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Re: The first Dolomites

To: walker05@camosun.bc.ca, triumphs@triumph.cs.utah.edu
Subject: Re: The first Dolomites
From: "R. John Lye" <rjl6n@server1.mail.virginia.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 09:26:11 -0500
Malcolm Walker wrote (and Damian Carvolth also wrote something similar):

>The Dolomite was once referred to as "the best Alfa that Triumph ever
>built".  It's a very pretty car.  Ken Richardson (someone you should
>know about...) raced them for Triumph.  He also crashed one into a train
>(and took a picture right after.  Maybe that was Donald Healey, I'm not a
>big history buff.)  I think.

Sorry, you've both confused this car (which indeed is the *first* Dolomite)
with the '39 Dolomite that Ken Gano was asking about.  It was indeed Donald
Healey who convinced Triumph to build it, and who was hit by a train during
the Monte Carlo Rallye somewhere in Scandinavia; apparently, he was lucky to 
survive.  However, Ken was asking about the '39 Dolomite which was another
car entirely.  This later Dolomite was a large-ish sedan, with a Chrysler
inspired "waterfall" grill, which was quite dramatic for 1939.  In fact,
it was apparently a bit too dramatic as the cars did not sell too well
and the grill was later replaced by a conventional, flat grill.  This
was a production car, unlike Donald Healey's Alfa-inspired factory race 
cars, so there were quite a few more of the later cars.

cheers,

John Lye

'59 TR-3A, '62 TR-4, '70 GT-6+
email: rjl6n@virginia.edu
homepage:  http://avery.med.virginia.edu/~rjl6n/homepage.htm

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