouldn't have to do anything to it. Put the rest of your cash towards the insurance

Moggies are good - I have one

[1300dolly]

Hi welcome to the forum, my personal choice would be a fwd but for a first car i would say dolomite simply because they are slightly more forgiven when pushed hard and will take a car full of mates/ bootfull of beer with more ease, engine wise the fwd and dolly/tolly are pretty much the same with only the gearbox being different.

[Spunkymonkey]

Like 1300dolly, my personal choice would be (in fact is!) a 1300 FWD but the two RWDs are more easily upgraded for pushing fast. If you're looking to drive a classic as your first car then hopefully speed isn't the be all & end all for you anyway.

Plus points for the FWD are:

• All of them are tax exempt - that's a fair bit of petrol / beer (though not at the same time) money that you're saving straight off. If you lose 10mpg on average use compared to a "modern" then that £120 will cover the extra for your first 4k miles - and you probably won't lose anything like that in practice (see point 3).
• Along with the tax exempt status, you get to wear black & silver number plates legally
• Come MOT time, the only emissions test is "does it smoke enough to blid the guy behind?" - one less thing to worry about each year.
• Insurance should be about as low as you can get - I've got a few (!!) years on you but an 11k / year fully comp policy for me is £69 a year without using any no-claims
• Fuel consumption isn't bad as long as you drive at the speed the car likes - my overall average for the last 1400 miles is about 31mpg but it's closer to 40 on a reasonable run sitting at 50 - 60mph
• The handling tends to get scary long before it gets dangerous - not a bad feature in a first car (I learnt some valuable lessons in my first one & the only casualty was several pairs of pants )
• As long as you're happy using (or learning to use) spanners then maintenance will be peanuts - most parts can be repaired rather than replaced if you enjoy that sort of thing
• The bodywork seems (from what I've seen) to be less prone to rot than some of the later cars - maybe cos, being earlier, the ones still around were looked after better when they were young?
• There are less of them around than the Dollies but Dollies are more popular so tend to cost a little more - although that seems to be changing
• I'd rather be sitting in the drivers seat of mine than the sofa I'm on at the moment - they really are that comfortable!

No doubt a Dolly fan will be along soon to counter all the above

[Purplebargeken]

Having owned a couple of the fwd's, in varying state of decay I agree that they are great cars. Unfortunately (for me anyway) they tend to be a bit more pricey to buy (for a good 'un that will need minimal, if any, immediate work).

All the cars are good fun and it's just down to personal choice and how deep yer pockets are. As I've said before, I'd buy Craigs Tolly, convert it back to a 1300 and flog the 1500 engine. Rather spiffingly rebuilt 1300 engines are obtainable from a very reliable soure on the forum, for a couple of hundred quid, no, not from me. The engine swap is relatively straightforward. The only drawback would be down to geography I supppose. Not insurmountable. Plus you'd still be in budget.

Good luck with whichever choice you make

Old cars are the best

Ken

[captain_70s]

Hi cheers for all the advice.

I am swaying towards the 1300fwd but the Dollys do seem to be generaly cheaper and I'm not too fussy about which I get.

Sadly I don't have the cash at the momment to buy the Toledo, but if I'm lucky I could land an alright job by the end of the year and my student loan would come in rather handy...

Still got alot of planning to do but I am very attracted to the idea of Triumph ownership. Just got to convince dad its an alright idea now.

Cheers,

Anthony

[DavePoth]

Hi, I had seen the 1300 on eBay, Must say its quite pricey for a Cat D write off though, even if it is solid.

Don't let a Cat D put you off. Book value of these cars is a lot less than a grand so anything more serious than a small leaf floating into a door is going to result in an insurance company judging the car beyond economic repair.

[Oli_88]

Insurance wise, you can get onto the comparison websites, you know the ones, all the annoying adverts, and check what quotes will be like now. Do check as many as you can find though. I found a drop of about £400 from one to the other.

Surprisingly it was more to insure a eurobox with a mower engine than it was for my 1850HL.

Best argument you can use on the old man would be "It'll teach me about mechanics and how to keep a car running my self" and "It won't go fast enough to get me in major trouble."

Knowledge wise, you're definitely in the right place. I've learnt a hell of a lot just from reading things here.
My (mostly stupid) questions have all been answered, in such a way that even the most cretinous spanner monkey would understand.

And lastly, welcome to the forum!

[Garfin]

This looks a decent candidate.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1975-TRIUMPH-TOLE ... 2|294%3A50

[captain_70s]

"This car has been used as my daily transport for the last 12 months happily covering 120miles a week with ease with a fuel consumption on average of 38mpg."

Thats reasuring at least, ironicly thats close to the millage I might be doing a week, and the perfect average mpg too!

To be honest I'd also want to replace the Toledo dash with a 1300/1500 one, I'm asuming they are all pretty compatible. Although that'd be after I'd owned the car a wile anyway. Just depends on when I get the money and what cars are for sale at that time.

Best argument you can use on the old man would be "It'll teach me about mechanics and how to keep a car running my self" and "It won't go fast enough to get me in major trouble."

Thats what I was thinking, sadly he remembers 70s cars from when he was buying them in the 80s, as old bangers. Especialy his Mk2 Capri 1.6 that was his 1st car, apparently it was brilliant... despite the face it went through 3 engines while in his ownership!
So he is dubious about reliability, despite the fact any problems would be easier to fix. You should have seen his face when I suggested an Allegro!

[DoloWIGHTY]

To be honest I'd also want to replace the Toledo dash with a 1300/1500 one, I'm asuming they are all pretty compatible. Although that'd be after I'd owned the car a wile anyway. Just depends on when I get the money and what cars are for sale at that time.

Hi Anthony it's Alan from popular classics (DoloMIGHTY!)

The Dolomite 1300/1500 dash is near identicle to that of the Toledo, just a revision of switches and gauges, if you mean one from a FWD or HL style curved dash this will need a fair bit of work and time. It isn't a straight forward swap.

Best of luck with your search.

[1300mash]

I'm not sure I would choose a 1300 FWD as a first car. It depends how tolerant of lack of modern creature comforts you are and if you are a relatively inexperienced driver it may take a bit of getting used to. The drivetrain is not as dead simple as the RWD cars and though they do feel more modern to drive than some cars of this era, a few upgrades to mix it with 21st century traffic every day would be desirable - better lights, servo, alternator, heated rear window maybe and for sustained higher speed motoring it'd need to be a well sorted one as even 60mph can feel a bit strained. You've got to keep on top of maintenance - 1960s cars need regular fettling and some parts of the FWD can be a bit fragile if abused (i.e. driven like a modern car!).

Having said that they are a hoot to chuck about and very well built, extremely comfortable and a bit different but I'd still start off with a Dolomite 1300. Sorry to be bit negative, I love mine but I don't think I could go back to using it on a daily basis and certainly not in winter!