£25k will buy the best... apparently
Discussion
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386719439745?itmmeta=01...
We have had a bit of a discussion earlier about the Dolomite Sprint and its shortcomings as a competitor to the Ford RS 2000 . £25k or thereabouts is being asked for this immaculate example and you get the feeling that you could wait a while on something better appearing . Personally if I were being picky I would say the Mimosa Yellow with the Black Stripe suited the car better but at this age and rarity its largely irrelevant . At £25k you would need double that and possibly then some for an RS2000 in similar condition which makes this Sprint in my humble estimation , a bargain .
We have had a bit of a discussion earlier about the Dolomite Sprint and its shortcomings as a competitor to the Ford RS 2000 . £25k or thereabouts is being asked for this immaculate example and you get the feeling that you could wait a while on something better appearing . Personally if I were being picky I would say the Mimosa Yellow with the Black Stripe suited the car better but at this age and rarity its largely irrelevant . At £25k you would need double that and possibly then some for an RS2000 in similar condition which makes this Sprint in my humble estimation , a bargain .
Very nice, quite underrated cars IMHO and I think the colour suits it, although my preferred colours are Magenta and Mimosa. Value is a funny thing but, compared with a similar condition Escort you do get a lot of car.
With regard to your mention the RS2000, CAR magazine tested the Sprint alongside the RS1600 in 1973, concluding that the Sprint "wins hands down over the RS1600...." as an everyday car; "On the other hand, the RS1600 is a pre-breakfast car in which to have enormous fun for short distances..."
Eta: never been in a Dolomite of any description though, just looked from afar
With regard to your mention the RS2000, CAR magazine tested the Sprint alongside the RS1600 in 1973, concluding that the Sprint "wins hands down over the RS1600...." as an everyday car; "On the other hand, the RS1600 is a pre-breakfast car in which to have enormous fun for short distances..."
Eta: never been in a Dolomite of any description though, just looked from afar
Edited by TarquinMX5 on Sunday 18th February 17:31
21st Century Man said:
I've driven a few back in the day and found the driving position a little strange, so high up and upright with it. It always felt to me like I was sitting on top of the car rather than in it.
Accurate analogy.
It applied to the Triumph 2500Pi/S as well...especially in the case of the Pi.
Carmine was a rare colour for a Sprint, you never saw that many of them in that colour back in period.
I-am-the-reverend said:
If they've upgraded the two weak points - brakes and handling - then it makes the various Escorts look very expensive.
But the people who are in the market for a Sprint won't be looking at RS Escorts, and the people who are in the market for a RS Escort won't be looking at Sprint prices, so the fact that a very good Sprint is half the value of a very good RS is basically irrelevant.Its like saying a very good Austin-Healey 3000 is very good value compared to a very good E-Type.
Or a very good E-Type is very good value compared to a Ferrari 275 GTB.
1982 I took delivery, at the factory, of a brand new Morgan 4/4....I'd ordered it in 1975...
I was stationed at RAF Waddington and had not been married long. I was detached to RAF Coltishall for 6 months, travelling the A15/A17 to Kings Lynn then cross country to Coltishall at least twice a week.
One trip I passed a Dolly Sprint on the way into Swineshead travelling south. Said Dolly driver was a little upset, I took the double bend that crossed the dyke and bridge at serious leptons and watched in my mirror as Dolly driver struggled to retain contact with the tarmac!
In those days, before the A17 was rebuilt, Lincoln-Kings Lynn took an average of 55 minutes for the 50 or so miles, these days one would be pushed in daytime to manage the trip in less than an hour and a half.
I was stationed at RAF Waddington and had not been married long. I was detached to RAF Coltishall for 6 months, travelling the A15/A17 to Kings Lynn then cross country to Coltishall at least twice a week.
One trip I passed a Dolly Sprint on the way into Swineshead travelling south. Said Dolly driver was a little upset, I took the double bend that crossed the dyke and bridge at serious leptons and watched in my mirror as Dolly driver struggled to retain contact with the tarmac!
