Bolly Dolly - Now boringly reliable - snoooooooooze

[Guest Breadvan72]

Thread update inna Downton Abbey stylee yo:-  

 

My gardener is good at gardening.  At driving, maybe not so much.  He managed to do this to the Dolly yesterday.  The car is of course bright yellow, and so plainly invisible.  The damage is worse than it looks in the photo.

 

The gardener thoughtfully left some bits of his van's tail light behind, which was nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alf892]

Have the scoundrel flogged!

[DVee8]

You have a gardener!

 

Does he know what has happened?

[Bren]

I know where I'd be putting his rake......

[Guest Breadvan72]

Honest son of toil rang me this morning to 'fess up.  I was busy getting the Lotus hotwired at a Shell garage in Cambs  (see Lotus thread update in due course).  I had earlier that morning sent the hearty rustic a text telling him that he was a mensch because he had helped my mum out the day before, putting up some pictures and stuff.  He did not know what mensch means, so I told him that it's Yiddish for top bloke  (I am from the Irish branch of the O'Cohens, lost tribe of Israel, and all that) .  He said that I might like to review that opinion and dobbed himself in re the car biffage.

 

Hey, it's just a car.    We won't fall out over it.  Naturally, I shall have all his children evicted from their hovel, but I shall wait until the weather gets really cold before doing that.  

[purplebargeken]

It should push out once you take the door card off.

 

Access to the guts of a Dolly door is reasonably good. Obv it won't be perfect but it will be better than that.

 

Did you get my Landie PM?

[Guest Breadvan72]

It should push out once you take the door card off.

 

Access to the guts of a Dolly door is reasonably good. Obv it won't be perfect but it will be better than that.

 

Did you get my Landie PM?

 

 

Yersh, but the car had near perfect bodywork when I bought it, so I want the door perfect or as near as dammit, and will get it reskinned if need be. 

 

Will catch up on PMs later .

[Lowtimer]

Do the pushage out ASAP, even if it is only a temporary fix before you get it done properly. These thinsg take a set with time, and you can generally get it better if you act quickly. Plus, early action will cause fewer blondes to swoon contemptuously at your apparent krashage, and more blondes to swoon admiringly at your leet manly skilz

[purplebargeken]

Am sure a decent bodywork person will get that sorted without too much drama. 

[beko1987]

Elite car care in Maidenhead are quite good.

[Skizzer]

That is indeed an annoying shame, though hopefully readily fixable back to its former glory.

 

I trust this is just the excuse you need to gravel over the entire garden and put up a row of Nissen huts for storing more shite in.

[holbeck]

Thread update inna Downton Abbey stylee yo:-  

 

My gardener is good at gardening.  At driving, maybe not so much.  He managed to do this to the Dolly yesterday.  The car is of course bright yellow, and so plainly invisible.  The damage is worse than it looks in the photo.

 

The gardener thoughtfully left some bits of his van's tail light behind, which was nice.

 

 

WP_20151017_12_56_23_Pro.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did he drive the Ocado van in a previous life?

[Guest Breadvan72]

Tesco van, shureley?  Shit driving, crap tats, amazing swearing.

[holbeck]

Tesco van, shureley?  Shit driving, crap tats, amazing swearing.

OK, whichever random delivery van reversed into your 205.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I can haz fergetz ov that.  

[Guest Breadvan72]

Now FIXED Dolly roots, toots, hoots and roars its way to that London at 5 AM this morning  (55 minutes from J6 M40 to Westminster, and that with not much illegal driving involved) .     All HT leads etc now sorted, dodgy floaty bit in front carb sorted.  Runs a treat, very nippy in London traffic, and the clouds of commuting cyclists can see it as it's. er, yellow (gardeners take note).   Yaaaaaaaay.  Smiley faces on blokes of a certain age, and much younger, as they see and hear the car rorting past. 

 

Having been driving 80s and 90s tat of late, I had forgotten how very 70s (with a tad of 60s) this car is to drive.    I love that, but the driving experience compared to, say, my Rover SD1 reinforces what must have seemed the startling modernity of feel of the SD1 when new. 

[trigger]

I'd love a drive of a Sprint one day, they are every much on top of my WANT list but my balls aren't big enough to commit hence only having a 1500. I look forwards to reading more about your thoughts on it.

[beko1987]

Excellent news! Did it need anything major in the end or just a light tickle up of everything? We'll have to have a race one day!

