Beautiful car. With modern SUVs getting huge now this probably isn’t much wider and not a lot longer than a lwb van - and no one ever asks parcel delivery drivers how they cope in town… The 1960s Imperials were banned from demolition derbies because the front and rears were so square they didn’t fold up in an impact. The bonnet sat down in a groove making the front end extremely solid, they just plowed straight through other cars. I’ve driven a few fullsize yanks over the years including a ‘72 Centurion and a 23ft long hearse. People usually get out of the way 😂
nice small car that. filling up can be an issue as I noticed here in France with my (much smaller) 1974 coupe deville: petrol stations are often not wide enough...
Gotta get that squeak sorted, sounds awful. Lovely car btw. How on earth do you get service parts and keep it on the road? Running a British classic can be hard enough.
there are plenty of places available to get the parts, but sometimes u just have to order from the US, which means you have to wait abit. Yh the squeak is sorted the shock lol
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.
@@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 👍
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!!! 😂
@@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 🤣
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.
That vehicle is nearly 50 years old so problems are to be expected but one thing that does stand out is the state of the timing gear that suggests poor maintenance.
@clivewilliams3661 yh don't think it was looked after very well before it came to the UK 3 years ago, the guy I bought it from had spent alot of money on it to get it going again but missed doing the chain
@@easydriver31 Looking at the engine and the bay I doubt that any money was spent on the mechanicals, to have stripped the engine for inspection would have meant that the timing cover ought to have been removed. Also, the sludge in the timing cover would have manifested itself in the sump, which would have been obvious at an oil change.
@PhillRobinson yes they are, have spoken to the police about it on 3 occasions at shows, they arnt interested, there AnPR does pick the plates up and have been tested, so they no right to pull u over unless u are driving like a prat 🤣
How did you get a spoiler like that for it? I’ve ordered 3 different spoilers now but they just seemed to be the black spoiler ‘extensions’ to stick on the edge of the spoiler like the one you have fitted. Was yours expensive and how did you install it? Please help, 😭🤣 Love your car !
I’m having no fun putting gas in a 440 gran fury in Canada (it used to get 11 mpg now I’m lucky if I get 4.5!I can only imagine what you pay to fill that 22 gallon tank
@@easydriver31 My father used to be seconded to USAF in UK back in 1970's and at one time they tried to insist that he use one of the USAF pool cars for travelling around the country visiting bases. He had no problem with LHD but the size of the barges on UK country lanes was inappropriate (he worked at Molesworth, Cambs) to say the least, notwithstanding the dreadful suspension that simply couldn't cope with UK lanes. On the one time he used a pool car he found that despite the size and all the other disadvantages he managed a credible 18mpg (his Zodiac 2.5ltr managed 24mpg). After his one and only attempt to use a pool car he flatly refused to drive another USAF car.
Figured i could mention this, you can add in an aux cable into the factory stereo for about six or seven quid and it doesnt require coding, easy enough to fit in and keeps the factory look
