Triumph Dolomite Buyer's Guide
The Dolomite is the compact sports saloon British Leyland got mostly right, and the Sprint is the version the market has finally noticed. Our three sold results tell the story cleanly: £6,600 for a 1976 1850 HL automatic, £11,700 and £14,063 for a pair of 1980 Sprints. The 16-valve car is pulling decisively away from the rest of the range.
Know your versions
One generation, 1972–1980, with the engine defining the car. The 1300 (58bhp) and 1500 (67bhp, later 1500 HL) are the gentle end: front-engined, rear-driven small saloons with wood and velour, pleasant rather than quick. The 1850 (91bhp) uses the slant-four and is the sweet spot for cheap usability. The Sprint, from 1973, is the headline act: the same slant-four bored to 2.0 litres with the clever 16-valve single-camshaft head, 127bhp, and a genuine claim as the first mass-production 16-valve saloon. Alloy wheels, lowered suspension and overdrive made it a proper Q-car in period, and it is the only Dolomite with an obvious collector trajectory, as our results confirm.
What to pay
Three sales: £6,600, £11,700 and £14,063, median £11,700. The two Sprints define the top of the market; the 1850 HL automatic at £6,600 shows what a good non-Sprint brings. Current auction estimates support the spread: a 1978 Sprint carries a £6,000–£7,000 estimate (condition matters enormously within Sprints), a 1977 1500 HL is estimated at £5,500–£6,500, and a 1978 1300 at £3,000–£4,000. Read that as roughly £3,000–£6,500 for the small-engined cars, £6,600 or so for a nice 1850, and £11,700–£14,063 for Sprints good enough to trouble our sold results.
What goes wrong
The slant-four (1850 and Sprint) is the wallet item. It runs the water pump buried in the block, driven off the jackshaft, and a failed pump cooks the engine before the gauge tells you; overheating then lifts the head, and Sprint head work is specialist money because of the 16-valve head's unusual valve gear. Ask for evidence of cooling system maintenance and a recent head gasket before paying Sprint prices. Sprint valve adjustment uses shims and is often skipped; a rattly top end is a negotiating point. The smaller pushrod engines are simpler and tough. All Dolomites rot: front wings around the headlamps, sills, rear wheelarches, the base of the windscreen pillars and the boot floor, and good repair panels are thinner on the ground than for the sports cars. Overdrive (standard on Sprint) should engage cleanly; the Laycock unit is rebuildable. Interior wood and seat trim are hard to source in good condition, so buy the best cabin you can.
Our view
The Sprint is the Dolomite to own and our two 2026 results at £11,700 and £14,063 suggest the market agrees; a sorted one with a documented head and cooling system is a car to keep, with strong club support and most mechanical parts still available. The 1850 at £6,600 money is the underrated buy: eighty per cent of the Sprint experience, half the top-end anxiety. The 1300 and 1500 are honest cheap classics but will always follow, not lead.
