Battle Royale between the Dolomite and the BMW | Vintage Cars | Drive in | 1973 

The dolomite had an ashtray in the drivers door. I miss the 70’s.

When I served my apprenticeship in the late 80's one of the mechanics had a Dolomite Sprint, he was a qualified rally driver and god could he make that thing go, handy that it had a brown interior 😂

The late great Tony Barstable always a fan of him. RiP Tony :-)

Between my dad and I we had a Triumph 1300, a Toledo, a 1500, a Dolomite and my first car a Herald 12/50. Never had any problems with any of them.

I'm sorry the Dolomite was never sold in the United States. I would have liked to have one.

I had a British racing green Dolly for a couple of years in the mid 80's it proved to be reliable and apart from a small bit of rust here and there. all easily put right. it was an easy car to live with. comfy and nice to drive.

What a nice car this Dolomite was. When I was a child we were on vacation in GB and I saw this car - nice!! I liked it much more than the BMW. And this lasted until today. This said as a German.

Wow, that Thames intro takes me back to my childhood.

Funny how his jacket would be fashionable now.

My wife and I bought a Dolomite Sprint 2.0 litre from a fella in Norfolk. I thought the clutch was a bit heavy but the car absolutely flew. Turned out the chap was called real Triumph officianado and had fitted a competition clutch. It honestly shaved the 0-60 time down to about 7 seconds. There are a few cars I regret selling and the Sprint is definitely one of them.

I worked on BMW 1600 2002 and TI and they were one of the best designed cars I have ever seen . Great visibility great balance good power decent brakes for the time .And a wonderful little engine and drive line.

The firm I worked for used the Sprint for a while, back in the day. Unmarked Police vehicle. Apparently they were brilliant in a straight line but described as ‘odd through the wiggly bits at speed’. They didn’t take the punishment that well either and too often bits broke. So they didn’t last on the fleet, not up to the task intended, wrong choice rather than ‘bad car.’ They were, though, excellent apparently for what the name said - a ‘Sprint’ - just not sustained high speed. Having said all that...when they were sold off the Officers who’d had to endure them at work were the first in the queue to buy them as private cars; they loved them. Great fun to drive except when pushed to the edge. I don’t recall many other cars that the advanced drivers - they got the quick stuff - wanted to spend their own money on. The only other ‘ex Job’ cars I remember them wanting for themselves were the Capri’s, the 3 litre and RS versions. And maybe an Avenger Tiger(?). Cars were interesting back then, even though build quality was questionable by today’s standards.

I came here for the BMW but fell in love with that Triumph, looks so nice.

My Dad had a triumph said he was never done fixing at it. After 3 years he went and got himself a Toyota

A mate of mine had a Dolomite Sprint in the early 80's and it was a real rocket ship. In fact it was a great little car.

Triumph used to turn out some hot cars in those days. Not just the Dolly Sprint, but TR6 and GT6 mk3 too.

If only they still made programs like these. And cars too!

Fantastic!! I'm a Sprint nut and I have never seen this clip! thank you

It is lovely that he said one couldn't see the minor instruments with the wheel in the low position in the Dolly Sprint.... That is precisely why it was adjustable. Both the short and the tall could find a position allowing them to see all they needed to see. It wasn't really (as he seemed to imply) about finding a position that suited the driver for style, pose or, "where I quite like my hands to be".

It was such a good looking car. My current car (e46 bmw 320i) only beats it to 60 by .5 of second. Must have been a crazy fast saloon in the 70s. Luv and Peace.

Mine was white 1974 model, fast car never had a problem with the engine, still love the vinyl roofs today, did a trip form Cheshunt Hertfordshire to Widnes Cheshire 230 miles in 2h 30m.

Fabulous quality video tape OB. Expensive and cumbersome in 1973!

The Sprint was gorgeous and still looks great today and Bodie had one in the early Professional episodes....so it must be good

Interesting he didn't mention that even with 16v it remained simple because no dohc was required.

my god there is a hole or rust spot in the paint already - next to the Sprint badge

A little mimosa yellow dolly was my first car, and I still own her to this day

The interesting feature about the 16 valve motor is it was a single camshaft design so it gave a more compact cylinder head although it was probably not conducive to tuning valve timing wise.

Oooh, I remember my burgandy coloured Dolly Sprint. Had a switch on top of gear lever called overdrive. Most comfortable car I ever drove, it fitted around you. And £1600 new, ffs. I would gladly give him 2 grand for that in the mint condition its in. Such a brilliant and nice looking car. 👍👍👍

A friend of mine had one of these back in the 80's; astoundingly good. No reliability problems. But it was assembled here not the U.K. so no surprises there. It handled brilliantly in the shingle. Astoundingly fast over the Gentle Annie (Napier-Taihape road) even up to its ankles in snow when the road was closed.

Tilt and reach adjustable steering column in the early 70s, on a mass market car. Now that is ahead of its time.

An adjustable steering column but no door mirrors on either side. Great stuff.

