Steve, I laughed out loud over that post. It brought back memories of when we all drove old "beaters" back in high school. My brother had a VW 411 that vibrated so badly that the gear shift would come unscrewed and when you went to downshift you'd find it lying under the seat. Not to mention the rear engine that left no weight over the front wheels. A full half turn on the steering wheel before any change of direction resulted. On the bright side, my own 1973 Pontiac Astre could barely muster 55 mph and that was downhill with a tail wind. I was once pulled over by the police and told that I'd been clocked at 70 mph. My two friends laughed so hard that the cop was convinced that he'd made a mistake and let me go un-ticketed.
A friend of mine had a Singer Chamois with a rear mounted engine, which was suped-up and fitted with wide wheels. But like the VW 411, it wasn't very happy on a bendy road. However, he reckoned he could compensate for this steering issue by carrying 2 bags of cement in the front luggage compartment!
I was brainwashed by the ' Italian Job ' and went out and brought a mini 850cc. On the way home I stopped at the first motor accessory shop and brought a Cooper s silencer. From that moment on I convinced myself I had a 1275 Cooper S and could take on anything. It was great fun overtaking the milk floats until I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a Ford RS 2000 ?? or something else bearing down on me. Kept that mini for a while and then had an MGB Roaster, that was quick. Graham.
The MGB's were great, but unfortunately the closest I got to an MG was my Austin Healey Sprite Mk3. It had hit a tree at some time in its history so as you can see, the front was replaced by a fibre-glass unit that swung forward, and I think the grille was from an old Austin 1100. But I loved that car. I also had a Triumph Dolomite Sprint (a bit of a dog, but I loved it). It had great acceleration for an early 1970s designed car, and I'm ashamed to say I used to bait BMW & Merc drivers.
Steve the Dolomite Sprint what a car Year Introduced 1973 Kerb Weight 991kg Engine Type Straight 4 Valves 16 valve Cylinders 4 cylinder Aspiration Naturally Aspirated Displacement 1998 cc Fuel Petrol Drive RWD Transmission 4 speed Manual Engine Location Front Mounted BHP 127 @ 5200rpm Torque (lbs/ft) 122 @ 4500rpm BHP/Ton 130 0-60mph 9.1s 0-100mph 24.1s 60-100mph 15s 1/4 Mile 16.47s Terminal Speed 82mph Kilometre N/A Top Speed (mph) 116 Nürburgring Lap Time N/A
Yes I remember the dolomite sprint. Super quick on acceleration for a car of that day. Did'nt they have problems with the head gasket and overheating.? My favourite car of that time was the Morris/Austin 1300GT.A friend of mine had one and he went all over the country in it. That was a nippy motor, he had an eight track stereo in it, fantastic sound. Graham.
I took the engine out of my Sprint, replaced the piston rings, bearings, big-end bearings, ground in the valves, all the usual stuff, and put the car on a rolling road to check the bhp. The original design was good for 150bhp, but the factory/production built cars could only manage typically between 125-130bhp (you just can't get the staff!). With my rebuilt engine, it was at least as good as a new production unit. We took it out one dark night to a quiet straight road to check the 0-60mph time. With 3 people inside and probably too much petrol in the tank, the best we could manage was a shade under 9 seconds. However, I really had to keep the revs up and smoke the clutch. Getting the balance right between high revs and clutch slip (not just while pulling away in 1st but for each gear change) is probably a skill that I lacked. The quoted 0-60 times vary according to source, but I think it was officially 8.4s. The Sprint engine was described as a slant 4. I think I'm right in saying that this engine started life as a V8 that Triumph were designing for Saab. It looks like they simply cut it down the middle and just used one half for the Sprint. BTW I never had problems with over-heating. Like any car that's a bit unusual, the dealership mechanics often did more damage: both to the car they were working on and to the model's reputation. I could mention a couple more examples: my Astra SRi and my Astra petrol/LPG car ...but that's another story. It was a great car for touring, not only because there was plenty of power for climbing steep west country roads, but also because of the electro-mechanical overdrive. On the top of the gear knob was a small slide switch to turn the overdrive on/off, which worked in 3rd and 4th gear, giving you 6 forward gears. The reason I described this car as a dog is because the body work was rough, and by the time I took this car off the road, only the engine was worth keeping. So I talked a friend into a new project: "Let's fit a Sprint engine into your lethargic TR7". It took 12 months worth of Saturdays and about 150 gallons of builder's tea, but the end result was a proper sports car.
It was half a V8 and canted over when installed to lower the bonnet profile Should have tried out the TR8 - that went well (TR7 with a Rover V8 3.5) TD
Looking back at the multitude of cars I have owned since the early seventies, one sticks out by far. Mondeo ST 32v Xreg, I brought this car when it was just twelve months old and just over 1000 miles on the clock. This car was an absolute dream, it both had and did everything, fantastic car.Picked up a speeding ticket (£30) first day I had it, slowed down after that. Occasionally a car would pull along side me giving it a few rev's, I just ignored it knowing there was no contest. Kept the car for a few years and then swapped over to diesel cars. (I still miss that car) I'm annoyed I don't have any photo's of my old cars. cheers.....Graham.
If you are talking about cars you owned and wish you had kept mine would have to be: Ford RS 2000 X Pack version fiited out by Ford just like this one - For Sale Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000 X Series TD
