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[Webby the Bear]

.......... just watching old TG episodes and they had the BL challenge. dolomite sprint, princess and rover SD1.

now i know that TG stage everything (thats another argument  ) where the door falls off the rover etc etc.

but............. were these good cars in their day?

[albitz]

Not really no. Dolomite was reasonably quick in a straight line in its day, but didnt handle and rusted faster than it accellerated.
Build quality on all of them was appalling, as they were built by communists who resented anyone who could afford to buy a new car.

[Marks DTM Calib]

SD1 had an interesting engine and that is where the good news ended.

The princess was just plain F-ing awful!

The least said about the Dolomite sprint the better!

[Marks DTM Calib]

I should add I recall a friends dad saying that the fastest thing he ever saw on his Dolomite Sprint was the rear wheel overtaking him on the M1!

[albitz]

I can still remember my first drive in an SD1.To this day I swear the steering wheel wasnt connected to anything. Lack of feel doesnt even begin to describe it.
Dolomite sprint had an interesting valvegear arrngement where 16 valves were operated by a single camshaft.
Still looked 25 years out of date when it was launched though.

[Webby the Bear]

the SD1 was apparently styled to look like the ferrari daytona 

[Marks DTM Calib]

the SD1 was apparently styled to look like the ferrari daytona 

Well they must only have had a cigerette card picture of one to work off then! 

[Andy B]

Yes they were pretty crap cars really. The strike torn 70s weren't a particularly good time to make cars though, in theory they had some good ideas eg the Maxi was one of the first 5 door hatch backs  on the market, had 5 gears - loads only had 4. The Dolly Sprint was an early 16 valve car for the masses.
All Leyland's car were competing against each other in the market place too, which didn't help things ether.

[Webby the Bear]

the SD1 was apparently styled to look like the ferrari daytona 

Well they must only have had a cigerette card picture of one to work off then! 

hahahah definitely................

[Webby the Bear]

try again

[Omegatoy]

strange how i disagree, from 1979 to 1992 I owned 11 SD1 v8,s including a janspeed twin turbo,very quick but the brakes were rubbish even after a change to jag calipers,
 each and every one of them did sterling service, only one required a cam change due to wear, another required a set of wheel arches put in it, four required new boge self levellers,and one broke a rockershaft, which i changed at the scrapyard as it stil drove well on 7 cylinders,
all were thrashed as hard as i could(young and stupid then) everywhere i drove, only one was an auto, which within 2 weeks of owning it was changed to manual configuration, each and everyone of them was only run on duckhams 20/50 and MAN filters, fuel consumption for the performance was great, one i think had central locking problems whch turned out to be bad earths, the turbo clocked up 260 thousand miles before i sold it,preffered the twin su set up to the injection as it was easier to play with but the two vitesse i had were pretty good,
still get to play with a twin plenum vitesse when im in uk if it needs working on, they could have really done with an lsd as it was all to easy to light up one rear wheel, but thats about my major gripe,all in all a brilliant car in my humble opinion!! 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The Marina was a wonderful car. Beautifully built.......and it handled better than a Lotus...

[pscocoa]

.......... just watching old TG episodes and they had the BL challenge. dolomite sprint, princess and rover SD1.

now i know that TG stage everything (thats another argument  ) where the door falls off the rover etc etc.

but............. were these good cars in their day?

I had 2 facelift 2300 SE SD1s from new - one in 1983 and one in 1985 (last one was 3 speed auto!!). They were actually pretty good - one or 2 electrical faults - rear electric window and fuel guage - but recall no problems and quite good to drive. Also had the Austin Ambassador new in 1982 - I think I did 30000 miles in it in one year and replaced it with my first SD1. No problems with Ambassador but it did look crap I suppose.

[Webby the Bear]

the marina..........



and the austin ambassador........




i swear i'm not being sarcastic. i think they're good looking cars. better than that 80's hatrchback volvo... whatever that was called  :-?

[albitz]

I should add I recall a friends dad saying that the fastest thing he ever saw on his Dolomite Sprint was the rear wheel overtaking him on the M1!

Probably just about to tighten the wheel nuts when Red Robbo called them out on strike again.

I can picture the scene..........."Comrades,the capitalist management have yet again pushed us into an impossible position.They have requested,almost demanded, that we begin to produce cars which customers will find attractive,will be keen to buy,and - unbelievably - will be able to enjoy months of trouble free motoring after they have bought them. Make no mistake comrades, this is tantamount to slavery, and we must fight it to the bitter end.Im sure I heard one of them mumble under his breath, something about management having the right to manage ! Just who do these people think they are ?
I have no option but to defend your rights in this matter comrades, and therefore am ordering you out on strike indefinitely.
By the way, union subs need to rise by 35% from next week as comrade Jack Jones our General Secratary has discovered a serious leak in the roof of his stately home, and he says the cost of taking the Bentley to Downing St. for beer and sandwiches is becoming prohibitive.
We shall overcome comrades, we will achieve equality."

Exaggeration - a little maybe, but not by much.

I think I just got a bit carried away.