Dolomite Sprint Automatic - Newcastle

[xvivalve]

That would depend on how original it was...

[Carledo]

Not on my list of Sprint autos known to the club.

Well it is now!

In theory, commission number must be higher than VA 2000 because those before were all Mimosa yellow, however this one may have been resprayed white as an over VA 2000 comm number doesn't fit well with it's pre 31/7/73 reg number. Any true L reg Sprint is going to be an early car, but I have seen Sprint running gear built into early 1850s to get a tax exemption under the old pre 73 rules.

I'm gonna dive off and see what DVLA has to say about it!

Steve

EDIT, DVLA gives it a DOFR in June 73, White and 1998cc. Now the Sprint was only launched to the public in June 73 (correct me if i'm wrong, Alun) and all the first 2000 cars were yellow! It's either a VERY early car, resprayed white, or a ringer, built into an early Dolomite shell. Without a comm number, its anybodies guess which!

[xvivalve]

This is VA203...well, it purports to be...

[sprint95m]

You can change the colour and the transmission type on a V5C.



Ian.

[Carledo]

This is VA203...well, it purports to be...

Leaving aside for a moment, the possibilty that the car has been reshelled, if it is carrying VA 203, then that means it WAS originally a Sprint auto and it is the oldest surviving one known to the club (ie on my list) by a considerable margin, the next newest being on an N plate!

Steve

[xvivalve]

This car was discussed at length last summer when it was sold several times, it was owned by Tom Bolstridge who did the auto conversion, and consensus was the paint colour of that shell hadn’t changed.

[xvivalve]

It's still a good spot...and still a Dolomite

[Carledo]

Ah, so it's VA 203 DL, not VA 203 DLA (or DLBW) and therefore not originally auto. So used to seeing auto's converted to manual, it didn't occur to me that someone would have gone the other way!

Ian, you certainly can change the colour on the V5, no need to change the trans type as there's no section for that, but most Sprint autos were listed as Dolomite Sprint Automatic (or Auto) under the "model" section on the V5 and this may not be altered. This is why Auto Sprints have their own dedicated section on howmanyleft.com.

Also the commission number (vin) is different for an automatic (DL=4 speed manual, DLO= overdrive manual and DLA= automatic) this may not be altered on the V5 either.

Admittedly the VIN plate can be cobbled to produce the result you want, all it takes is a blank plate and some letter/number punches and you can have any trans code you want, as well as any colour/trim combo. but the V5 won't lie (though it MAY be mistaken, see Alun's article on his Magenta Sprint in the latest Dolly Mixture) and the wrong trans code in the comm number will cause problems at MOT time since they use the last 6 digits to identify the car, whatever those digits are. So in the case of this car, a manual car's last 6 digits would be A203DL whereas an auto's would be 203DLA or 03DLBW. And the tester would get very confused!

Steve

Like so!



Sorry about the slightly blurry image, blame my phone camera! Even the engine number (which contains no number on MY V5) has the telltale A for auto as the last letter, but this CAN be changed!

[Toledo Man]

Steve, aren't you aware of MikeyB's French blue Sprint Auto VA27471 which was a 1974 car? His (aborted) resto thread is HERE. Back in October 2011 I did a bit of "research" and there was only one older Sprint auto (a 1973 car). Could this be it?

[Carledo]

Steve, aren't you aware of MikeyB's French blue Sprint Auto VA27471 which was a 1974 car? His (aborted) resto thread is HERE. Back in October 2011 I did a bit of "research" and there was only one older Sprint auto (a 1973 car). Could this be it?

From reading Mikey's thread, VA2741 DLA was TOAST in 2011, does it even still exist? At least in any meaningful form?

VA203 (the white car) seems to be (not to be rude) a bit of a hybrid and at first glance appears to have little resemblance between the comm number and the actual car. It's said to have been Green at one point and it's current shell has been judged by credible witnesses to have always been white, when, of course, it should have originally been Mimosa. It may not even have been auto originally! So there MAY be another 73 registered car out there! If there is, nobody knows where it is!

Steve

[xvivalve]

The auto' 'box came available as an optional extra at the same time as laminated 'screens in autumn '73.

I would suggest this would be after the initial 2000 on two bases; the first 2000 were manufactured speculatively, before specific orders were received from the dealers and they would therefore have all been standard equipment (this may explain why none of them had overdrive as that necessitated a different gearbox as the main output shaft is different). The automatic would not only require a different gearbox, but also propshaft, brake pedal and omission of the clutch pedal/hydraulics and different internal trim, so these would likely be factory ordered cars rather than dealer altered; the VIN also had an 'A' suffix which would have been registered by the factory.

Given the total production number in 1973, the first 2000 would all have been made prior to the autumn using simple interpolation.

Also, the previous owner of 203 told me he'd converted it.

[Carledo]

The auto' 'box came available as an optional extra at the same time as laminated 'screens in autumn '73.

I would suggest this would be after the initial 2000 on two bases; the first 2000 were manufactured speculatively, before specific orders were received from the dealers and they would therefore have all been standard equipment (this may explain why none of them had overdrive as that necessitated a different gearbox as the main output shaft is different). The automatic would not only require a different gearbox, but also propshaft, brake pedal and omission of the clutch pedal/hydraulics and different internal trim, so these would likely be factory ordered cars rather than dealer altered; the VIN also had an 'A' suffix which would have been registered by the factory.

Given the total production number in 1973, the first 2000 would all have been made prior to the autumn using simple interpolation.

Also, the previous owner of 203 told me he'd converted it.

Except for the inconvenient fact that a previous owner told you it was converted, there would have been a case to be made that this was the factory development car for the auto. a) it's white, development car colour, b) the Dolomite (1850) was already available with the model 65 fitted so most of the bits would already have been at hand. It's even less needful to alter the trans angle for the auto than the manual, as there is no solid connection between shifter and trans, just a floppy rod so shifter position is irrelevant to engine trans position in the car. So long as the trans sump pan is more or less horizontal, you're good to go! PS anybody actually KNOW if the 1850 and Sprint autos share a bellhousing?

Oh, and Mikey, if you read this, what happened to VA 2741DLA? is it just a paper car now? You can PM me if you don't wish to publish it!

Steve