The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

So, given the age of the vehicle and that judging by the parts book it would be "pre com. WF4109" I'd have said WFxx28DLA, but the plate looks like it's stamped WFxx281DLA (where xx are 2 digits I removed because I don't really want to publish valid reg/vin/com details online.)



Thoughts?
Cheers, Sam

That 1 looks a bit out of place.. What does your V5 say? (I think MoTs used to have them on too but no idea if that's the case any more)

geeksteve wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:43 pm That 1 looks a bit out of place.. What does your V5 say? (I think MoTs used to have them on too but no idea if that's the case any more)

Good point! I'll go find the V5/MOT!

the final "1" digit is present on both the V5 and MOTs - but that would give it a comm. number over in the 10s of thousands not the thousands. Seems strange.

Before the rolling tax exemption was re-introduced, it was not uncommon, albeit illegal, for an early plate to be put onto a later car as it effectively saved the owner upwards of £140 per year when it pretended to be older than it was, though this wouldn't explain how an early plate and a too late a VIN became combined on the V5...there were literally thousands of the 1850 made very quickly in the first two years though.

Where is the dot positioned under the word 'toughened' on all of the glass though?

xvivalve wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 4:40 pm Where is the dot positioned under the word 'toughened' on all of the glass though?

A quick tally up 3/8 glass have the dot under the U of TOUGHENED, 5/8 have the dot under the O.

That's December 1972, that pic. probably the 'U' windows have one dot above the T of Triplex?

Jeroen

soe8m wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 8:11 am That's December 1972, that pic. probably the 'U' windows have one dot above the T of Triplex?
Jeroen

A summary of the dot placement as follows:
Left Front quarter light: 1 under the o in toughened,1 above T and 2 above the x in Triplex (o,T,2x) = Sept '72?
Left front door: 1 under the o in toughened,1 above T and 2 above the x in Triplex (o,T,2x) = Sept '72?
Left rear door: 1 under the u in toughened, 1 above T in Triplex (u,T) = Jan '73?
Left rear quarter: light 1 under the o in toughened, 2 above the x in Triplex (o,2x) = April '72?
Right front quarter: light 1 under the o in toughened, 2 above the x in Triplex (o,2x)= April '72?
right front door: 1 under the u in toughened, 1 above T in Triplex (u,T) = Jan '73?
right rear door: 1 under the u in toughened, 1 above T in Triplex (u,T) = Jan '73?
right rear quarter light: o, 2 above the x in Triplex (o,2x) = May '72?

So yes, you are right there Jeroen!

Cheers, Sam

From the evidence of the Triplex markings I'd be happy that you have a nice genuine early 1850 car, and that the extra "1" is a mis-stamping.
A couple of extra things you can look at.
Does the body number plate welded in just above the commission plate look reasonable ? i.e <10,000 .
I think this should be a "1WBxxxx " number.
Is the engine number reasonably below 10,000 ? WF 1E xxxx ?
Ditto the gearbox and diff; serial numbers.
I imagine it also has the early style 1-piece number plate lamp and Strombergs.
Tony.

There's a plate riveted to the body next to the commission plate, but the number is well over 10k! 78847WB I just get more confused. Trying to find the engine number.. Haven't found it yet.

MIG Wielder wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:15 pm I imagine it also has the early style 1-piece number plate lamp and Strombergs.
Tony.

At least this bit matches up....

They produced over 5,000 Sprints in 1973, so it's not inconceivable that they managed over 10,000 original Dolomites in the '72-'73 registration year; this was after all just prior to the periods of industrial action which blighted the industry...


Total 1850 production over 9 years was some 100,000, so proportionally this adds up too.

You may find the axle and gearbox numbers easier to find than the engine number...

Thanks @geeksteve , @xvivalve , @MIG Wielder , @soe8m

I'll have a crawl around under the car and see if I can find gearbox/axle numbers

Received a heritage certificate today, based on a commission number in the LOW 20K (as printed on the plate with the 1 as the final digit) details match up with the car.
Jan 1973 build and supplied to a dealership in Wolverhampton.

I'll tally up the engine and gearbox numbers against the cert to see if they are original once I can find them (been searching for the number on the engine block in various places, haven't found it yet!)