The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi All
I have just bought my first small triumph. I have owned a mk1 saloon and 2 stags and currently have a mk2 auto stag, I use it alot and three of us (wife daughter and I ) have alot of fun running eround in it during the summer.

Over recent years I have also owned several Imps both Sunbeam and Hillman, great little cars but just a bit too small and bit too frentic. The Hillman got the full treat met 930 janspeed exhaust webers etc - quite a quick wee car by the end of it!

I bought this toledo (white 1500 4 door) becuase I wanted a manual which I could use in the odd gymkahana, exploring the back roads out in the country - or what ever and also because it was going to be crushed if I didnt buy it. Much as I love the old stag its not really something you can call a drivers car! (especially in three speed auto form)
So I bought this toledo on the strength of 4 photos I saw on FB so its bit of a gamble as to whether it will be as good in the flesh as it looks in the photos. But hey it only cost $500 so
I have yet to get it down from the middle of the north island, hopefully it will turn up next week.
Im led to believe these early toledos are pretty tough - it dosent look like it has much rust but we will soon see!
Im going to tidy it up and get it going and see how I feel about it then.

From what I can see from the photos I m going to need a battery and a radiator and the state of the steeering column cover and ignition also looks a but questionable.

Given that the stag is our second car the time needs to be spent on getting a few things sorted on that mostly notably the interior! So that will take priority.

Pictures to follow

cheers
Alastair

Some pictures of the car

Welcome Alastair,
That looks like a nice solid car. I look forward to reading about how you get on.

Well done for saving it.

If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, international economy postage isn't too dear, and doesn't take that long!

Welcome to the Forum!

It's probably worth dropping a PM to Robert352 on this forum who is also a resident of your fair land AND a Toledo owner (as well as a Sprint, an 1850 or two and a Lotus Sunbeam) Think he lives near Christchurch but could be wrong.

most Toledo bits are easily obtainable (relatively) and many are shared with the Dolomite. The sole exception being the fuel tank which is Toledo specific and made of unobtanium reinforced rocking horse poo! The big bugbear of Rust that blights the majority of UK cars doesn't seem to affect NZ vehicles so badly for which you may be grateful!

Steve

Hi All
Have just been having a look at the Orange Dolomite Sprint project on here - very impressive as to what some people can do.

I have started stripping the Toledo. I am working through the car slowly and have started on the doors and the front and back of the car and then will progress on to the motor and the interior. I had initially planned to try and get the car running - I got it to turn over but didn't get it running no biggee really - bit of a distraction.
As is often the case I bought this car and then shortly afterwards found a far better Toledo (hereby known as the green car) with no rust but minus gear box and an engine - however reasonably expensive. The rust in the car I have is really too extensive to make restoring it worth while which is a pity - I was hoping to save it ....but you cant save them all. The rust is in four doors, the front valance which is just about rusted away, the bonnet, the front guards, left hand sill, boot lid and small random bits of rust around the boot area. By the time I buy a welder and do all repairs involved (or at least the ones I can do) as well as get it painted etc it would simply cost too much to restore and it take too long. Anyway it was dirt cheap and least I got a good engine and gearbox for not much - so not a complete loss

So the task at hand is to strip all usable bits out of the car and then will get rid of the shell and get the green car from up country and will put the motor and engine from the white car into the green car. But in the mean time Ill go and have another at the green car just to check it is in as good a shape as it looks to be

So that's the plan anyway.

Well as per the last post ive have had another look at the green car and it looks definitely the way to go. Im not really to sure what I should keep out of the white car but im basically stripping everything and can rationalize whats needed once I get the green car down here. Amongst other things the white car has a nice black interior which ill put in the green car - would be good if I could find some adjustable seats. Because it is so tightly packed in where it being stored I couldn't even get the bonnet open or get in side the green car which was a bit annoying. I also got rather distracted by a nice red 2500S - but that will have to wait for another day! Im thinking about what I want to do with the green car - mainly because the vendor also has dolomite parts available.
Id like to get a dolomite 1850 rear end and the overdrive gearbox and put them into the toledo - This will work hopefuly
Ill probably stick with the 1500 engine unless a dolomite sprint engine turns up out the blue - unlikely theres not many in NZ.

Any one else on here from NZ with Dolomite parts available

Mean time the strip out continues - Ill have to think about what to do with the old shell