Prime Find of the Week: Stride Towards a Sprint

In last week’s Prime Find, Tony Wawryk brought us a Hillman Avenger Tiger and remarked that it wasn’t the obvious choice for the enthusiast seeking a fast saloon. He mentioned competition from Ford and Vauxhall but you may have wondered why a certain other product hailing from Coventry didn’t get a mention. As detailed in Tony’s article, the Avenger Tiger was only in production for a short period and disappeared from showrooms in 1973, just as this week’s Prime Find hit the market. For those disappointed at the Hillman’s demise, they may have been consoled by the hotly anticipated new performance saloon found in the next showroom. This week we present the Triumph Dolomite Sprint.

The Escort RS2000 was the iconic sporting saloon of the 1970s but for the family man it lacked two vital features; doors, additional ones. Fast and compact four door saloons were in short supply. Vauxhall could sell you a four door Magnum but it was overshadowed by the dramatic coupe appeal of the Firenza. The Avenger Tiger offered a solution of sorts but it was quite brash and drank fuel like it was going out of fashion, not an attractive quality after the shock of the oil crisis. There was space in the market for a rapid more-door saloon which would appeal to grown-ups, those seeking a stealthy car devoid of a matt black bonnet or driving lamps bolted to the bumper. Triumph was perhaps the obvious firm to take the concept forward. The brand had long cultivated a sporting image with models like the six-cylinder Vitesse and the larger 2000 and 2500 series saloons. For those who could afford greater panache than an Austin but weren’t quite ready for a Rover, Triumph plugged the gap. Although resolutely British, their long relationship with Michelotti brought some continental chic to Canley and their cars were comfortable and well appointed. Triumphs were intended to be an affordable step on the ladder of aspiration and their new compact and sporting saloon would be a different proposition from the Avenger Tiger.

Six-cylinder Triumph sports saloons

The Dolomite was launched in October 1972 and was the final product emerging from Project Ajax, an initiative which unexpectedly created a whole range of small cars. Ajax was originally supposed to be a replacement for the Herald but the project changed course, went upscale and first emerged as the front wheel drive Triumph 1300 in 1966. It was warmly received but despite pushing the upper boundaries on price positioning Triumph still found it hard to make a profit due to increased production costs from their first foray into front wheel drive technology. The cheaper Herald was still in need of replacement, but Triumph had backed themselves into a financial corner with the 1300 and there was limited available budget to go back to the drawing board. Their solution involved retaining the core monocoque body of the 1300 but reengineering the mechanicals to take an existing inline engine and reverting to rear wheel drive with a live axle. Michelotti got to work on the body and the new Toledo model debuted in 1970 in both two door and four door variants. The Toledo was positioned to attract former Herald customers but looked much more modern, so the front wheel drive 1300 received a similar facelift and the family also gained a more powerful 1500cc variant. Michelotti’s rework also entailed a longer tail with luggage much enhanced, instantly increasing practicality and showroom appeal. The long tail version of the 1500 clearly had further potential for development and it was this car that formed the basis of the Dolomite.

By 1970, Triumph were selling the short tail rear wheel drive Toledo and the long tail front wheel drive 1500. In an echo of the jiggery-pokery that begat the Toledo, the starting point for the new Dolomite was the 1500 body converted to rear wheel drive by means of Toledo running gear. This move may have seemed counter intuitive but Triumph could produce a traditional rear drive car more cost effectively, access on the longitudinal engine was easier for servicing and the market was still used to the more established layout so wouldn’t widely judge it to be a retrograde step. The Triumph line up at the time of the October 1971 London Motor Show was potentially confusing with three models that were all a variation on a close theme, including the new Dolomite. At the same time it was still just about possible to buy a last of the line Herald, despite the fact that it should have been replaced in the mid-sixties by the original but now superseded 1300.

Having resulted from such a tried and tested buffet of components it should have come as no surprise that the “new” Dolomite was warmly greeted by the press. However, although a visitor to that 1971 Motor Show could press their nose up against the glass they could not actually buy one. In grand British Leyland fashion, factory strikes had prevented Triumph from building up enough stock for the dealerships and although the launch had already been delayed, the car didn’t achieve full production until late summer 1972. Those who actually managed to get their hands on a Dolomite only had one engine choice, the new Saab derived slant-four 1,854 cc overhead cam engine which produced 91bhp. Whilst this was healthy enough, Triumph had bigger plans and a team lead by Spen King set to work on a 1,995cc twin carburettor evolution with an advanced 16 valve cylinder head. To underline the point that BL employed some very talented engineers the 16 valves were actuated by a single camshaft with long rockers controlling the second set of valves, doing away with the cost and complexity of twin cams. Clever stuff. Remember this was 1972 and a mainstream 16-valve engine was still impossibly exotic, in fact not only did the head win a Design Council award but it was billed as being the world’s first mass produced multi valve car engine. King’s team had targeted 135bhp and had planned to name the car “Dolomite 135” but testing delivered a reliable 150bhp. This was greatly exciting and would have been remarkable had it been possible to replicate under production conditions, but the best the factory could reliably manage was between 125 and 130bhp, still powerful but not quite what had been expected internally. The rest of the car was upgraded accordingly with a stronger gearbox complete with close ratios and optional overdrive, larger rear brakes and a limited slip differential. The Special Tuning catalogue offered further goodies in the form of larger carburettors, a free-flowing exhaust, and competition camshafts, all developed for homologation purposes.

Talking of homologation, the Sprint made an immediate impact in competition. Andy Rouse and Tony Dron won the manufacturer’s title in the 1974 British Touring Car Championship, whilst Dron took 5^th overall at the Spa 24 Hours and 3^rd at the RAC Tourist Trophy. The following year, Rouse won the British championship outright and Dron would still dominate in the car as late as 1977. The works rally team were more focussed on developing the TR7 but the Dolomite still took first place in Group One on the 1975 Lombard RAC and the car became an interesting clubman alternative to an Escort, being competitive against an RS2000 in true standard Group One form. A friend of mine campaigned one extensively throughout the 1970s and reported that the car’s reputation for head gasket failure was undeserved, his managing to be roundly abused with only one precautionary change per year. Maintenance, as ever, is everything. However, it was that reputation for overheating and complexity that ultimately became received opinion and the antics of British Leyland’s factories and service networks didn’t help matters. Having been tarred with the BL brush, classic status was delayed and spares supply isn’t as strong as for some of its contemporaries, but there is now a renewed interest in the Sprint. As an example of ingenuity and ambition, it’s right up there with the best.

Last time I glanced at the Dolly Sprint section of the usual well-known classic car sale websites there was a good selection of UK cars for sale, but this week they seem to be in short supply. As a result, I’ll showcase this French registered example, located in Spain but for sale through a dealer in the UK. Details are a little limited but it’s apparently a 1978 car, originally sold in France and having undergone a “full body restoration with all new sheet metal where needed prior to a professional respray and all new body rubbers.” We’d be looking for photos to back this up but more images can be requested, so perhaps a record of the work is available. Encouragingly, the car is still on old French plates denoting long term ownership and comes with its original paperwork and lots of history. The price of £7,395 would seem fair for a good Sprint these days, but we have to assume shipping is priced on top and if it came back to the UK it would need to be locally registered upon arrival. Buying unseen is always a risk so it would be wise to arrange an inspection before proceeding. However, assuming everything checks out, it could make a nice example of an underrated classic British sports saloon.

1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint

 

With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro