Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 1114 | Page 22

Healey, who had built his reputation at Triumph by
winning a number of rallies and trials, became experimental
manager for the automotive company late in 1933. His first
mission was to persuade Col. Claude Holbrook – Triumph’s
chairman – to greenlight the production of a prototype sports
car that could go head-to-head with any other car out there.
Convinced that he could elevate Triumph’s status to a
more prestigious class of racing, Healey earned Holbrook’s
support and, along with Tommy Wisdom – Triumph’s leading
driver at the time – they set out to create what remains the
greatest racecar Triumph ever built.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Alfa Romeo
should have been pleased. When Triumph unveiled its Dolomite 8 in October 1934, it was obviously inspired by Alfa’s
8C2300, which was the most successful car of the era. Drawing
its name from a rugged mountain range that was well known
to rally drivers of the time, the Dolomite drew immediate attention. And it so closely resembled the Alfa that one rumor
claims Triumph considered naming it the Triumph Alfa.
The similarities, both inside and out, were no accident.
Healey had actually purchased an Alfa and dismantled its
Monza supercharged Straight-eight, then built an engine that
was nearly identical. At the car’s debut at the Olympia Motor Show, it was immediately evident that the new Triumph
had been patterned after the Alfa, but the British press kindly
turned a blind eye to this fact.
“The Dolomite was totally unexpected, but from the day
it appeared, it was hailed as a supreme accomplishment – and
deservedly so,” notes automotive author Graham Robson, who
has covered the industry for more than four decades. “Dwell
on its excellence as a pure automobile, praise its creator Donald Healey, and be thankful that he had the chance to build
it at all.”
There were many who were thankful for Healey’s handiwork from the outset. Triumph had a reputation for building well-crafted cars, and the Dolomite continued that tradition. The hand-built engine, designed by Vittorio Jano, had
two blocks of four cylinders that were joined together in-line,
with a gear in the middle that drove the engine’s two overhead
cams. The block was machined from an aluminum alloy, and
the engine had detachable heads that formed a hemispherical
combustion chamber. A Roots-type supercharger force-fed the
engine through two downdraft carburetors.
The outer beauty was a breathtaking complement to its
inner strength. Designed by Walter Belgrove, Triumph’s chief

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