Talk:Triumph Dolomite

To Shadowfactory: excellent article! An incredibly detailed history. Stombs 08:56, Nov 21, 2004 (UTC)

1500 TC v Toledo
I believe that the 1500 TC is rear wheel drive and the Toledo was the front wheel drive version?

No, that is incorrect, the toledo was only ever sold in rear wheel drive. However, the car was sold in a 1500 twin carburettor form in both front and rear wheel drive. 79.74.37.6 17:59, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Pre war Dolomite
Should this car have a separate article? Any thoughts/opinions. Malcolma 17:21, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I've made a new article and put a disambiguation link in. --JN5556649 13:42, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Revolutionary Cylinder head and Infobox picture
I reverted the above two changes because, to the best of my knowledge, the Dolomite Sprint cylinder head was the first SOHC head to work four valves on a cylinder.

Also the infobox picture is of a 1500FWD car which is mentioned in a seperate article.

JN5556649 12:54, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Confusing opening "History" paragraph
Seems to want to talk about other Triumph models. It's not clear how all this relates to the Dolomite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.48.17 (talk) 17:20, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

The story is very confusing, and since all of the cars mentioned share a bodyshell with the Dolomite, I would think it is relevant. JN5556649 (talk) 20:43, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

The story may be inherently complex, but the paragraph is nevertheless as clear as mud. I have read it several times and I am still not sure whether it is saying that the Toledo was rear wheel drive while the Dolomite kept the front wheel drive of the 1300/1500. I don't think so, because elsewhere the article seems to suggest that the Dolomite was RWD too. For an opening paragraph about the Dolomite, there is too much detail about the other models, such as engine sizes and Michelotti styling of the 1300/1500. A reader of this article presumably wants to know primarily about the Dolomite. Start with that and then, by all means, talk about its origins in earlier models.

Rear Wheel Driver Conversion
I have reverted KieranT's edit of this page because I believe that the information removed was quite interesting and useful. As far as I am aware, British Leyland/Austin Rover/Mg Rover are the only company to have produced a car as front wheel drive, and then converted it to rear-wheel drive. And they have done it twice, for more or less the same reason. JN5556649 (talk) 20:51, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Dolomite Launch year
I'm troubled by the indication given in this entry that the Dolomite (the modern one) was launched and produced from 1972. I believe it was introduced at the London motor show in October 1971. They crept into the show rooms over the next few months and were offered for sale before the start of 1972. There is a reference on the Triumph Dolomite enthusiasts site to a Dolomite brochure dated 1971, but I couldn't figure a way through their log on procedures to ask someone there when the thing was actually "officially" launched. Culshaw and Horrobin gives 1972 as the car's first year, though he's pretty vague on dates at least until he gets to the Dolomite Sprint which of course only came along later. I'd like to change the introduction year from 1972 to 1971, but before doing so I'd like to have a relatively copper bottomed source to hand - old copy of Autocar or something - and my old copies of Autocar (if extant) from that period are not readily to hand. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks and regards Charles01 (talk) 11:37, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

First multi-valve car?
I'm sure this will come down to your definition of "mass produced", but Nissan was selling 24-valve 2-liter engined cars to anyone in Japan who wanted one in 1970. The Z432 came out in 1970 and the Skyline GTR in 1969. 400 Z432s were made as well as 1900 GTRs —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xs10shl (talk • contribs) 04:44, 8 December 2009 (UTC)


