If I were to draw up a list of the top ten cars that I would classify as the most frustrating ever built, the Triumph Stag would be on that list. It was a car that promised so much, and it certainly deserved better than to be built by an imploding British Leyland whose quality control lumbered the Stag with a multitude of problems initially. Thankfully today it is possible to eliminate all of the problems that shoddy quality control inflicted upon the Stag, and it can be a wonderful car that is a pleasure to drive. Our Jamie located this 1971 Stag which is offered for sale here on Craigslist, and is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The seller is offering this Triumph with a clean title, and has set the price at $1,650.
The seller is very candid about the fact that there is rust in this car, but emphasizes that the rust is in the panels only and that the frame is clean. I can see some evident in the bottom corners of the doors and in a couple of other places, but all of it should be able to be addressed with some ease. The more that I look at the Stag the more amazed I become that the design has held up so well some fifty years after Giovanni Michelotti penned it. The Triumph also comes with both a hardtop and a soft-top.
The interior looks to be in reasonable condition, although the photo leaves something to be desired. Although it is a bit hard to tell, it looks like everything might be present and accounted for. One thing that I can say is that the dash looks complete and the pad looks like it has survived without cracking. There is a little bit of work required to tidy up some edges on the door cards and the whole thing could use a good clean. Another plus is that seller informs us that the gauges and lights basically function as they should. To me the only other thought that I have is that the color of the carpet is what I would refer to as an acquired taste.
Under the hood is the 3-liter V8 backed by an automatic transmission. There were two issues that plagues the Stag and did real damage to both its image and its sales. The first was that the engine only delivered 145hp, which was not going to deliver sports-car performance in a car that weighed some 2,800lbs. The other issue was that early Stag’s were plagued with major reliability issues with that engine, and by the time those quality issues had been addressed the Stag was suffering from major image problems. The march of time has allowed people to realize that the Stag was never designed to be a sports car, but more an open-topped GT car designed to devour long distances in comfort, which it does do. This Stag is said to run, so it is possible that it may be able to be made road-ready with little or no work.
I’ll keep this really short and sweet. This Triumph Stag is not perfect, but it’s honest. It doesn’t appear to require any major work, and runs as is. It has a hardtop and a soft-top. It’s also staggeringly cheap at $1,650. I think that it may be one of the bargains of the year.
Methinks there may be more rust in this Stag than the seller realises. Caveat emptor.
Check out the hood’s leading edge. I too, sensed a great deal of optimism in the writeup.
I purchased my first brand new car about the same time in 1970….a MGB. It was an awful time for British Leyland. Labor disputes were the norm and cars were actually sabatoged at the factory. My poor Car threw a rod after nine months. I had to wait 3 months to get a block from England. The parts and labor cost close to what the car cost new ($2650). Once repaired the car caught fire because an alligator clip was deliberately placed on the wiring harness under the dash. I sold the car 12 months after purchasing. I’m sure this Stag suffered the same fate during production. A very dark time for British cars.
A very dark time, tis true.
In my opinion nothing has changed by much in Britain.
When management will NOT go on the floor to speak to workers, and workers can NOT speak to management as they are supposedly uneducated morons as far as management is concerned.
Britain’s economy continues to collapse in a sea of apathy.
Be sure to only speak to those with whom you have been formally introduced to (and dangle another participle).
that is just rubbish, you know not of what you speak.
I’m sorry to hear that. I bought a ’71 MGB in early ’73 ( with 19K) and that was one of the best cars I ever had. I put over 150K on the 1st motor,( no O/D) swapped it out for another motor and O/D, and put at least another 100K on that setup. Rust was ultimate cause of death. I just figured the little hassles along the way, were just inherent British bug-a-boos, and not shoddy build quality. I loved my MGB!!!
The Stag,,,a Spitfire on steroids. Us British car lovers thought the Stag was the answer, and in a way, it was, until the TR7 dashed all hopes.The Stag had all the qualities we looked for in a British roadster, not quite the Jag, but still, pretty close.( Jag,,,Stag,,get it?) I believe the motor was the biggie, if they just would have used the tried and true 3.5 Rover motor. Kind of the last gasp for traditional Triumph roadsters, in this country, anyway.
These were supposedly plagued with overheating issues. There is an episode of “For the love of Cars” where they redid one of these and addressed all of the issues. Philip Glenister and Ant Anstead (before he went to Wheeler Dealers) did the show and it was great. Might look and see if you can find the episode if you are interested in this car.
