Dolly Dazzler

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If Triumph had wanted to leave the 1930s much as it had entered the decade, it could probably have done so effortlessly, but it would have been just another mass-market manufacturer, lumped together with Austin, Hillman, Singer, Standard and all the other stodgy car-makers that recall the days of the JarrowMarch and postwar rationing. Fortunately, a management change in 1933 heralded a new direction and Donald Healey’s promotion to engineering director to help Triumph realise its desired image.

The management’s brief was simple, to‘attract the public eye in the biggest way possible’, but it was also in Healey’s nature to see that the resulting car was perfectly engineered. The14/60 Dolomite was launched for the 1937 model year and featured a 1496ccfour-cylinder, though a more potent straight-six was also offered. Synchromeshon the top three gears must have been attractive to many buyers, and the properly coach-built body lent an air of old-fashioned dignity. It is best remembered, though, for the spectacular Art Déco, Hudson-inspired waterfall grille, which was perhaps the most eye-catching ever fitted to a mass-produced 1930s British car.

Karl Ludvigsen extols the virtues of the aspirational Dolomite in the February issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Mick Walsh.

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