The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Now then,

My car is on a N plate. GWK 710N to be exact. ( Coventry registered isn't that?)

I phoned up the DVLA because I wanted to know because its registration date is 01/01/1975 if it was tax free this year or next year.

They said its worked off manufacture date and he lies a problem. The DVLA have my car down as being manufactured on 31/12/1975 so 364 days after it was apparently pounding around the streets of Coventry

Clearly my car has been re shelled at some point. pretty sure it was in the early 90s as the car is a mishmash of early and late features. ( Late bumpers, early dashboard, Late grab rails and so on) and it has that stamp on the inside of the boot that stipulates its later shell. ( Im pretty sure that's the case. Mad Mart took a look at my shell and said this is very possible)

Who can I send off to to get a certificate of some description to get the "real" built date. ( even if that built date is just for a small stamp of metal attached the turret! )

Thanks All.

James.

Stamp above has the number - 059578W

Hi James,

The first 3 years of Sprint production, the volumes were:

1973: 5446
1974: 4232
1975: 3589

So by the end of 1974, a total of 9678 Sprints were produced. The chassis numbers of the first production run were consecutive, so your Sprints VIN plate is clearly produced mid-1974

The original car didn’t have Overdrive as standard and was Carmine red with Brown interior by the way.

The body tag however, and I guess the body as well, is very late: I would say mid-1980. The last Dolomite Sprint produced, now in the Heritage Centre in Gaydon, has a body tag in the 60/61000s and was produced in sept-1980.

The Heritage Centre in Gaydon is also the place where you can order a birth certificate. They now also offer a web enquiry service. From the VIN number, a Date of Build is issued , based on the factory documents in their library.

You can also order a nicely printed Heritage Certificate. Maybe, they could also do a special search on the body number tag to find the original VIN/registration of the 1980 body.

Good luck!

Fantastic news thank you so much for the info chap!


We all knew my car was a ringer!

Ive sent off for the full heritage certificate, its the only thing DVLA will take apparently.

Im paying for a certificate for a vin plate basically!

The car is Green, has a black interior a 5 speed gearbox and a 1800 CC turbocharged Nissan engine.

Hmmm.....

knightrider150 wrote:Fantastic news thank you so much for the info chap!


We all knew my car was a ringer!

Ive sent off for the full heritage certificate, its the only thing DVLA will take apparently.

Im paying for a certificate for a vin plate basically!

The car is Green, has a black interior a 5 speed gearbox and a 1800 CC turbocharged Nissan engine.

Hmmm.....

Yeah, but the Commission plate (its not a VIN till 79) is what will get you that lovely free road tax come April so the £40 (or whatever it is now for a heritage certificate) is a good investment!

I think you will find it counter productive to investigate (with anyone official) the ancestry of the shell, they might decide that your car is a 1980 1500HL lowering its value ridiculously and extending the wait for free tax till 2020. As our colonial cousins put it, "don't ask, don't tell!"

Steve

I've got an ex Australian Sprint log book saying manufactured 1975, wonder if I can get a build date from somewhere?

I've just had a look at my 1975 chassis no VA16412DL, got a feeling mines a late 1975 then?

Daily, your car is from the second production batch that started at VA15001 in May 1975 and stopped at VA18278 in Feb/March 1976.

In between, the chassis numbers appear to be consecutive. So your guess (late 1975) could be true

Hi all

My N plate Sprint is VA4590DL

I applied to DVLA for a Herritage certificate and they refunded my money saying they had lost the build records for that car!

I assume it will be tax free from April if it isn't already, but I'm not sure how to go about proving it?

I don't think this does mean that your car has been re-shelled, if the VA number is the same as in the V5 then it must relate to the reg number otherwise DVLA must have changed the VA number from the other car; would they allow that?

My two sprint log books show VA 3136 was crafted on about 18-10-74, my other one says VA 9603 was made on or about 01-03-75, there is 20 weeks between the two chassis numbers and a differeance of 6467 chassis numbers, that averages 323 sprints per week.

There is 11 weeks between your chassis date and my 3136, 11 x 323 should be chassis number VA6693, a differance of only 890 shells or two to three weeks production but my figures are average, more may have been produced in this period.

I would suggest that the build date of 31-12-75 is an error and should be 31-12-74

regards Malcolm

Hi Malcolm

Is VA3136s build date really October 74, or is this its registration date?
This would suggest that only 3000 Sprints were built in the first year and a half or so.
I had thought that more than that were produced in 73, never mind the other 10 months of 74.

Tom.

Hi Tom and Malcolm, see posts above:

TahitiSPRINT wrote:
The first 3 years of Sprint production, the volumes were:

1973: 5446
1974: 4232
1975: 3589

So by the end of 1974, a total of 9678 Sprints were produced. The chassis numbers of the first production run were consecutive,

I would suggest he means 1973. My Sprint is Chassis No. VA3225 and was built on the 18th October 1973 and Registered 31st December 1973.

Hope this helps.

Well, I got there in the end.

Gwk710n is dead. long live CDE 623M!

Dvla had to change to an age related plate after agreeing the documents are incorrect.

Its odd, that number plate was part of the cars identity - after 15 years of ownership it is somewhat odd!