The truth behind the idiot (Clarkson) crashing the A610

Shiny-shiny ...shiny boots of leather .......open bonnets....boots and doors

Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground, well partially.

[BIG_MVS]

Shiny-shiny ...shiny boots of leather .......open bonnets....boots and doors

Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground, well partially.

Lets check it with Bully....

Shiny-shiny ...shiny boots of leather .......open bonnets....boots and doors

Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground, well partially.

Lets check it with Bully....

A nod from the BIG FELLA I can go to bed happy tonight.

A thousand Alpines that would awake me, different colours made of GRP.............anyway moving on from Lou Reed

This is from the Triump Dolomite forum. Pretty similar experience and a shame again really as a good classic destroyed in the name of entertainment for the masses.

I quite like Dolomite Sprints too. Clever 16 valve engine for its day.

http://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/view ... hp?p=42648
Sprint On Top Gear - The TRUTH by Stewart Moss on Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:52 pm

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.

I'm glad a there are a few that understand Can't think why I had a Velvet moment as I'm way too young to remember but hey ..........My point being that we should not be judging on the outside alone

Well I have to say that the interior is absolutely mint, the engine bay pristine, and under the front bonnet is like new too. I've returned the wheels to the factory colour with new tyres to boot. Most of the work was done before I owned it. I've just spent hours detailing it and getting the leather conditioned nicely, the car is stored in a de-humidified garage and I have to admit to avoiding using it the wet.

Must say, mine is a bit of a shed at the minute.
But I use it when I want to use it, wet or not.

I took great satisfaction from buying a car that needed lots of work (it was borderline write off due to the state of the underneath and the rest of it was hardly concourse) and doing lots of the work myself over the past 2-3 years to get it into a decent state (and it was my first car 'project')

I guess some think that I'm over the top with the presentation of my car. I just always wanted an A610 and now have one that I'm proud to drive. Don't really care what anyone thinks and I'm not interested who has the best car. I just feel privileged to own such a great car and see others with the same interest.

john your car is a credit to you, it always looks amazing if they are judged it is only one persons opinion on that day, but yours is the bench mark to follow but where did the gold esprit come from or is it just the camara/light effect

where did the gold esprit come from or is it just the camara/light effect

It's just a customers car. Actually, it is a rather special Sport 300 as there were only ever 60 odd sport 300's built starting from chassis no. 004. This one is actually the first pre-production car and is no. 001. Check out the quad exhaust specially designed by my boss too. It sounds awesome. We also have another Sport 300 in the workshop (owned by the boss) which is a completely unique car which was specified from new with the racecar spec engine (approx 420bhp) and should weigh less that 1000kg when back together. I can't wait to drive that. Unfortunately, part supplies and customer cars always come first and things are rediculously busy right now.

Sport 300's are the holy grail of 4 pot Esprit's and have a real following in Lotus circles. Couldn't agree more about cars I always buy the very best I can afford then try to improve. I'm after a BMW Z3M at the moment and I'm going to see a 14,000 mile car that has never been out in the rain, its 50% dearer than most cars advertised but it's a real gem.