dolomite estate?

[marko]

I've been having a few thoughts lately about wanting some extra room in the car and am fed up of taking the rear seats out as the car then looks a mess. The back of the roof still needs patches cutting out and new welding in to keep it ordinary shaped but the thought went through my mind...
Does anyone know of one that's been done? Any ideas on the boot/tailgate? General thoughts are also welcome like "don't ruine the car", "twat", sounds good! Any ideas and thoughts would be great.
Thankyou, Mark.

[Jon Tilson]

If you want an estate you have to go back to the dark ages and get a Herald or go bigger and get a T2000/2500.

As estate cars sadly the Triumph offerings dont work that well. Its the IRS that limits the load carrying ability and theyarent that big inside either.
Volvos are much better as estates, if not as cars.

Best to rent or borrow a van when you need to shift proper stuff. An estate is just too big a compromise and half the time it isnt big enough
anyway.


Jonners

[captain_70s]

The back end of a Dolly will sag if you have three people in the back, load carrying isn't really it's forte... The car also narrows considerably towards the back end, so your load space will be compromised, not to mention fashioning a tailgate and a surround that will support it.
It has to be admitted that the boot space is pretty crap though, would be better if the bootlid hinges weren't utterly in the way.

On a semi-related note, here is a Photoshop of my Dolly 1300 as an estate:

[tony g]

i quite like the look of that photoshop captain, could you graft a gt 6 back end on too?

Tony

[TrustNo1]

If the rear of the car sags with passengers in the back seats you have a very serious structual problem.
The roof gutter line and top edges of doors dont allow for the roof line to extend to the rear of the car and still allow for a decent load height.

[Carledo]

I'm still considering this for the "spare" 2 door Toledo I have in my yard, a car which offers a much better chance of a successful conversion since it has a shorter tail, the boot lid drops to bumper leveland there are no back doors to modify and complicate the design. I had concluded that parts from a Herald estate roof and tailgate could be used to make a working tailgate for the conversion and by cutting the whole saloon roof off a couple of inches behind the B pillars and moving that back to the tail of the car, it would only be needful to add about 18 inches or so of another roof in the middle.
Whether i'll ever get around to doing it is another matter, at the moment a simple restoration of an already very sound little car is very much on the cards as I have quite a few projects on the go already. Plus the 2 door cars are getting very thin on the ground, particularly in original unmodified form!

Steve

[Carledo]

i quite like the look of that photoshop captain, could you graft a gt 6 back end on too?

Tony

You'd definitely have to do that to a 2 door car!
Some of you here may know that I used to own the Herald Hatchback that has now been beautifully restored by Chris Gunby. In 66 when that car was built, they also made a 2000 hatchback which was later used as a development hack for the PI and still exists, though the last time I saw it, it was in a helluva state. Legend has it that a 1300 FWD hatchback was also built though I have found no trace of it in my research, either of its continued existence or its fate. Unusually, both of the known cars did not have Triumphs "X" (for experimental) comm numbers so its existence, or otherwise, can't be confirmed that way. What definitely DID exist was a later Toledo 2 door hatchback called the Toledo "Sherpa" this before the name was applied to a more humble Leyland van. I have a photo of this that Rob Marshall sent me but my computer illiteracy prevents me from transferring it here. Also beyond doubt is the Carbodies 1300FWD estate car which was built but never got beyond the prototype stage. Pictures of that have been posted on here in similar threads to this one.

Steve

[Toledo Man]

For the benefit for those who haven't seen it before here is the 1300 estate.

The photo was taken from Keith Adams' "aronline" website. The link to it is HERE

I even know what became of the car. Steve W. went to a breakers in Leeds for some 1300 parts and was told by the yard owner words to the effect of "we had a 1300 estate in the other week which we crushed".

[lazeruspete]

I even know what became of the car. Steve W. went to a breakers in Leeds for some 1300 parts and was told by the yard owner words to the effect of "we had a 1300 estate in the other week which we crushed".

change 'a' to 'the' and this makes me sad

[Toledo Man]

The breaker wasn't aware that it was a one-off at the time.