[babydriver]

[Guest Breadvan72]

This Sprint has a slighty oomfy stainless exhaust and slightly tricked out suspension.  It is quite noisy, but not horrendously or yobbishly so.  It has very crisp acceleration, and is great in town or on twisty roads.  On a motorway the engine and wind noise make it a bit thrashy, so I tend to stay at or below an indicated 80 mph.   The handling is solidly predictable RWD stylee, and distinctly sporty by 70s saloon standards (it is indeed a far better handling car than many Brit sportscars of the era, Lotuses excepted).  The brakes (discs front, self adjusting drums rear, upgraded from the standard Dolly brakes) feel perfectly up to the job.   The transmission is fine - fairly positive, longish throw action, and the electrically switched overdrive (for third and top) comes in and goes out with just a slight bump. The steering (unpowered) is mega heavy at parking speeds, but once you are rolling along the steering feels light and responsive.  The cabin ergonomics are reasonable for the era and the car is quite roomy, given its small overall size.  Visibility all around is excellent.  The Sprint must have seemed, as it was, a rather splendid package when new, and is easily comparable with its BMW 2002 rival of the time, albeit a bit less refined than the Beemer.    As that American car journo bloke quoted some pages ago noted, in a parallel universe, Triumph would have survived and become what BMW is today.    Oh well. 

 

This one has a full length Webasto sunroof which makes the car feel very open and semi convertible ish when the weather is fine.  The lights are adequate on dip and quite good on full, and the instrument lighting has a pleasantly soft glow, ruined by the modern stereo with the Blackpool illuminations that all modern car radios have as standard.  Why the fuck is that?   Most of my cars have modern stereos which floodlight the cabin, fuck up night vision, reflect in the windscreen etc.  The Lotus has a shit but not brightly lit 1980s cassette player, and the Rover has a currently broken upmarket 1980s set with absurd graphic equaliser slides but dim lights.      Driving at night on a dark country road in an old car is one of my favouritest things to do, so I often forgo music in order to enjoy the ambience of a dimly lit cabin. 

 

Currently not working - the heater, perhaps, but it may be that the Kenlowe is set at too low a temperature - I will check.  The temp gauge is registering low at present, even in traffic. .  The rear demister is intermittently working - query bad wiring.    The front carb may in due course need a new needle.   The carb mountings may need replacing before too long.   The wiper blades are knackered.  Otherwise, things seem OK.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I'd love a drive of a Sprint one day, they are every much on top of my WANT list but my balls aren't big enough to commit hence only having a 1500. I look forwards to reading more about your thoughts on it.

 

 

Get one now - they are becoming expensive!

[trigger]

It's interesting that you compare it to a BMW, I've been drawing up the same conclusions with my old 1602, both have the same feel to them, i prefer the wooden "classic" feel of the interior in the Dolly but the 1602 felt a bit more modern to drive and the engine was quieter but as a whole both cars are quite alike I feel.

[Guest Breadvan72]

http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1004_triumph_dolomite_sprint_vs_bmw_2002tii/

 

 

" ...British industry was a lot closer to getting the future right than we in America ever knew. Its engineers actually performed remarkable feats on shoestring budgets, relying on pure smarts rather than huge volumes or mighty capital investments to achieve near-wonders. And Triumph, one of many former self-sustainers that were part of troubled British Leyland, came remarkably close to pulling off the exact same miracle that BMW achieved, in terms of technology and in terms of correctly identifying the fertile field of upmarket yet relatively affordable sedans with serious sporting credentials. For reasons of brokeness, inept management, labor intransigence, and internecine corporate squabbling, some of BL's cars fell just shy of hitting the mark, and the ones that hit it never got to the States. Triumph, in short, could have - and should have - been BMW.

As evidence, I give you the Dolomite Sprint, a unibodied Triumph sedan built between 1973 and 1980 and never sold in America. It is, I am here to tell you, in many, if not all, ways equal to or better than a 2002, even that classic Bimmer in its most desirable form, the injected 2002tii."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Breadvan72]

I drove a 2002 tii once.  I recall it as Raffles the Gentleman Thug.  It had a non standard exhaust which made it a bit yobby.    Doing the best I can from distant memory, I think that it maybe it felt  a bit quicker and a bit smoother than my Sprint, but the gearchange and steering were not as good.

[eddyramrod]

From the moment the Dolly was launched (and especially the Sprint) various organs of the Press have compared it to the 02 series.  They were natural rivals then, and still are, as it isn't difficult to find classic-car mags re-enacting the confrontations of the 70s.  I agree with the American writer, Triumph really should have become what BMW is now.  Had it done so I suspect we would be treating the drivers of new 3-series with more respect than we currently do.  Or they might still be arseholes.....

 

Give that door a push out, it won't be hard to do and it will be worthwhile.

[purplebargeken]

So what was actually causing Dolly unhappiness?

[eddyramrod]

BL Syndrome, I think.

[purplebargeken]

Apart from that. That is normal.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Ken, dearest fellow, you really don't want to know.   

[purplebargeken]

I must. Perverse interest now piqued. HT leads? Coil? Silly little stuff easily fixed? Much embarrassment all round?