My first car, as a 19 year old in 1982, was a 1974 BMW 2002 tii. Bought it for £825.

I was waiting for a race between them!

The Dolomite Sprint was a great car to drive but the 16v design meant the cyclinder head was much wider than that in most cars and used to warp, causing a blown head gasket. When that happended, main dealers used to quote for a new cylinder head costing hundres of pounds, so being in the motor trade at the time, I used to buy them up for around £50 per time, spend £10 having the head skimmed, £10 on a simple head gasket and then get around £800 pounds resale. I loved them :)

It sounds bloody glorious.

I reckon Triumph would've lasted a lot longer if it hadn't been swallowed up by BL. Great clips, more please!

Bry-nylon broad cloth. Makes me excited just thinking about it.

I Loved the dollies dash

My Dolomite was called " Bessie " Great little car, and handled brilliantly! Only issues were the fuel tank went rusty, because it sat inside the boot, the rubber gasket between the twin SUs became perished and therefore was letting too much air in the mixture, but God i loved that little car!👍🤪

He reminds me of Alan Partridge. I'm surprised how potent the Dolomite was.

Read a bit of info recently that Janspeed quickly figured out that the original exhaust was junk and simply replacing it would bring them up to 142bhp instantly. Would love one of these now, brings back memories of my Mum's 1500HL she had when I was a kid.

Tony Bastable literally looks like he's been beamed in from a 2019 Pretty Green photo shoot. That jacket also wouldn't be out of place with a Fjall Raven logo on its sleeve. Absolutely mind-blowing how fashion repeats itself with subtle twists. Great clip too.

The Professionals ( TV show with Bodie & Doyle ) used a Dolomite-sprint for their car at first rather than a Capri...

Magenta - RUO 706N was mine, automatic and flew like nothing else!

My old man had a purple Sprint. Loved that car.

I had a dolomite sprint they were years ahead of their time not just the 2litre 16v engine the chassis and brakes were good fit a sporty cam kit bigger carbs and induction and they were superb

Dolly all day for me. I remember the one my Grandad had, wood dash. Loved it.

When the presenter looks like a gangster from Get Carter, you know your in the 70s 😁

Ah yes, the joys of having a vinyl roof. Very 1970s !!

The Sprint was an amazing car and well ahead of its time, I would love to have another one now having been a lucky owner in the late seventies. The single OHC 16V design (direct buckets on inlet and rockers to exhausts) won a design council award in 1973 and was British innovation at its best.

My Dad had a Sprint in racing green and although it was a great performance car, He carried a large bottle of water as there were recurring issues with its cooling system and the engine always overheated and the car was taken back to the dealers on numerous occasions for repair.

Britain made some really nice cars at one time but hopeless management with an adversarial union relationship was always a problem. Once the designs stopped being so desirable too, imports started looking very enticing.

I like how he talks specs and engineering rather than dumbing it down and talking nonsense!

In the motor trade it was known as the Doloshite lol

I owned a dolomite sprint way back , it was a good car but did not like hot days in traffic.

The sprint was a big deal when I was a lad I didn’t realise it had 130 Bhp though that’s good going even for today !

I had a Sprint, used to love the Overdrive button on the gearknob, which gave you 2 extra gears. When accelerating in 3rd gear, you could just select the overdrive button and you had an extra gear for hard acceleration! The only problem with the Sprint was the engine needed further development, as head gaskets would blow, timing chains would break, and the radiator was not really upto the job. Triump tuning firms knew how to remedy these features, but British Leyland only spent £5 on the cars improvements from 73-80!

I cherish my Dolomite 1850HL from 1980 along with my Rover 75 V6 from 2000. Both lovely British designs and a joy forever.

Good old Triumph Dolly. Great car, when it would start.

The triumph dolomite sprint.......... Just in case you just bought a BMW 2002. Truly an awesome car for it's time, I had three in succesion in the late 70s early to mid 80s. Yellow, red and finally green all gearshift overdrive models. Learned very quickly to take care in the wet especially transiting the roads across Salisbury plain

The cars and the theme of Thames TV makes me so nostalgic for old British tv series like The Saint, The Persuaders, Department S, The Baron, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Champions etc. etc.

Tony Bastaple. Where is he now? A pretty good mathematician as I recall with a programme called, 'Figure it Out'. The Dolomite Sprint there is a bloomin' automatic though. No-doubt BL didn't make one available to Thames Television. They even have the camera angle such that while Tony is fiddling about with the adjustable steering column you cannot see the transmission tunnel and selector tray, even though he makes mention of manual with overdrive. My first car was my uncles mint '74 1850 with man/o/d in French blue with black interior. Superb, though lost in a race against a Sprint badly! Later got a '72 2.5PI man/o/d and that bloody flew!

I worked with a bloke with an 1850. Used to transport 5 big lads across London with no probs. Great acceleration for a 1980 car.

I owned CWK590K for a few years. Purchased from a truck driver in Tile Hill who utterly cared for it. Totally reliable and bloody fast since it weighed only 900kg.

