Trimump Dolomite (OT)

Not sure what your question means, really, since the 1500 _was_ a FWD Dolomite in all but badge. It was only the 1850 and Sprint that used the slant-four - the 1300 & 1500 (same basic engine as the 1300/1500/1500TC/ Toledo) also carried the Dolomite badge.

The 1300FWD came first. Then the 1500FWD, with the same basic centre body, and a longer tail and different nose. That style remained unchanged for the Dolomite and 1500TC, but the drive moved rearwards.

The short-tail body became the Toledo, with the only 2dr version of the shell, and a restyled nose more akin to a slightly simpler Dolomite.

Nice motors - my mother had a couple of Sprints when I was a kid, and my brother's first car was a 1500FWD.

Thank you, I accept your answers. The question I was really after, if there was ever a FWD of any of those Triumph badged as a Dolomite?

Yeah the sprint was really fast at 8.4 secs, even by modern standards.

No. But nor were all the RWDs badged as Dolomites - apart from the Toledo, the 1500TC wasn't.

Hardly fast - the same as an automatic diesel Mini now.

And people wonder why the British car industry died.. FFS.

On the other hand, it provided a look into the future of the VAG empire!

_Genuine_ LOL there Steve!!

JB

And there was the Triumph Vitesse,with the little 1600cc six cylinder engine,and four `slanty` eye headlamps,in a Herald body. Never got around to owning one tho`. Nostalgia Rools! LOL.

Mine was a slightly later one and had the 2 litre 6 pot. unfortunately they rotted very fast

Nostalgia rools indeed.

My first job in the motor trade (1966) was in a garage which was an agent for Rootes, Rover and Triumph. We were selling the imp and hunter ranges, the Rover 2000 was the new kid in town, and heralds and vitesses were also popular.

We were still servicing lots of older stuff though, like the Humber super snipe[1], old type minx etc. I was the sprog kid, and was put on the lube ramp to do the oil changing and greasing, before more experienced mechanics did the more technical stuff. I liked the herald range, because the front end hinged up as one piece and I could sit on the wheel for a while and get at everything. One thing I had to do when servicing them was to remove a plug from the water pump, screw in a grease nipple, grease the pump, then remove the grease nipple and replace the plug. One day I suggested to the foreman that we just left a grease nipple in each one, for next time.

Gasp.

"Have you seen the price of grease nipples?"

I didn't make many suggestions after that.

Steve

[1] It had about a million grease nipples all over the steering and suspension.

And the GT6 a Spitfire with 6 appeal. And the TR6, TR5, disingenuously claimed 0-50mph (ZERO to FIFTY) in 6 and bit secs.

My Herald 13/60 gained a Spitfire engine and O/D gearbox, making it faster than normal. I also played around with the carb. needles, aided by a guy at Stromberg, and I could get really good performance, but of course the fuel consumption suffered. It was fun while it lasted, though.

So how long did the "tuned" six last and what was the reason it didn't last?

First roundabout, written off?

;-)

Chris

But which one?

Some TR6 had Lucas mechanical fuel injection.

And that's what Autocar tested it at.

The Spitfire engine was a Herald four, but with a different camshaft, and twin carbs. The Vitesse and GT6 had the six. The carb. mods didn't last because I couldn't afford the fuel it used. This was my everyday car, so I had to be practical. That engine and gearbox were still in the car when I sold it.

I wanted a GT6, but couldn't afford it at the time.

And the famous Herald 'hop', where the inside rear wheel jacked up when cornering? Just keep your foot on the accelerator, it keeps the back end down.

Just remembered also: To use the extra performance, I had to continuously match the choke knob to the throttle position, so that the fuel/air ratio matched properly, as the air filtration was non-standard high-flow. This was a large part of the reason for reverting to the original needles, I now remember, it was tiring to drive far in varying traffic. If I had had plenty of time and resources, it would have been fun to develop this, but that was many years ago now, and the opportunity is gone. I moved on to other cars, and places. Anybody want an engine-less, bonnet-less Frogeye Sprite?

Much more interesting would have been a 4WD sleeper Toledo, using two of the slant-4s welded together. Or even, one of the turboed Saab lumps.

Apart from Triumph putting such a lump into production, Saab tried it, too.

The ricardo developed lump was first used in the 1969 Saab 99 in 1709, then

1850 form. The 1709 version was never used in a triumph. Saab thankfully stopped using it in 1973. Their 2.0 engine was more or less a total rework but kept the slant and basic block dimensions...