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pompei

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Well that wasn't too bad, was it? OK the interiors are probably going to be a bit damp for a while, but there was not too much of the wilful destruction that one sometimes sees on TG (especially with caravans). I actually quite enjoyed the feature.

I'd agree with that.... not too badly damaged, certainly not as bad as you might expect. And to be fair, Princess aside none of them looked like the tidiest examples of the breed you might find.
I doubt they'd be restorable now though, it looked like the fire service had drilled sizeable diameter holes in the roofs to pump water into. Perhaps they'd get some of their £3600 back if each was to be Ebayed with "As seen on BBC TV's Top Gear" in the title :)
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I doubt they'd be restorable now though, it looked like the fire service had drilled sizeable diameter holes in the roofs to pump water into. Perhaps they'd get some of their £3600 back if each was to be Ebayed with "As seen on BBC TV's Top Gear" in the title :)

Well the Rover had its water pumped in through the sunroof, so that should be OK.
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Well the Rover had its water pumped in through the sunroof, so that should be OK.

Have you ever seen a water damaged car?Only for the truly masochistic amongst us to attempt to restore something that has been submerged - granted this wont have any water in the block issues, but mouldy interors and fcuffed electrics which will drive you mad for years....No, when Flop Hear want to fcuff up a car, they do it in a right royal way.
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Have you ever seen a water damaged car?

Remember the 'Volvo dragged from a pond' story in Jalopy?The author described how he dried it out by opening all the doors and blasting an industrial space-heater through the tailgate aperture. Apparently the dash drooped a bit in the middle where it had got too hot - but other than that worked quite well! :D
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Hmmm,Could've been worse I suppose. I will agree with the majority though, the Dolly and SD1 were rough but the Princess looked like it deserved better. I like Leyland stuff, but for some reason I enjoyed the feature, maybe it was just good to see some BL motors on TV having their profiles raised; Im pretty sure most of the audience had never seen a Princess before!Clearly staged when the doors and mirrors started falling off too.I kind of wish they'd done something interesting like tried to drive across Russia in them, since they were 'built by brummie communists' according to Clarkson!

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Well the Rover had its water pumped in through the sunroof, so that should be OK.

Have you ever seen a water damaged car?Only for the truly masochistic amongst us to attempt to restore something that has been submerged - granted this wont have any water in the block issues, but mouldy interors and fcuffed electrics which will drive you mad for years....
Yes, it pretty well spells the end for any car, I'm sure some of you chaps have owned a car that had a water ingress problem, I had it on an 'A' reg polo and the problem was eventually traced to a rust hole below the battery tray which was duly dealt with, but what a job to dry out the floor carpets! it took an age with industrial hot air dryers and that was just a bit of rain water :roll:
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I don't for one second believe that they had anything to do with buying those cars, or that they used their own money. Can you imagine Clarkson fiddling around with the classified ads or trekking across town to collect a motor that's worth a couple of hours' earnings? Sounds like a job for a researcher to me, and they'd just have got on the phone to one of these 'cars for films' places that are always on Ebay. Trouble is, that doesn't make a very entertaining story, so they *gasp* script something that does :shock: Still felt sorry for the Princess, though...

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Drove through a flood in the Montego once (nice high air intake). Sensible folk were of course turning back, but me and the Monty emerged apparently unscathed on the other side accompanied by an impressive bow wave. Immense smug satisfaction followed right up until I arrived at my destination and discovered the inch or so of water which had hitched a ride.

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this just got posted on the triumph dolomite owners club forum regarding the sprint