In those days, before the A17 was rebuilt, Lincoln-Kings Lynn took an average of 55 minutes for the 50 or so miles, these days one would be pushed in daytime to manage the trip in less than an hour and a half.
TarquinMX5 said:
Very nice, quite underrated cars IMHO and I think the colour suits it, although my preferred colours are Magenta and Mimosa. Value is a funny thing but, compared with a similar condition Escort you do get a lot of car.
With regard to your mention the RS2000, CAR magazine tested the Sprint alongside the RS1600 in 1973, concluding that the Sprint "wins hands down over the RS1600...." as an everyday car; "On the other hand, the RS1600 is a pre-breakfast car in which to have enormous fun for short distances..."
Eta: never been in a Dolomite of any description though, just looked from afar
A majority of the Dolly Splints on HML are licensed.With regard to your mention the RS2000, CAR magazine tested the Sprint alongside the RS1600 in 1973, concluding that the Sprint "wins hands down over the RS1600...." as an everyday car; "On the other hand, the RS1600 is a pre-breakfast car in which to have enormous fun for short distances..."
Eta: never been in a Dolomite of any description though, just looked from afar
Edited by TarquinMX5 on Sunday 18th February 17:31
The majority of RS2000's are SORN.
Numbers of both seem to have increased in recent years...
OutInTheShed said:
A majority of the Dolly Splints on HML are licensed.
The majority of RS2000's are SORN.
Numbers of both seem to have increased in recent years...
The number of Sprints registered seems to have increased by almost a 100 since 2017.... which is interesting.The majority of RS2000's are SORN.
Numbers of both seem to have increased in recent years...
That's a lot of cars in relative terms that have been, err discovered in barns and lock-ups, unused since before the days of SORN started.
I-am-the-reverend said:
If they've upgraded the two weak points - brakes and handling - then it makes the various Escorts look very expensive.
I'd walk past a row of bellybutton RS2000's to look at one.
Its a pity that like all things British Leyland back then they weren't perhaps properly developed . From memory 200bhp was achieved by the Works Cars and the handling could be improved upon .I'd walk past a row of bellybutton RS2000's to look at one.
aeropilot said:
But the people who are in the market for a Sprint won't be looking at RS Escorts, and the people who are in the market for a RS Escort won't be looking at Sprint prices, so the fact that a very good Sprint is half the value of a very good RS is basically irrelevant.
Its like saying a very good Austin-Healey 3000 is very good value compared to a very good E-Type.
Or a very good E-Type is very good value compared to a Ferrari 275 GTB.
Anyone compiling a collection of Seventies Sports Saloons would have both the RS Ford and the Sprint amongst them . Taken from that perspective I think the difference in Values are completely relevant .Its like saying a very good Austin-Healey 3000 is very good value compared to a very good E-Type.
Or a very good E-Type is very good value compared to a Ferrari 275 GTB.
reddiesel said:
I-am-the-reverend said:
If they've upgraded the two weak points - brakes and handling - then it makes the various Escorts look very expensive.
I'd walk past a row of bellybutton RS2000's to look at one.
Its a pity that like all things British Leyland back then they weren't perhaps properly developed . From memory 200bhp was achieved by the Works Cars and the handling could be improved upon .I'd walk past a row of bellybutton RS2000's to look at one.
The sad thing was that BL and their dealers were incapable of sorting the engine issues out that would have seen the 16v unit automatically being the launch engine for the TR7 which I think would have seen that being a far greater success story.
As with most things with BL, as a case of so near and yet so far.
That does look like a very clean car in a fairly unusual colour - I really like it.
Back in the 80s I bought an RS2000 because in my 20s the Ford underpinnings seemed like a cheaper option to run, but now I'd pay half as much for the Dolly Sprint!
I only ever drove one Dolomite back in the day, a non-Sprint Auto, and I also thought it felt like I was sitting on it rather than in it. IIRC the pedals had a bit of a strange offset too.
Back in the 80s I bought an RS2000 because in my 20s the Ford underpinnings seemed like a cheaper option to run, but now I'd pay half as much for the Dolly Sprint!