Pretty sure this has been for sale in The Triangle for more than a year now. I bet you could sell the hardtop to recoup half the cost and Warboy the rest. Or give it a mild Chevy 305/TH350 for some semblence of drivetrain parts availability. I guess the good news is that to repair the rust, you’re gonna yank out that shag carpeting. Wear a mask and a protection amulet.
I remember seeing these cars brand new at the dealership regularly plagued with issues. Those poor unaware new buyers not knowing how bad it was really going to get. They just weren’t able to sort out the problems at that time. Too bad. The Stag had great potential. Regardless, if a well reburshied example can be found it still brings money ( not crazy money) and is still quite unique. I always loved the design of British cars of the late 60s-70s. I even owned a 62 Alvis TD 21!
I had three 1970 British cars: 1) 1970 Jag XJ6 found wrecked in a field, repaired at home, and kept 17 or 18 years. It won many prizes in the driven class. 2) 1970 Triumph GT6 found at a Chrysler dealer. Daily driver for 4 or 5 years. Very few repairs.3) 1970 Spitfire found at a used car lot and owned at the same time as the GT6, but kept for only a year or so.
I have messed with British cars since the 1960’s and agree with the hit or miss build quality.
I never had the desire for a Triumph Stag, TR7, or Jensen Healey. All of them seemed under developed to me.
Why is this car still available at that price. The parts have to be worth a multiple of that.
This car should be sold by now. Too much rust? Parts should be worth something.
If you have a competent British mechanic guy or do your own wrenching and know these cars, go for it. They are great cars.
“Supposedly plagued with overheating”? HA! I’d been driving one through Asheville, NC’s Saturday night crawl until I pulled off under a gas station canopy, and the instant I opened the hood the radiator cap blew off hard enough to hit the ceiling. That was not the last overheating episode before we got home to Nashville – those were almost an hourly occurrence – but since I avoided being stuck in traffic I could pull over until the needle got back down there.
It was my brother’s car that my GF and I had borrowed for a road trip, in the course of which I got familiar with the insides of a dual-point distributor, among other things. After we had finally managed to get the top up and latched (which required one of us sitting on the header and bouncing up and down) we were not going to drop it again, hot muggy weather or not, and running the a/c made overheating instantaneous, so we had to rely on the very unreliable electric windows.
A week or so later, back in Nashville, my brother and I had just done the top-up ritual because it was clearly about to rain. As we got in line for our freeway entrance, behind a nice Spitfire with its top down, the first drops began to fall. The Spitfire driver looked up, reached back, pulled his top shut and latched it just as the light turned green. John and I looked at each other … a week later, John had gotten an AMC Gremlin to replace the one he’d traded in for the Stag, and I could not bring myself to object.
No doubt a great deal! Hopefully it’s a good view all over it especially under it! Awesome looking car! It reminds me a little of a 450 SE body wise!
I had a ’73 Stag with a four speed manual transmission. I rebuilt and balanced the engine, and added a high density radiator core with an electric fan. Always ran well and cool! It was a great cruiser, and was fun to drive. Some of the parts were easy to find, others had to come from overseas, and took months to arrive.
When the Bondo that the previous owner had applied began to fail and the foam in the seats disintegrated, I sold it. A ex-GI who had been stationed in the UK bought it. He married his wife over there, and she whispered to me that she wanted the car because her ex-boyfriend drove one. Ok, then…
Used to see it around at various repair shops for years.
world round auto ownership is quite different than here in USA (or at least was till late ’90s). Lots of hands on & pride in ownership (by the 99% anyway).
A car like this fits in well w/that mentality.
The standard here now (since late ’70s) is ignore the car unless some noise, smell or break dwn occurs. We don’t have any1 like that here on BF do we?
Is that an SU (HV) carb in the center of the engine? Do I C an empty mounting pad (intake top) beside it? If so – interesting design…
It has twin Strombergs on a “Y” in the center of the manifold. They are missing the horns that bolt to the (missing) air cleaner.
Connected to 2 of my favorite British TV shows. On New Tricks, one of the characters drives a BRG Stag throughout the run of the series. Someone mentioned Philip Glenister who Played Gene Hunt on both Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, 2 shows which had cars as stars, even if one was an Audi Quatro.