Early sprint info???

[Russetauto]

Hi. All I have sent my club membership form in and await my first dolymixture mag. I am after some info? My very sad rusty sprint reg number pdh700m vin number va/2089-dl. The engine number is va/2030-he. Its obviously an early model but how early?? Is a mimosa yellow non overdrive version. Very sorry for itself. But hopefully will grace our roads fairly soon?? Looking for a bit of information to see what I have acquired? And to see just how early it is?? Thanks Dave

[Yellowcharlie]

M reg is 74 isn't it

[SprintMWU773V]

Why not apply for a heritage certificate? This will give you more info on the build date and other details. Your car is number 2089 off the line, early ish definitely.

[shaunroche]

M reg is 74 isn't it

Yes and no. 1973 onwards.

[Len Hughes]

I think its 01 August 1973 to 31 July 1974.

Mine is 4th July 73 on an L.

Len

[GrahamFountain]

Mine's also M reg, built July 1973, originally Mimmosa and commisioning number 2065. From the records from Mike Barker and co, the first known Sprint that wasn't Mimmosa is in the 2200s. If you look at the original document that said only the first 2000 will be Mimmosa (in Mike's thread on the early car spec), it doesn't say first 2000 built, and could easily mean first 2000 sold, which ain't the same thing by a long shot. I also suspect that BL would, having promised to sell 2000 Mimmosa cars and hoping their rarity would help sales, make a few, possible 5 or 10 percent, more. It's also said that BL didn't always assign chassis numbers in the order of build, but I can't comment on that.

So I think it's confused enough that mine, and thus yours, can be called one of the cars refered to as the "first 2000", even if the last of those was actually number 2100 or 2200.

Anyway, unless you are going to sell it, who cares?

Graham.

[Russetauto]

Thanks for the info. Very confusing though. Good old black. From the records I have of the car it was built on 12 July 73. But not registered untill November 1st hence the m plate. Interesting the lack of overdrive. Which I prefer was fitted but kinda makes it a little more unusual not having it. She's pretty rough. Been stood for at least 12 years. Luckily I have an 1850 auto as well as my daily driver. You can't beat the welcoming smell of triumph when you get in it. No modern car can do that!

Regards Dave.

[GrahamFountain]

Thanks for the info. Very confusing though.

Sorry Dave, I didn't mean to be confusing, but I admit it’s a confused situation.

There's a really good thread on the early Sprints written by Mike Barker here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21814. Unfortunately all the pictures - including that of the press release letter for the Sprint that says the first 2000 will only be available in Mimosa - were on the Photobucket site, and they've stopped being a free service. Hopefully Mike can re-link those pictures if he gets chance.

That letter doesn't say whether that's the first 2000 made or first 2000 sold that are only available in Mimosa. And as it's from marketing (if I remember correctly) not production, it could easily mean sold not made. Also, I've been told, by people who claimed to know, that BL didn’t always build cars in exact order of their chassis numbers; however, I wasn't there and it's only what I've been told. It's further mixed up because at least some of these cars were stockpiled, and then dispatched in a different order to, possibly the reverse of, their build sequence. There would also have been some cars used for special purposes, e.g. press garage use, that didn’t go to the dealers, at least not straight away. And they wouldn’t count to the first 2000 sold.

Also, from a production engineering perspective, if marketing have promised to sell 2000 Mimosa cars, production would probably make a few more: there’s a reasonably predictable failure rate on production lines (I once saw some figures for Rover 800, and it surprised me how high they were); some of those could be fixed quickly, some needed longer, and a few never made it to the showroom in their own right; so it comes as no surprise to me that the chassis numbers for the first 2000 cars available for sale spread 5 or 10 percent beyond 2000. Anyway, the first known Sprint that wasn't Mimosa (according to info from TahitiSPRINT) was chassis number 22xx; though the data is spread thin around that area - the previous one is yours and the next one is over 2600.

So it may not be totally certain that those Mimosa cars with chassis number from 2001 to 2100 or even 2200 can be said to be part of that “first 2000”. However, it's clearly not possible to say categorically that they aren't, and I for one think they are – though, obviously, I’m biased.

It may also be worth noting that it’s the first 5000 cars made in 1973 that allowed BL to get the Group 1 homologation for the Dolomite Sprint in January 1974, and use it so successfully in the British Saloon Cars Championship.

[maitretjak]

My car is VA26xx, built 31 August 1973. Yours is way closer to VA2000, so definitely built in 1973.

[Len Hughes]

Hi Graham,

Try this to see if you can restore Photobucket links, I can see Mike's VA969 pics but it only works with a couple of browsers.

If you're using Google Chrome, go to the three dots on the right side of the screen and click them. A drop down should appear. Hover your mouse over "More Tools," and when the next drop down appears, click on extensions. Go to the link towards the bottom that says "Get more extensions." In the search box, type "Photobucket Fix," and hit enter. Click the install button and once it's done, you should be able to see photobucket pictures again.

For FireFox users, click on the three bars on the right side of the screen, then click on add ons. Click search for "photobucket hotlink" and click install. Same result."

Len

[GrahamFountain]

My car is VA26xx, built 31 August 1973. Yours is way closer to VA2000, so definitely built in 1973.

Originally an Emerald Green one?

Graham

[GrahamFountain]

Hi Graham,

For FireFox users, click on the three bars on the right side of the screen, then click on add ons. Click search for "photobucket hotlink" and click install. Same result."

Len

That has fixed it perfectly, thanks.

Graham

[Steve28]

I recently sold VA 2005 registered on 10/8/73 mimosa

[GrahamFountain]

I recently sold VA 2005 registered on 10/8/73 mimosa

I reckon they'll all have originally been Mimosa to about 2100-2200. Might be interesting so know the build date. I also reckon that will show that 2000 was probably built after the launch date in June 73, if 2065 is built in July.

Graham