I only ever drove one Dolomite back in the day, a non-Sprint Auto, and I also thought it felt like I was sitting on it rather than in it. IIRC the pedals had a bit of a strange offset too.
reddiesel said:
aeropilot said:
But the people who are in the market for a Sprint won't be looking at RS Escorts, and the people who are in the market for a RS Escort won't be looking at Sprint prices, so the fact that a very good Sprint is half the value of a very good RS is basically irrelevant.
Its like saying a very good Austin-Healey 3000 is very good value compared to a very good E-Type.
Or a very good E-Type is very good value compared to a Ferrari 275 GTB.
Anyone compiling a collection of Seventies Sports Saloons would have both the RS Ford and the Sprint amongst them . Taken from that perspective I think the difference in Values are completely relevant .Its like saying a very good Austin-Healey 3000 is very good value compared to a very good E-Type.
Or a very good E-Type is very good value compared to a Ferrari 275 GTB.
The tiny handful of people on the planet that are financially in a position to compile a collection of 70's sports saloons will thus see the price difference as completely irrelevant.....they'll be buying what they want to buy regardless of the price.
You need to take those fan-boy blinkers off.
That looks VERY nice, if it drives as well as it looks it will give someone a lot of pleasure. Nice that you can adjust the suspension to suit as well as a bit of a brake upgrade.
If i was after a Dolly Sprint that would be my first point of call, and whilst i would not want to pay the asking price [ who does ] i think its well worth the money.
If i was after a Dolly Sprint that would be my first point of call, and whilst i would not want to pay the asking price [ who does
] i think its well worth the money.reddiesel said:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386719439745?itmmeta=01...
We have had a bit of a discussion earlier about the Dolomite Sprint and its shortcomings as a competitor to the Ford RS 2000 . £25k or thereabouts is being asked for this immaculate example and you get the feeling that you could wait a while on something better appearing . Personally if I were being picky I would say the Mimosa Yellow with the Black Stripe suited the car better but at this age and rarity its largely irrelevant . At £25k you would need double that and possibly then some for an RS2000 in similar condition which makes this Sprint in my humble estimation , a bargain .
I quite like them - i’m a fan of sports saloons moreso than 2-seaters - and this era I did get to sample a lot of them as they seemed to be the go-to cheap stuff for my circle of car enthusiast mates. We have had a bit of a discussion earlier about the Dolomite Sprint and its shortcomings as a competitor to the Ford RS 2000 . £25k or thereabouts is being asked for this immaculate example and you get the feeling that you could wait a while on something better appearing . Personally if I were being picky I would say the Mimosa Yellow with the Black Stripe suited the car better but at this age and rarity its largely irrelevant . At £25k you would need double that and possibly then some for an RS2000 in similar condition which makes this Sprint in my humble estimation , a bargain .
Friend had an S-reg mid 80s when we had stuff like Mk1 and 2 Escorts - it certainly had much the same performance and also, on his, the novelty of overdrive on 3rd and 4th which you could engage with a flick of the gearshift knob.
A bit more susceptible to roll than the Escorts as I remember but it was still a lot of fun
Despite being driven pretty hard ( as you’d expect by 19/20 year olds! ) he didn’t have cooling or head gasket issues
I’d love a big barn and 250k to amass a big collection of stuff like this
Same S-reg and same colour as the Sprint that a good work mate of mine bought in the early 90's
He's wanted one since he'd been a teenager.
He regrettably had to sell it though less than 18 months later when he got into some financial problems, and he lost quite a bit on it, as with no garage to keep it in, it had started to deteriorate quite a bit, as a 15-16 year old British car from the 70's did.
He's wanted one since he'd been a teenager.
He regrettably had to sell it though less than 18 months later when he got into some financial problems, and he lost quite a bit on it, as with no garage to keep it in, it had started to deteriorate quite a bit, as a 15-16 year old British car from the 70's did.
The trouble with the Sprint, it looked like an old mans car when it was introduced, you sat on it rather than in it, which seemed odd for a car with sporting pretensions.
