Lovely example and great that he's trying to keep it as original as possible. Correct regular maintenance should ensure it stays reliable. As I kid, I always dreamed of owning a yellow one but never got chance. I did travel in a few Dolomites as a child and glad you remember how comfortable the seats were as I recall being amazed how good they were on a long journey and it was one of the very few cars I actually fell asleep in. Also got to drive a friend's Sprint shortly after passing my test and it's still a car I would love to own today if my situation allowed for it. Love the styling and the little details and adore that wooden dash of which similar variants could be found in the Triumph 2000/2500 and the Stag. As others mentioned, I would definitely change the number plates as the newer plates, apart from being correct for the period, also suited what was quite an advanced car in terms of both styling and engineering. Agree less about use of number plates being "policed" as the police should be concentrating on real crimes and if someone wants to spoil the looks of their car then it should be up to them.
I loved my T reg Dolomite 1850 HL in Russet Brown, my interior was more beige than brown. Apart from the vinyl top roof and the alloy wheels it looked the same.
@@kevdavies3445 they are fantastic cars, did look st a resto project of one but being British Leyland, it would need more welding than the car was worth 🤣
@@easydriver31 He needs to get that looked at then, it’s only running SU’s, not side draughts! they say that the familiar smell of cars from late 50s up to the 70s comes from the horse hair pads that the seats are filled with ageing ( it’s only a name they aren’t made of actual horse hair) prior to that most cars did actually have leather (and not brown BL vinyl like we have here) that also gave a similar smell with age. I know both my own cars from the early 70s certainly have that familiar smell I remember as a child when they were current 👍
Only the HL and Sprint Dollys had the black boot panel. Std 1300 & 1500 were the same colour as the car. The registration plate colour scheme is wrong for this age of car. Should be black-on-white for fronts and black-on-yellow for rear. A shame that the 16v engine wasn't very reliable, could have been used on more cars throught the BL range.
@@johnmoruzzi7236 Yes, seemed a bit odd that only the TR7 got the 2-litre 8v Triumph engine and only the Dolly Sprint got the 2-litre 16v engine (I know there were a handful of TR7 Sprints though). I wonder if that engine would have been better in the Rover 2000 SD1 !
@@lewis72 Triumph was on the way out in the late 70s, the Stag / Dolomite / TR7 V8 and slant 4 was a dead end. BL had developed the O Series engine for RWD (Marina) and FWD (Princess) in 1.7 and 2.0 form, so that was the obvious choice for the Rover.
Nice car but shame about the black & white number plate. Doesn't make it look more original because yellow and white number plates were in use in 1979/80
Completely agree, that loophole was closed up sharpish after it was mistakenly opened in the 2018 changes, unfortunately it opened up the legality from the original 1972 cut off rule to include up to 1980, as you say just looks completely wrong and not in proper keeping at all, ( just because it mistakenly became legal doesn’t make it right) it really is a pet peeve of mine too and even the amount of cars I see that are AFTER 1980 with them fitted has raised sharply in the last few years and people are just flaunting the rules and really it should be far better policed tbh. The irony is that back in the day when yellow and white plates came out is that many changed their plates to them from black and white/silver, because they wanted to look more modern!!! 😂
Fabulous Car! dx
Lovely example and great that he's trying to keep it as original as possible. Correct regular maintenance should ensure it stays reliable. As I kid, I always dreamed of owning a yellow one but never got chance. I did travel in a few Dolomites as a child and glad you remember how comfortable the seats were as I recall being amazed how good they were on a long journey and it was one of the very few cars I actually fell asleep in. Also got to drive a friend's Sprint shortly after passing my test and it's still a car I would love to own today if my situation allowed for it. Love the styling and the little details and adore that wooden dash of which similar variants could be found in the Triumph 2000/2500 and the Stag. As others mentioned, I would definitely change the number plates as the newer plates, apart from being correct for the period, also suited what was quite an advanced car in terms of both styling and engineering. Agree less about use of number plates being "policed" as the police should be concentrating on real crimes and if someone wants to spoil the looks of their car then it should be up to them.
Perfect seats had a brown 1850 automatic once
I loved mine STX 891S 1977 Carmine Red best colour in my opinion.
Brilliant handling cars. I was lucky enough to own two in the eighties
I loved my T reg Dolomite 1850 HL in Russet Brown, my interior was more beige than brown. Apart from the vinyl top roof and the alloy wheels it looked the same.
Have driven both and the Sprint is a completely different car to drive. That 16 valve engine makes a huge difference making the Sprint so much better.
Lovely and the same colour as my MGB!
had 2 in the 70s and 80s i loved them also 3 1850s i would love to own another but silly prices for minters now
@@kevdavies3445 they are fantastic cars, did look st a resto project of one but being British Leyland, it would need more welding than the car was worth 🤣
“Smells lovely inside just like a classic car should” well it certainly isn’t the “ leather” you kept mentioning fella 😂
@@gimble447 it's usually the fuel 🤣
@@easydriver31 He needs to get that looked at then, it’s only running SU’s, not side draughts! they say that the familiar smell of cars from late 50s up to the 70s comes from the horse hair pads that the seats are filled with ageing ( it’s only a name they aren’t made of actual horse hair) prior to that most cars did actually have leather (and not brown BL vinyl like we have here) that also gave a similar smell with age. I know both my own cars from the early 70s certainly have that familiar smell I remember as a child when they were current 👍
Only the HL and Sprint Dollys had the black boot panel.
Std 1300 & 1500 were the same colour as the car.
The registration plate colour scheme is wrong for this age of car. Should be black-on-white for fronts and black-on-yellow for rear.
A shame that the 16v engine wasn't very reliable, could have been used on more cars throught the BL range.
@lewis72 thank you, yes we spoke for a while about the plates
They should have done a “Dolomite Sport” model with the 8v TR7 engine, would have been an easy upgrade from the 1850 HL..
@@johnmoruzzi7236
Yes, seemed a bit odd that only the TR7 got the 2-litre 8v Triumph engine and only the Dolly Sprint got the 2-litre 16v engine (I know there were a handful of TR7 Sprints though).
I wonder if that engine would have been better in the Rover 2000 SD1 !
@@lewis72 Triumph was on the way out in the late 70s, the Stag / Dolomite / TR7 V8 and slant 4 was a dead end. BL had developed the O Series engine for RWD (Marina) and FWD (Princess) in 1.7 and 2.0 form, so that was the obvious choice for the Rover.
@@johnmoruzzi7236
The slant 4 wouldn't have been at a dead end if the'd used it in the SD1 though, which was my point.
Nice car but shame about the black & white number plate. Doesn't make it look more original because yellow and white number plates were in use in 1979/80
Completely agree, that loophole was closed up sharpish after it was mistakenly opened in the 2018 changes, unfortunately it opened up the legality from the original 1972 cut off rule to include up to 1980, as you say just looks completely wrong and not in proper keeping at all, ( just because it mistakenly became legal doesn’t make it right) it really is a pet peeve of mine too and even the amount of cars I see that are AFTER 1980 with them fitted has raised sharply in the last few years and people are just flaunting the rules and really it should be far better policed tbh. The irony is that back in the day when yellow and white plates came out is that many changed their plates to them from black and white/silver, because they wanted to look more modern!!! 😂
Yh we spoke about it but he decided the older style suited the car better
@@easydriver31 yup his car, his choice obviously
It suits the black and silver around the rest of the car so not an unpleasant effect….