1971 Triumph Toledo two-door

The Triumph Toledo was a compact automobile introduced in August 1970 as a cheaper version of the 1300, which was at the same time replaced by the 1500. The Toledo shared the 1500’s new front with a split grille, but instead of the 1500’s twin round headlamps, it had single rectangular units set in a grey plastic grille. The rear end was like the 1300 except for the taillights, which were of a simpler, flat-faced design.

Initially, the Toledo was only available as a two-door saloon with the 1300 engine (58 bhp net), but 4-door export versions with 1500 engine in single- and twin-carburettor “TC” form (61 and 64 bhp net, respectively) soon appeared. From August 1971 the four-door model was also available on the home market.

The biggest change from the 1300 was the retrograde step to rear-wheel drive and live rear axle (still with coil springs), in the interest of simplicity and low production costs. The interior was also cheaper, with wood confined to a dashboard consisting of a simple plank with holes drilled for the quite basic instrumentation. Still, the interior was a cut above most other small cars at a time when black plastic was all the rage, and the Toledo was quite a nice car.

The Toledo went through some minor styling developments, such as wrap-round rear bumpers for 1973 and black grille with grey horizontal ribs in 1974. In March 1975 the two-door version was dropped, before the model was finally replaced by the Dolomite 1300 and 1500 in March 1976. Total production was 119,182 cars.

Interestingly, CKD kits from Triumph were still being assembled by the New Zealand Motor Corporation in 1977 for the New Zealand market and registered as late as 1978. These final Toledos had some of the refinements of post-1976 Dolomites, including a silver-coloured grille and rubber strips along the side of the car. However, they retained the shorter Toledo shell.

Technical updates were as few as the cosmetic ones. In October 1971 the compression was raised from 8·5:1 to 9:1 for the 1500, bringing horsepower from 61 to 64 (net). In October 1972 the previously optional front disc brakes became standard, and in March 1975 the TC also received the higher compression and now boasted 71 bhp.

Performance was middle-of the-road, top speed being around 135–145 km/h (despite the speedometer on the 1500s being far more optimistic), acceleration 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) was 17.1 sec (1300) to 13.6 sec (TC).