The Illustrated History of Triumph Sports and Racing Cars. G. William Krause
on the Super Nine chassis. All models featured conventional semi-elliptic leaf springs on all four corners, along with hydraulic brakes. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The Gloria line featured coupes, open two-seater roadsters, and larger enclosed touring models. This sporting two-seater Southern Cross, named for the constellation, was the result of shortening the 108-inch wheelbase by 12 inches. This created a sportier and more proportional-looking car. The Monte Carlo version used this same cut-door design but the additional length made it less proportional in profile. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The cut-down doors were a common styling element at the time. However, Triumph trademarked an optional hinged flip-up panel to fill in the gap in inclement weather. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
This 1,232-cc engine is fitted with dual side-draft carburetors. Donald Healey went on to fit larger 30-mm Zenith down-draft carburetors that boosted horsepower to 48 for competition. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The remarkable 1934 Dolomite Straight Eight. Named for the Italian mountain range, the car was inspired by Alfa-Romeo’s world-beating 8C; it is sometimes referred to as Triumph 8C. When the car was in development, Donald Healey traveled to Italy to meet the designers of the Alfa to ensure he got all the details right. A U.S.-based car collector, who owns several Alfa 8Cs and one of the surviving Dolomites, said that, in his experience, the Triumph was quicker and handled better than its Italian inspiration. (Photo Courtesy Gary Harman)
The arresting lines of the Dolomite Straight Eight were designed by Walter Belgrove. The body sat on a pressed-steel ladder frame supported by semi-elliptic leaf springs at all four corners. (Photo Courtesy Gary Harman)
As this was all happening, Bettmann had had enough and retired. Claude Holbrook replaced him. The new management faced great challenges during the early 1930s. The light-car boom was over; Gloria sedans and saloons were not selling, but production costs were rising quickly. Only the motorcycles continued to thrive.
During this same period, Healey proposed and built Triumph’s first great car, and perhaps its greatest. He was fresh from his success at the Alpine Trial with a bare-bones Southern Cross Monte Carlo that had dominated the competition. He wanted to build a car capable of challenging the big names from Germany and Italy.
Healey’s creation was the Dolomite Straight Eight, which was modeled directly from the highly successful Alfa-Romeo 2300. In fact, not only did Healey purchase an Alfa for research, he also traveled to Italy to speak directly to the car’s designers to be certain he got it as correct as possible.
THE REMARKABLE DOLOMITE STRAIGHT EIGHT
Triumph’s new car, named for the famed mountain range, was like no other it had built before or since. This project was both a brilliant engineering feat and a miraculous financial feat because the company was seriously strapped for cash. This was, unfortunately, a recurring theme throughout Triumph’s history. It was perennially short of financial resources just as it was on the verge of creating a car that could have completely changed the fortunes of the company. The Dolomite was the first of several very special cars.
Looking similar to the Alfa, it featured a hand-built 1,990-cc double overhead cam (DOHC) 8-cylinder engine boasting 120 hp aided by a Roots supercharger. The engine’s design almost made it appear as if two 4-cylinder engines had been fused inline. This appearance was accentuated by the dual four-pipe intake manifolds feeding each cylinder from two Zenith down-draft carburetors. On the opposite side of the engine were eight individual exhaust pipes that curved down and out through an opening in the hood in the style of the Frazer-Nash. The eight pipes joined a single large muffler running longitudinally just ahead of the passenger-side door. The exhaust was then piped to the rear of the car.
This on-the-street snapshot captures Donald Healey showing the Straight Eight engine compartment to a group of inquisitive young men while stopped during a road test. The photo is thought to have been taken in Perranporth, Cornwall. (Photo Courtesy Rich Saunders)
Power was channeled to the rear wheels through an Armstrong Siddeley-Wilson pre-selector gearbox sourced from Siddeley. Pre-selector gearboxes were in vogue at the time, but usually only found in the upper end of the automobile spectrum on vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz, Bugatti, Maybach, and Talbot-Lago.
A pre-selector gearbox was preferred in the Dolomite because it allowed for fast and easy shifting. However, more important was the fact that it could handle more power than a conventional manual transmission.
Named in part for Major W. G. Wilson, one of the co-inventors of the tank during World War I, the transmission had many internal operational similarities to an automatic transmission. The driver could select a gear ahead of time on the small mechanism tucked neatly within a finger’s reach behind the steering wheel. When the gear change was required, the driver simply pressed and released the gear change pedal (similar to a clutch pedal) and the new gear was engaged. It was quick with no possibility of a missed shift and the driver’s hands remained on the steering wheel.
The heart of the beast: the hand-built DOHC 1,990-cc inline 8-cylinder engine. With the help of a Roots supercharger, horsepower was rated at 120 bhp and capable of top speeds more than 110 mph. Looking like two 4-cylinder engines fused together, it was actually one alloy block with alloy head that featured 10 main bearings. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The multi-plate dry clutch was set to engage at a relatively low RPM when compared to competition cars with a similar setup. This made the car more street-able in town. Touring cars equipped with the pre-selector gearbox favored the fluid flywheel clutch, which was closer in feel to an automatic.
The Dolomite sat on semi-elliptic longitudinal leaf springs and Rudge-Whitworth 19-inch wire wheels. The 120 horses were harnessed by 12-inch Lockheed hydraulic brakes at all four wheels. Walter Belgrove designed the body for the purposeful-looking open two-seater. It was, and still is, a very stylish design.
This is the driver’s view of the instruments for the Straight Eight. The control for the Wilson pre-selector gearbox can be seen to the right of the steering wheel. The driver could change gears easily by moving the lever into position and then simply dipping the clutch at the appropriate time. Gearboxes of this type were typically found on the mightier European marques such as Mercedes-Benz and Maybach. (Photo Courtesy Gary Harman)
Although Donald Healey’s amazing Straight Eight Dolomite did not go into production, he was instrumental in the engine changes for the Dolomite saloons and roadsters offered from 1937 to 1939. He converted all Climax engines to overhead-valve configuration for greater efficiency and reliability. Walter Belgrove penned the fashionable body lines, which can be likened to the Jaguar and MG saloons of the day. However, the distinctive “waterfall” grilles with bounteous rounded chrome was not popular. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
Healey’s