This is the truth about the Sprint on Top Gear; which was my car for many years until I sold it this Spring.For the ignorant forum users who have posted on this thread about it being a crap example of a Sprint, just stop and think for a second until you know both sides of the story.Unfortunately Top Gear have used so much artistic licence it beggars belief. Essentially they were gonna portray the Sprint as a tatty BL car no matter what & fixed almost everything that went wrong, in my opinion.My Sprint was in very good all round condition, bar one thing, very very faded paintwork. It was mechanically excellent, with a very good & quick engine. Over the past 10 years I had replaced almost everything mechanically - eg it had recon sub frame, 4 new Spax adjustables, new springs etc etc.Almost all the failiures were invented! For example, I personally refitted the rear bumper approx 4 years ago with new bolts - its impossible for it to have fallen off and be held on by the rear wing side fixing!The car had no wing mirrors fitted, but I gave the buyer a pair to be fitted - so they obviously did it so ridiculously so they would fall off.The same with the radio; I did not have one fitted but gave the buyer a basic radio cos he asked for one!I had some decent grey replacement seats fitted cos the originals were so tatty they were near unuseable - and they obviously re-fitted them to make the car look tattier!I used the car on the road weekends and to work sometimes for the best part of 3 years and it never once broke down, and yes the Overdrive worked. Strange how they had about 3 breakdowns in a few hours.It had a very sound, reliable engine - standard spec except for Sports Stainless exhaust. It would have absolutely flown round that track, I don't know what they had done to make the gears crunch all the time. I guess they doctored the accelerator cable so Hammond could not rev it - eg it revved freely to the redline cos I did it a few times!!The car passed its MOT about 2 weeks before I sold it, first time! Plainly the handbrake was working fine then, for it to career down that hill at that speed the cables would have to have been cut or disconnected.Watching the show I was to be honest nothing short of incensed by the pointless abuse of 3 classics in the name of light entertainment.I had only sold the car because I wasn't using it enough, and it desperately needed a respray I could not afford. I had hoped it would go to somebody who would cherish the car as I had. What really irks me is that several club members were very interested, but this lad turned up who said he lived local, paid the asking price on the spot in cash and assured me it would be his everyday transport and had always wanted a Sprint - what a deception!The thing that puzzled me at the time was his total lack of interest in the car itself or history - plainly he was just a buyer for TG and was told to buy a Dolomite Sprint in any condition as long as it ran, cos they were gonna portray it as falling apart anyway!Lesson learned the hard way - sell your club cars to club members only!My son is just under 4 years old and loved that car; I haven't dared let him watch the show's recording cos it would break his heart to see his favourite old car semi-destroyed.Top Gear has massively gone down in my estimation after this. I think what used to be a pretty decent motoring show is now just a cheap comedy, with 3 egotistical presenters who would be better served on a slapstick sketchshow.Sour grapes? Maybe, but destroying classic cars for laughs isn't cool, it certainly isn't funny either - there are lots of people who would love to own and drive a Sprint / Rover even a Princess.I still think Dolomites and Sprints are great cars, and wish u all well with keeping them on the road.

:(:(:(:(
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I just think its a shame they didn't find something genuinely tatty to use really. If the Dolomite was as good as the previous owner suggests then it really is a shame...That said, nobody would like to see a car they had owned destroyed be that in the course of filming or by banger racers would they so are bound to feel somewhat emotive.Ultimately TG is a massive money spinner for the BBC and they are more concerned about entertainment and making money than the fate of what they consider to be three old clunkers. Between TG and JCs assorted DVDs they destroy a fairly large number of cars... presumably this is what the viewer wants and hence sells more DVDs because of it.You can well imagine some junior researcher being told to go buy three old BL cars and buying the first three he came across. It's a pity a bit more sense wasn't shown and something with one wheel already in the scrapyard used instead.

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Drilling holes in the roof to fill it with water did strike me as a bit pointless and also if one thing consigns the car to its end then that would be it.I'm sure there were many other entertaining ways they could have 'tested' the cars without resorting to filling them with water which ultimetly seems rather pointless.Did anyone see the thing in Autocar last week about the flood damaged Ferrari? For those that didn't it was a specialist Ferrari breaker that bought a 86 Testarossa written off when Sheffield turned into Atlantis earlier in the year.The thing looked pristine but was written off due to water damage. If that sort of stuff is written off then theres no realistic hope for old BL tat with holes in the roof.

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Flood damaged cars are written off not due to the actual water, but more to with things IN the water.... when you have a big flood, all manner of dirt, poo and wee is contained in the water posing a risk to health. Filling them with clean water from a bowser is not as bad... not like you'd have silt and floaters to get out as well.

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I'll be looking at that tonight (or shortly) when I finish off sorting the car.The 'blown head gasket' wasnt -ful of clean(ish) water, even tickover and revving healthily -even when warm ,and no (excess) steam out the exhaust.No -I think the problem was more to do with the pinhole in the 90degree metal tee -spraying a fine mist all over the distributor,when pressurised.I'll look to the carpets after I've warmend the engine through...

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...pinhole in the 90degree metal tee -spraying a fine mist all over the distributor,when pressurised...

I had the same problem on my Crown, except it was a pinhole near one end of the top hose - only time it ever 'conked out' in many years of service. Nice and easy to fix at the roadside - just cut the top hose down a bit and re-attach!
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Im thinking of contacting them to see if they will buy my BX for £1000 - they seem more than willing to spend silly money on cars for the benefit of wrecking them for entertainment - now if I can just think of some spin to say why they need to buy a 19 year old diesel...... :twisted:

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