What you see here is the result of a 10 year Labour of Love by an Isle of Wight based enthusiast.

The car, a 1975 Triumph Dolomite, was originally purchased in September 2000 and was just 2 days away from being collected by the local scrap yard.  An initial inspection revealed that despite the outer body panels being what could best be described as rough and the interior being a mess, the car was structurally solid and the chassis rails and inner sills were strong.  The front of the car had not faired well with the entire front panel being full of holes and the wings full of swollen filler  Part of the inner panel was completely missing, where water have been thrown on to it over the years by the engine cooling fan.  It was decided that the car had potential however and deserved to be returned to the road.

In order to take a lot of the hassles out of rebuilding the front end, a second Dolomite (a 1981 1850HL) was purchased later the same year.  This car gave up its interior, including carpets, and the inner and outer front panel.  The inner and outer front panels were seperated by patiently drilling out all the spot-welds, the seat frames were fitted with the correct covers from a early car and the faded rear seat was rejuvenated using fabic paint.  The plan was to utilise more body panels from this car but it was scrapped without the owner's permission before any others could be removed.

The front of the car was rebuilt using salvaged and new panels by a local and respected workshop.  The old outer panels, and the inner front panel, were all removed and repairs made to the inner wings before the replacements were all refitted and repainted in the original colour of Honeysuckle.  The car was then put back on the road and used regularly with replacement parts being bought up and stored until the time came that they would be used.  A full set of doors, for example, were purchased around 5 years ago and kept in storage until they were painted last year.

2010 saw the final leg of this project, with the final repairs to the bodywork - the rear pillars, the trailing edge of the roof and the rear wings all received the attention of the same local workshop that had completed the front end repairs.  A number of repairs were needed, as many repairs had been made over the years with a variety of fillers, some of which probably dated back to the '70s.  Finally, the body was repainted and the new windscreen fitted.  When the car was returned to the owner the bumpers and trim were re-fitted and the car, which still has it's original running gear and had a Chief Executive of an Electrical Company in Hereford as it's first owner, was completed.  The owner's plans for the future now included using, enjoying and appreciating the fruits his labours whenever possible.