I thought the 1st UK car program was Top Gear / Pebble MIll with Angela Ripon circa 1977 so this is all new to me. Thanks.

My dad had one like this - same colour, the lot - in the 80s for a while. He didn't have it for too long as it went up in smoke, ironically outside a fire station. I can't remember the exact details, but I remember talk of the electrics causing it - presumably with a leaky fuel pipe in the mix.

Key takeaway: "2 headlamps and 2 doors LESS" from the BM.

A mate Nearly rolled a second hand Dolomite in 1977 when he was test driving it. Scared the crap out of me. The handling was diabolical

A lovely little car. We had the Triumph 2000

wow what extras: vinyl roof...a "sprint" badge!! what we settled for back then... my brother had one, a shame that he always had the bonnet open... :-( 4:11 no advantage as explained above. 1800 quid is about 21 grand in today's cash :-0 I bet the beemer held its value.

The mighty twin exhaust convinced me! 🤪

I learnt how to drive in my mums dolly sprint in '75 and ended up buying it from her after burning out the clutch . A lovely wee car but tended to feel a bit odd on some roads in traffic , ie. the front felt like it couldn't make up its mind as to which way it wanted to go . I traded it in for a '68 MGB rag top in '77 . I loved the mg but man did I miss the reclining seats in the Triumph ? :)

That dolomite was 20 years ahead of its time.

In the US we got all the gorgeous British 2 door sports cars, but never the beautiful 4 doors.

0:09 that's one really steep hill right there 😂

Still a good looking car I would love to see full episodes of this program any chance 🙂

When he lifted the bonnet he was checking the head gasket hadn't gone (again)!

I always assumed that we Americans were behind the rest of the world because my father's VW Type 3 had mirrors on both sides, while the Fords and Chevys in our neighborhood only had one on the driver's side (the RH mirror wasn't required until the mid 1980s). But I've never seen a car anywhere with no outside mirrors at all. They must have sold a lot of those freaky front fender mirrors to the owners of these cars.

127bhp was a big deal back then and 16valves was a big innovation at the time.

Rake ánd reach adjustable steering in the 70's : impressive!

The Dolomite sprint was the world's first 16 valve production car. They were one of the first to introduce "overdrive" too. Which is nothing more than fifth gear really. Lol. It was a quick car for its time. I'd love a mint example today. More for nostalgia than anything. Nothing beats a bit of nostalgia, being able to relive your childhood. Only this time from the driving seat instead of the back seat. Lol. 5 1/2 inch rims sounds hilarious today! Front spoiler to "keep it glued to the deck" 🤣 Yeeeeaaah right.

those dolly sprint engines were great until you had to work on the exhaust manifold to downpipe bolts , it makes my back ache even thinking about it . im sure the car in this video is siting far to high , great armchair seats and a great dash though :)

My first job was at BL Cars. My manager had a Dolly Sprint as a company car. I loved driving it. Shame they didn't put the Sprint engine in the TR7.

I grew up loving tr7s as a kid and ended up with a few tr7s and fitted sprint engines in them as it was an easy stop. In 1989 I swapped a lancia beta spider which I got for 250 quid for an early dolimite sprint which went well, but then I lost reverse in the gearbox and then to my HORROR the steering became disconnected from the steering rack due to the small clamp that connects it together. Considering I used to thrash it around with all my mates in it we could have all been killed so I sold it. I would still love another today though if I could find one at the right price. British receding green and the sunburnt orange and the mauve are my fave colours.

The British have always been good at making engines. Cosworth made the best F1 engines throughout the 20th century. It's... the rest of the car that they always had trouble with.

Loved the old Dolly Sprints!

Great little fun cars to drive , and fast

It could have done with some mirrors or is that just daft for 1973?

I like the idea that it was Triumph who came up with the idea that four valves had more area than two valves.

I always loved the Dolly Sprint, fun car!!

Surely the entire purpose of having an adjustable steering wheel and column is so you can position it to not block the instruments? He’s pointing out the fault that the solution has removed.

Tony has a real easy style, someone you can rely on

At least you got "ONE" outside mirror with the BMW lol

I really like these Triumphs. Right, time to go look in the classic classifieds.

Both cars are designed by Giovanni Michelotti. Triumph could have been equal to BMW into the 1990s had it been built properly.

My crazy mate had about 20 cars in the space of 5 years.....each one was driven to destruction.....a sprint was one of them.......I nearly died several times!

This looks as if it was shot today

Dolomite utterly streets ahead in every respect !!

"Two headlamps and two doors less", not to mention less trips to the mechanic. Sigh, I wish this wasn't the case, but BL really could have been a competitor with some decent and consistent quality. If only....

Leyland rear side in black color painted, I always liked that sport touch. Probablely that British car was designed by Pininfarina house. British TV quality of image is impresive, perfect colors, perfect white balance, sharp image, PAL system was simplely so much better than American NTSC. Greetings to all from tve far city of Santiago, Chile.