The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hey I'm new here, I'm looking for some advice, Im after a few new panels for my 1973 Toledo 1.3 rwd. Unfortunately I've discovered it's a rare year for the Toledo from what I've been told by rimmer brothers, so much so they actually don't even make the laminate panels anymore.

To give you some background to my reasoning for opting for metal wings and the predicament I find myself in. I'm after a metal replacement ideally as I unfortunately had a major crash (rolled it) last year so I'm intending to do a bare metal resto mod look to her as she was in immaculate stock condition but unfortunately due to the crash the original paint is ruined along with some super glue exploding in my tool bag which ruined the interior ect so in order to keep her from the scrap yard / parts bin I'm replacing the roof skin that's crumpled (should mention the pillars are all structurally sound I've had this checked by my mechanic) most of the panels are flawless due to the condition I kept her in before hand asides tiny dings here and there but unfortunately unbeknown to me it'd seem in the past she's had a massive impact to the front and just been filled and painted over the crumple points so the eyebrows are unsalvageable and so is the lower valance but that's due to rot, the rest of the panels are minor repairs I'll attach some pics of her stripped back to bare metal currently. Just to add she only came off the road due to a couple of grands worth of welding needing doing (chassis legs, sills ect meant all the interior + engine/gearbox and subframe has to come out) which I couldn't afford at the time due to another project plus after the crash I couldn't see the point in paying for my mechanic to remove the interior and engine/subframe ect only to put it back for me to remove it later on to replace the damaged interior and have the roof skin replaced along with a few new intended disc brake conversion so at the time it was cheaper to buy another car so now I have 2 projects and 1 classic daily. Sorry for the background story lol.

Outer Sills I am going to get from the club here and after a great deal of searching have been offered a set of metal front wings in need of a minor repair but am unsure of if they would be compatible with the 73 Toledo as it's a rare year so the advice I'm after is if anyone can confirm this through pictures before I commit to buying them I believe they are for a triumph 1500 fwd (pic down below) any advice would be welcomed even better if someone on here sells metal replacement wings or metal eyebrows as most of the wing is salvagable.

Appologies to rich' who I bought the car off of a few years ago if you see this 'penelope' will live again.

I'm not sure why Rimmers are telling you that! The wings you've sourced from a 1500FWD should fit perfectly as the same part number front wings were used on all Dolomites, Toledos and 1500 FWDs.

Metal eyebrows are I'm afraid something of a rarity, but are prone to rotting out anyway as their function is a non structural closing panel; we do a faithful reproduction in GRP which will never rot, and once the outer panels are back on over, they cannot be seen.

The Club cills are very good quality and are heavy gauge zinc coated steel.

Rimmers are talking rot as usual. There's no difference in the front wings, 1 size fits all, Toledo to Sprint. If you had a short bumper car, which you don't, you'd have an unwanted hole to fill in the lower front corner of the wing, but that's it.

And there is nothing very special about a 73 Toledo, I have a 2 door 73 one myself, bits are no more difficult for that car than any other Dolomite shaped vehicle.

Be that as it may, you will still struggle with getting a steel front end. The club make some very nice and very accurate GRP panels, simply because we costed up making steel replicas and the cost was prohibitive. There are 6 press tools needed to make each front wing alone. As with all things, NOS panels crop up from time to time but expect to pay £300+ for a NOS steel wing, £400+ for a steel outer front panel, £100+ for a steel inner front panel and up to £120 apiece for NOS eyebrow panels. Rimmers do a not very good repro copy eyebrow for £117+VAT (last time I looked) Away from the front end there are some good repair panels available from the club for most of the major rot points.

Or you may get lucky (looks like you have) and find some repairable used bits. Like NOS, you find them in the wind!

Hope this helps, Steve

There were actually 14 tools for each front wing, BMIHT still have them, but unfortunately having been stored outside at some point in their past, the main draw tool has been compromised beyond use.

xvivalve wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:07 pm There were actually 14 tools for each front wing, BMIHT still have them, but unfortunately having been stored outside at some point in their past, the main draw tool has been compromised beyond use.

At risk of causing a thread hijack - It could be repaired, look up spray welding.

Looking forward to see your Toledo live to fight(drive!) another day mate!

PS Tinweevil excellent suggestion, hopefully happens

Unfortunately, the cost of refurbing the tools, vs the likely demand, probably makes it uneconomic

Without a shadow of doubt unfortunately.