The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi

I am thinking of buying a Dolomite which may be used as a daily driver for while.

I have been trying to get some info together to make a decision on which to buy and wonder if any members could fill in a few gaps.

It seems to be a good idea to look at a pre. 1975 'good metal' Dolly but can anybody tell me if what improvements were made when the HL was introduced (apart for the obvious cosmetic ones) or where I can get a spec on the early ones..

Also I quite fancy an automatic. There seem to be quite a few 1500s for sale but these would seem to be high revving at cruise speeds. I would be happy with the 1500 (I have had 2 1500 spitfires and currently have a 13/60 convertable), I know that they have their problems but, in my experience, if you service them regularily and treat them with respect they are OK. I would think that the 1500 is best suited to an overdrive box however. So it looks like an 1850 for an automatic box, is there anywhere that I can get economy/performance figures for an automatic? Rimmers give the auto diff. as 3.27:1 I cannot find this in the brochure but if so then this would be a very acceptable cruiser.

Any other advice/opinions would be very welcome.

Alan, you would be better off asking this in the 'Dolomite related' section.

Hi Alan

Another Alan here.....

Here are some factory specifications that I hope you find useful. The first two are for the early 1850 showing both the manual (non overdrive) and automatic gearing ratios.

The second shows the post 76 HL cars specifications showing what they gained over the earlier cars.

Performance figures for the 1500 HL are shown as 0 -60 time of 13.6 seconds, mpg is given as 29.9

For 1850HL we have a 0 -60 time for 11.3, mpg is given as 33.1 (this is a non o/d car), no performance figures for the automatics are given I'm afraid.

If you need any additional info please let me know here and I will see what I can find.

Thank you Alan, That is very helpful