 * The first "mass-produced 4-valve/cylinder" claim is reasonable, as the Sprint was produced in ten times the numbers the Skyline was, and even 2000 isn't really mass production (likewise any similar claims by Ferrari et al). Bringing a 4-valve engine to mass production was a sales and production cost engineering exercise though, more than an engineering innovation.
 * This isn't the Sprint's most technically interesting claim: 4-valve DOHC small car engines were established technology by then and even the title of "first 4-valve head car engine on a standard high-volume production block" had gone to the Cosworth BDA on Ford's Kent block. The real innovation of the Sprint engine is more specific: it's the use of only a single camshaft to drive all the valves. This kept the head external size down and the cam drive compatible with the 2-valve engine, keeping the engine production comparable (thus low cost) and allowing it to fit under the Dolomite's quite tight bonnet space. The shame is of course that they never had the build quality or reliability right, nor fitted it into a chassis with handling and brakes that were safe with that much power. Andy Dingley (talk) 10:55, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
 * There was also the Jensen-Healey with the Lotus 2.0ltr 907 engine that was introduced in March of 1972. This 4 valve mass produced engine was used from 1972 - 1976 in the Jensen-Healey and the Jensen GT. It went on to be used in several Lotus models such as the Eclat, Elite, and the Esprit. The March 1972 introduction of the Jensen-Healey precedes the Dolomite Sprint by more than a year and reached production numbers of over 10,000 during the four year lifespan of the Jensen-Healey. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tevend (talk • contribs) 22:46, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Naming Convention
I just reverted a previous edit to change the name back to "Triumph Dolomite" from "Dolomite" in the first paragraph. I looked at a few car pages (Austin Allegro, MG Midget, Ford Escort to name a couple) and they all have the company name as well as the model name. JN5556649 (talk) 20:17, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

First with alloy wheels ?
It's mentioned that this is the first British prduction car to have alloy wheels as standard but wasn't that the Jensen Interceptor? Certainly the two Wikipedia articles contradict each other.  A colleague has pointed out that he thinks the Ford Capri RS2600 was the first in 1971.


 * Yebbut the RS2600 was German. Mr Larrington (talk) 13:52, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Sprint Engine Power
This article states "the output was upped to 127 bhp (95 kW). This represented a significant increase over the smaller 1850cc variant, however it fell short of the original target of 135 bhp (101 kW)." & "the production line was unable to reliably build the engines to the same level of quality".

However, The tr7-8 club's info on the 16v TR7 Sprint: http://www.tr7-tr8.com/thumbnails.php?album=13, states: "Originally, the Sprint engine was specified in the Dolomite at 135 bhp; indeed, the first Sprints were actually badged as the Dolomite 135. For technical reasons, however, the specification had to be reduced to 127 bhp, and so, presumably, the name was changed. The reason for this that I was given, by a source within Rover, was that the 135 bhp figure would have required that they fit higher specification tyres, and thus added a few pounds to the manufacturing cost, which is anathema to the bean counters. Hence, the figure was reduced. However, I believe that there were no changes to the engine components in this de-rating."

This infomation appears to be anecdotal. However, equally, I can't find any more then anecdotal evidence for the current statement about manufacturing problems, though I've certainly heared it said, often.

I intend to aproach Richard C. at the tr7/8 club to see if he is the first person in their article and if he can add any references. If so, I'll see if I can add them. But, in leiu of Richard being able to help, does anybody else out there have a reference for either reason? If not, shall we amend the article to present both ideas? If so, what should the disclaimers be? Graham.Fountain | Talk 17:09, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

That's not a reason for it I've ever heard - I'll check with Triumph Dolomite Club bods and see if they've heard of it. I'd be surprised if it was the case though - the tyres are rated for speed, and even with 135hp the rev limit would still have been the same. JN5556649 (talk) 21:21, 20 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Not that many cars can reach their rev limit in top gear, so maximum speed is largly a function of engine power (and drag) - it takes (assuming aerodynamic drag is dominant) eight times as much power to go twice as fast. Still not contacted Richard C. though.Graham.Fountain | Talk 16:37, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Production Start Date
There's a question asked on the Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum about the production start date at http://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28503. Seems pretty clear that the first 1850s are built in 71 and the date given for reaching full production, October 72, is well after initial production began - a car with a chassis number about 5000 was registered in April 72. I'm looking for a ref for this production start date - the only thing I can find so far is the launch date of October 71, but that's no help. So if anyone's got one, that would be good.

Graham.Fountain | Talk 20:36, 6 January 2015 (UTC)