This one's personal, well it was, because we used to own one. Back in the 1970's the Dolomite Sprint was THE car for the thrusting young executive, somehow a step up from the Cortina/Marina and somewhat more sporty than the Rover P6 or it's Triumph 2000 stable mate. Back then the exchange rate meant that the equivalent Alfa and BMW 2002 saloons were considerably more expensive (£1,000 or so) than the Dolomite's launch price of £1740 and far beyond the reach of the average man's (or more likely company fleet's) budget.
But twin headlamps, full instrumentation, luxury seats and carpets, a heated rear window, and cigar lighter on the inside and external styling designed to stand out from the crowd including black painted rear panel, twin exhaust, front spoiler, vinyl roof and D-posts why would you want to go for a more basic foreign alternative. The Dolomite was a car of firsts as well, on a superficial level it was the first UK production saloon fitted with (polished) allow wheels as standard but more importantly it had the first mass produced 16 valve, single cam engine, resulting in a Design Council award.
Designed by a team led by the legendary Spen King, this engine was based upon the standard 1850 Dolomite slant four engine but enlarged to 1998cc and fitted with twin SU carburettors. In development the engine developed up to 150BHP, but production weren't able to build engines of sufficient consistency resulting in the car being renamed "Sprint" instead of the planned "Dolomite 135" at the eleventh hour. Nonetheless with factory engines producing 125-130BHP the performance was sprightly to say the least. With a top speed of just under 120mph and 0-60 taking only 8.4 seconds, performance stands up to comparison with many of today's equivalents.
However with the optional (and later standard) overdrive gearbox the Sprint combined fast performance of the line with the ability to cruise comfortably in the theoretical sixth gear. This feature makes the Sprint one of the few saloon classics from the era that can be used comfortably today and keep up with today's models both on country roads and the motorway.
The rest of the driveline was upgraded aas well with the gearbox and differential of the 1850 Dolomite replaced by a version of those fitted to the TR and 2000 series cars. The brakes were also upgraded, with new pad materials at the front, and the fitment of larger drums and a load sensing valve at the rear. A limited slip differential was also optional and these are highly prized today. Ours was one of the first 2,000 produced which were only offered in bright Mimosa yellow although further colours were available from 1974.
Ours has moved onto a new owner but we remember it fondly, being one of the early models it benefitted from thicker steel and better rust-proofing than the later models. It also was excellent mechanically and never failed to start first time. It also stood out from the crowd and gathered comments wherever it went. It's not so much fun stopping at the petrol station without someone coming up and saying "I had/My Dad had one of those".
Other than selling we only had one regret, our didn't have the full length webasto sunroof that finished off Britain's answer to BMW, if it did it would have just been like the one owned by a friend's dad that probably started our love affair with arguably the best British saloon car ever.