Motorsport Magazine praised the car for its performance, handling and refinement. Concluding the article with “One can only hope that Triumph can improve their manufacturing standards to the level of BMW, for if the same standards are maintained which applied to the troublesome new editorial TR6, British Leyland will lose out on a potential world-beater. – C.R.”
My father secured a huge contract with BL to supply injection molded plastics. His reward. A Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL, which replaced his beloved MKIII Cortina 2000 GT, he hated it!
My 1st performance car in my early 20’s was a Dolomite Sprint, for the time it was seriously quick, in gear acceleration times, very impressive, one would never tire of the overdrive button (bit like kick down in an automatic). Handling was good with nicely weighted steering, Over winding roads the Sprint handled excellently with a safe degree of initial understeer, progressing to well-balanced neutrality with the ability to hang out the tail round tighter corners. In addition, for the time, the interior was very well appointed.
IMO as a usable classic, they represent good value, performance to keep up with modern traffic, while traveling in comfort.
As for my father, the Dolomite was his last car before he died, if only the company had ponied up for a Sprint, I think his opinion would have been very different.
Just look at the curvature of the dash and the quality of the interior.
Motorsport Magazine praised the car for its performance, handling and refinement. Concluding the article with “One can only hope that Triumph can improve their manufacturing standards to the level of BMW, for if the same standards are maintained which applied to the troublesome new editorial TR6, British Leyland will lose out on a potential world-beater. – C.R.”
My father secured a huge contract with BL to supply injection molded plastics. His reward. A Triumph Dolomite 1850 HL, which replaced his beloved MKIII Cortina 2000 GT, he hated it!
My 1st performance car in my early 20’s was a Dolomite Sprint, for the time it was seriously quick, in gear acceleration times, very impressive, one would never tire of the overdrive button (bit like kick down in an automatic). Handling was good with nicely weighted steering, Over winding roads the Sprint handled excellently with a safe degree of initial understeer, progressing to well-balanced neutrality with the ability to hang out the tail round tighter corners. In addition, for the time, the interior was very well appointed.
IMO as a usable classic, they represent good value, performance to keep up with modern traffic, while traveling in comfort.
As for my father, the Dolomite was his last car before he died, if only the company had ponied up for a Sprint, I think his opinion would have been very different.
Just look at the curvature of the dash and the quality of the interior.
Mr Tidy said:
That does look like a very clean car in a fairly unusual colour - I really like it.
Back in the 80s I bought an RS2000 because in my 20s the Ford underpinnings seemed like a cheaper option to run, but now I'd pay half as much for the Dolly Sprint!
I only ever drove one Dolomite back in the day, a non-Sprint Auto, and I also thought it felt like I was sitting on it rather than in it. IIRC the pedals had a bit of a strange offset too.
The eighties were my teenage years. I was 17 in 1985 and acquired my driving licence at the earliest date possible. That very afternoon I went back to the used car site I worked at, presented my pass certificate and was immediately added to the trade insurance. I drove away in my first ever company car: a dark green Dolomite 1850HL.Back in the 80s I bought an RS2000 because in my 20s the Ford underpinnings seemed like a cheaper option to run, but now I'd pay half as much for the Dolly Sprint!
I only ever drove one Dolomite back in the day, a non-Sprint Auto, and I also thought it felt like I was sitting on it rather than in it. IIRC the pedals had a bit of a strange offset too.
We often had these in as part exchanges: the newest were still only 3 -4 years old and a good one was a thing of beauty.
The interior felt really special after a Ford Escort. Wood, decent plastics, adjustable steering column and - the crowing glory - overdrive (on most, anyway). After an Escort they felt like a very high quality product.
Re the perception of a high seating position: personally, I prefer this. Although I'm quite tall (1.85m) I like to sit quite high in the car and there's no advantage to sitting low, unless on a race track. Escorts always felt like sitting in a coffin, with a very high-set steering wheel (which, of course, was non-adjustable).
Edited by Turbobanana on Monday 19th February 12:44
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