The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

On my travels today Hellingly Festival of Transport there was what looked like a Sprint, but had no sprint badges, and some paperwork to say it was one of a few 1972 cars and was about one of 150 cars called a Triumph 135? was it realtor a spoof?

The Dolomite 135 existed insofar as parts like badges were made for it and I once saw a parts list so labelled. The odd badge still turns up on ebay from time to time.

But it's my belief that no such complete vehicle ever existed, let alone 150 of them. Even the prototype car, itself built from a White, line 1850 shell, painted Mimosa and never given a VA chassis number, was badged as Sprint and appeared in numerous publicity photos as such. Chassis VA1 which still exists, is and has always been, badged as a Sprint. So no, I think what you saw is a hoax car! Though there is a tiny element of truth amidst the urban myth!

The Sprint was originally going to be called Dolomite 135, that being the theoretical horsepower output of the motor. But they discovered the line engines couldn't reliably guarantee this output, so the name was changed at the last minute and the engine rated officially at 127 BHP, i'd guess to avoid prosecutions for false advertising.

Oh, NO Sprints except maybe the prototype were built in 72, Sprint production didn't start till January of 73, with the first 2000+ cars being built between January and the June launch date with every one being Mimosa Yellow.

Steve

The prototype car was also originally LHD.

I suspect it is a mock up/spoof car. Although as stated there were a few prototypes (6) from the factory that were built well before the launch of the Sprint as we know it.
They all had X - Chassis numbers as was norm with experimental cars and were codenamed Swift within the factory. Starting X818 through to X823 (not including the famous swift rally car X826 - (CKV 2K)which was built in April 1972.
They all seemed to have been built in December 1971 and all were on a K plates with the exception of FHP 678L (X818) which was blue and was a Automatic development car.
All of them had X nominated engine numbers with exception of X821 (CWK 438K) which weirdly is listed as having engine number VA1906HE. The car was red and was an Overdrive development car.
Interestingly i have managed to find a couple factory photos of FHP 923L (The LHD converted 1850) within the Archive at Gaydon i am hoping to gain permission to publish one of these in the club mag soon. It shows the car from floor level and you can clearly see how poor and quickly the mimosa paint was applied over the white, i believe the photos were taken on or before the famous brochure shoot.

tangocharlie1 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2024 3:17 pm I suspect it is a mock up/spoof car. Although as stated there were a few prototypes (6) from the factory that were built well before the launch of the Sprint as we know it.
They all had X - Chassis numbers as was norm with experimental cars and were codenamed Swift within the factory. Starting X818 through to X823 (not including the famous swift rally car X826 - (CKV 2K)which was built in April 1972.
They all seemed to have been built in December 1971 and all were on a K plates with the exception of FHP 678L (X818) which was blue and was a Automatic development car.
All of them had X nominated engine numbers with exception of X821 (CWK 438K) which weirdly is listed as having engine number VA1906HE. The car was red and was an Overdrive development car.
Interestingly i have managed to find a couple factory photos of FHP 923L (The LHD converted 1850) within the Archive at Gaydon i am hoping to gain permission to publish one of these in the club mag soon. It shows the car from floor level and you can clearly see how poor and quickly the mimosa paint was applied over the white, i believe the photos were taken on or before the famous brochure shoot.

Be great to see the photos, lets hope you get permission.

Couldn't sleep last nights started scrolling thru U-Tube for something to watch, and found this vid of said triumph entering the show,

Pre-production, on a ‘N’ plate? By the time that car was registered, nearly half the total production had been made!

Yep that car was built in 1974 i suspect it would sit somewhere between chassis number range of VA 8000 - VA 9000 way of the earlier models.