The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi, I intend to fulfill a lifetimes ambition in the next 6 months by buying a Dolomite Sprint. Around 1981 I was about to trade in for a nice yellow Sprint only to find that when I was about to pay for it the garage changed the deal by £100 less for my car so it put the deal out of my reach which gutted me to this day.
Ive had a Triumph 1300 and a Triumph Stag in the past and enjoyed improving the Stag over the 6 years that I had it but would prefer a Sprint in better condition.
Can the Club give me some Condition/Price guidlines that I can follow and does the Club have members who would check a car out in various areas of the country?

What is your budget, with or without rust?

Keith CANSDALE wrote:What is your budget, with or without rust?

I have not really decided if I will go for the best condition cars available or one I can tidy up a bit, don't really fancy fitting new floors etc or panels.
The Sprint will be an early retirement present to myself so i will be guided by advice from this forum and buying secondhand mag features so really no set budget at this time, I suppose it's just how much work I want to do.
Is it better with this car to go good original or fully restored and is nearly everything available like the Stag?

Solid road legal ones start from about £2000 (you can get them for less if you look). For that price it should be rust free and ready to go out of the box. The really nice ones cost in excess of £4-5000. MikeyB's or Mad Mart's Sprints would be such examples

TDS wrote: and is nearly everything available like the Stag?

Erh...no.

Engine/drivetrain isn't too bad (as things can be reconditioned).

Original/remanufactured body panels supply is practically non existent, though the club has an excellent supply of very good repair panels and GRP outer panels.

Interior trim is virtually impossible to find.

Unfortunately the Stag has a much stronger following than that of the Dolomite, therefore we have a much smaller base of suppliers, certainly nothing like what you would find with other Triumph models such as the Stag, TRs and Spitfires.

Thanks for all your replies, they have been very helpful.
Given what has been said I think I may go for a very good Sprint, but one that will be used often.
Do Sprints tend to be modified in some ways, as im not against improving them if needed i.e.polybushes or larger SU carbs I believe is another option?
Do cars with sunroofs and or Overdrive Gearboxes tend to be more expensive?
As mentioned when I had my Stag there were many parts specialists/suppliers, mainly I used Rimmers who were always were good and efficient, I presume that members on this forum have their regular suppliers?

Mod wise there are a few common ones.
Forum member Trackerjack designed an upgrade to the front brakes that is well worth doing if you plan to drive in a spirited way at all often, pull trailers or do alpine tours at all. You'll be fine with standard for general pottering about. Do change to braided brake line though, they feel much better and OE rubber ones often decompose inside and partially block leading to dragging brakes.
Polybushes - while they are available for the entire car there are only 2 locations that positively cry out from them. For a road 'driving' car you'll have a quieter ride keeping standard rubber properly maintained.
Carbs - The standard ones are absolutely fine for a standard, blueprinted or slightly tuned engine. Change is only needed when you are going further down the tuning path.
Cooling - Just like a Stag your cooling system needs to be kept in tip top condition. There are mods such as bigger rads, electric fans and so forth but nothing will overcome the basic need to keep the system maintained. A maintained standard system does the job just fine so why bother modifying? Be careful with getting radiators recored. A Sprint rad is the same size and shape as an 1850 item but is more dense. Not all recore shops are aware of this crucial difference and so you can end up with an under spec rad.

Sunroofs and overdrive have negligible impact on values. The club is one supplier worth adding to your list. There are legion others, ask again when you know what sort of bits you are after.

It would be well worth you looking for the thread in the main forum titled 'How do we spot and early one?'. This will tell you a great deal about the differences between earlier and later cars. There are some differences in spec between early and late cars such as seat headrests that may influence your choice of car. The earliest Sprints do carry a price premium and so.... how can I put this politely? Some early sprints are just what they claim to be. Others may have been restored using a donor shell which for the most part vendors are honest about. A small minority of Sprints claiming to be all original early ones are less honestly marketed. The quality of re-shell jobs also varies from just the donor shell used with every nut bolt & washer from the restored car retained to, at the other extreme, the minimum of parts transferred from original car to donor. It's up to you whether you think it matters if a car has been re-shelled. To me it would not but I'd be mad as a cut snake if I were lied to about the originality of a car. I have a reshelled sprint and care not one jot.

Other very worthwhile learning can be had from the restoration threads by Mad Mart (several), MikeyB and straylight (two). These are long, long threads but will show you a great deal about how it is done when done right. Search the restoration forum for first post topics by these members.

Good luck and welcome.

TDS wrote:Hi, I intend to fulfill a lifetimes ambition in the next 6 months by buying a Dolomite Sprint. Around 1981 I was about to trade in for a nice yellow Sprint only to find that when I was about to pay for it the garage changed the deal by £100 less for my car so it put the deal out of my reach which gutted me to this day.
Ive had a Triumph 1300 and a Triumph Stag in the past and enjoyed improving the Stag over the 6 years that I had it but would prefer a Sprint in better condition.
Can the Club give me some Condition/Price guidlines that I can follow and does the Club have members who would check a car out in various areas of the country?

Where in the country are you? I got rid of my stag last year and bought a sprint..... Welcome and good luck with your purchase!

I stay around the Dundee area in Scotland, I was about to actually state this also wondering if there are any club meetings or activities in this area?
My Stag had a Ford Essex 3itre V6 which never let me down in 6 years, such a great car.

TDS wrote:I stay around the Dundee area in Scotland, I was about to actually state this also wondering if there are any club meetings or activities in this area?
My Stag had a Ford Essex 3itre V6 which never let me down in 6 years, such a great car.

I was in scotland last week! -well only just.............in gretna for a wedding.Yeh my 72' stag had the rover v8 ihad mine about 4 years and just fancied a change.Not sure about meetings in scotland, i'm sure others will be a long in a minute to advise.......... cheers rich

tinweevil wrote:Cooling - Just like a Stag your cooling system needs to be kept in tip top condition. There are mods such as bigger rads, electric fans and so forth but nothing will overcome the basic need to keep the system maintained. A maintained standard system does the job just fine so why bother modifying?

In answer to your question, it is possible to eliminate a weakness of the Dolomite cooling system by removing the expansion tank
and replacing it with one that has a low level warning. With the new tank suitably positioned it is possible to ensure the warning
is activated before the coolant drops within the engine.

I have this Volvo 850 tank on my 1850.

On a Dolomite it is possible to have the coolant drop within the engine whilst the level in the expansion remains correct,
for example if you have a (slight) thermostat cover gasket leak, which is what triggered me to look to eliminate the problem.


On an 1850 or Sprint it is possible to make the existing heater more effective (so much so that it is necessary to reduce the heat
in winter, which seems so wrong.)

My Stag had the Triumph V8. Hopeless but gorgeus-sounding engine. I would have preferred a donk that would have completed more than 50% of the journeys it started.

Welcome, and good luck in your quest!

Jod Clark wrote:My Stag had the Triumph V8. Hopeless but gorgeus-sounding engine. I would have preferred a donk that would have completed more than 50% of the journeys it started.

Welcome, and good luck in your quest!

A DONK?????????????????????/

What a great forum this is, so much help/assistance already.
I never jump in to things, I always research everything thoroughly and this forum will be certainly part of it.
I shall try Rimmers for a parts brochure tomorrow.
Apart from the usual aspects such as rust, paint, engine and all round condition, what else can influence desirability and price-colour?

Overdrive.
It must have overdrive.
There should be a very nice early Sprint on the road in Dundee by the end of the year!