Triumph Stag - isn't that the Triumph that used the Buick /Rover engine?
That’s the first question that I invariably am asked about this car that is seldom seen in Canada. Officially never imported into Canada, there are only a handful in Ontario, however they did arrive in the US
for three years, 1971 thru 1973, for a total of 2871 units with high hopes of being a successful grand tourer. With a V8 engine, four wheel independent suspension, a choice of automatic or four speed overdrive trans-missions, air conditioning, hard and soft tops, how could it miss? Well, it missed by a country mile due to reliability problems mostly related to the engine and cooling system. These problems were so severe that British Leyland withdrew it from the US market after three years even though production continued on through 1978 for sales in European and other markets, for a total worldwide sales of 25,939 units.
This coming year, 2000, marks the thirtieth birthday of the first production of the model, although it was not brought to the US until 1971. It was the custom at Triumph in that era to give prototype cars code names as an identity, which is where the name ‘Stag’ came in. It was well liked by marketing and adopted as the model name when launched.
Since my son and I got involved with this particular model of Triumph nine years ago I have learned a lot about its weaknesses and strong points. The problems that so widely plagued the car in the early 1970’s have now been fully identified and sound engineering solutions applied to make it as reliable as any car of its vintage.
There is a growing interest in the Stag as families increase in size and numbers and no longer fit in the much loved TR3’s and TR6’s . This is where increased interest in the Stag is beginning to appear as it does
have realistic rear seats with seat belts - it also offers additional security for family members by having a built in structural roll bar. This together with the early reliability problems being resolved make it an attractive alternative for top down Triumph motoring with a configuration to suit a lot of different tastes with automatic or manual transmission variations.
Good examples do not make the high dollars - like a big Healey or an E Type -making the Stag more affordable. At any one time I can usually locate a dozen or so cars ranging from a car with a V6 conversion for $1,500 (US) up to a concourse version at around $15,000 (US). The top price I have seen recently this side of the Atlantic was last year for a show winner which sold for $18,000 (US) which suprised a lot of people. The lowest I have seen was $700 for a car with a sound body but no engine. At the present time $10,000 (US) will get you an extremely nice car.
The car bears some family resemblance to other Triumph models - for instance the rear suspension, final drive, drive shafts are an identical design to the TR6 - not interchangeable parts but you would hard pressed to tell them apart. Similarly, the four speed transmission is derived from the TR6 family, the automatic box is a Borg-Warner 35 (later models had the BW 65) that most corner transmission shops can rebuild at a modest cost although they are extremely reliable if not sophisticated by today’s standards. The V8 engine is in the same family as the TR 7 and has the same weaknesses and strengths as
those engines, however that’s another story I will get into later. Suffice it to say that engines are now reliable when put together correctly and cooled right. Recognizing the weaknesses is the key to building a strong engine. One interesting feature is that no other vehicle has this V8 engine so you have a unique car in that regard.
Styling was also related to other Triumph models such as the Spitfire and the 2500 sedan while the interior and dash has a strong resemblance to the Dolomite. The Stag shared body colors with other Triumphs too, throughout its production run there were 40 different colors offered -probably more than any other model - it started with the choice of six colors in the first year ending up with twelve in the final year. Two cars were converted to four wheel drive in the early 1970’s by Ferguson Research in Coventry, that was a time when a number of different cars were converted, a great idea but ahead of it’s time. 15 years later many auto makers were doing that very same thing in production.
Performance is not sparkling by today’s standards, but adequate to keep up with modern traffic on the freeway. 0 to 60 MPH comes up in 9.3 sec. with a four speed but the automatic version takes 11.5 sec. top speed was stated as 116 MPH for the overdrive box in the original road tests. Fuel economy - you can expect to average in the mid 20’s when cruising at highway speeds.
On the parts availability front there is both good and bad news, the good news is that parts are plentiful, both new and used, and reasonably priced (cheaper than Honda or Toyota), the relatively bad news is that they are in the UK. To mollify that comment, there are several large suppliers that provide excellent service when ordered by phone, fax or the internet - dispatch being most often by the next day. 1 usually get delivery within one week, the best so far has been three days. The top suppliers in the UK are Rimmer Bros., The Stag Owner’s Club (SOC.), Hart Racing Services, Paddocks, Fitchets, Cardinal, Brighton Stag Specialists and, last but not least, is Aldridges of Wolverhampton for interior and soft top parts. There are no Canadian suppliers that I know of as there is a very small customer base here - there are however two US suppliers, East Coast Jaguar and Walter Holiday in Tuscon. Parts these as they wore out very rapidly (Note to come in under the category of parts for TR 7 owners, this is the same pump). antique automobile over 20 years old’ and are duty free.
I should mention the SOC. as this a must for someone contemplating ownership of a Stag. It is a very good club with presently with around 4,500 members world wide and publishes a very professional monthly magazine. This includes technical articles, cars for sale, parts for sale, ads. of all the major parts suppliers, member letters and experiences and a wealth of other information. Of course there is a lot of local chit chat that is of no use to an owner this side of the pond. There is a separate company set up by a number of members’ named the Stag Owners Club Tooling Fund Ltd which arranges the manufacture of parts no longer available such as some body panels, coolant hoses etc. The club acts indirectly as a watchdog on parts as members experience with bad parts will soon get aired in the magazine. A good example was a re-manufactured water pump that had incorrectly heat treated drive gears, a number of owners got burned with these as they wore out very rapidly (Note to TR7 owners, this is the same pump).
A founding member of the SOC is Tony Hart who runs and owns Hart Racing Services - he actively races Stags, his experience is invaluable either in giving advice, supply of parts or simply providing confidence that the basic Stag engine is robust enough to perform under race conditions.
He is able to easily obtain 180 HP on this 3 liter engine for street driving with the addition of headers and a Holley 4 barrel carburetor and 200 HP in race form. In addition to these modifications he has designed and produces many updates such as polyurethane suspension bushings, handling and performance suspension kits, fuel injection conversion, upgraded cooling kits and many more items in addition to the regular replacement parts.
Both of our cars have an interesting background, my son’s 1972 was found sitting in a barn in Houston, TX. With 29000 miles on the clock, it had been dry stored for around 12 years with a seized engine. We hauled it back on a trailer and rebuilt it. Being a Texas car it was totally rust free and as it had been stored inside the upholstery was not destroyed by the sun. One interesting fact was the Mud Wasp nests that we found underneath the car, they were everywhere, fortunately uninhabited. Seems like they love old cars (Triumphs?) to nest under.
My 1971 car was found in San Francisco - it had been garaged for a few years when the original owner had passed away but was a sound California car with original paint. I drove it back from the west coast to Burlington taking 4 1/2 days passing through more mountains than I care to remember. An interesting drive that I would like to make again using a little more time to stop along the way. In this instance I was anxious to return home for a number of reasons.
The Stag rag top works extremely well and takes about a minute to either erect or stow. I replaced mine several years ago and found that quality tops were available from Aldridges in the UK, together with back up parts such as frame components, seals etc. My top goes up a few times in the year but when it is erected you can still get good ventilation by unzipping the rear window, which allows a flow of air through the car. Interestingly, BMW who now own the Triumph label have adopted a rag top design that is the same layout as the Stag’s and use it on the Cabriolet. They have improved it dramatically by adding power actuation which is really impressive to watch.
The Stag also came equipped with a removable steel hard top which some owners thought looked better than the rag top. It turns the car into an all year round driver with opening rear quarter lights, heated rear window and padded head liner. The main drawback is the weight as it takes two people to install and remove it, then there is the problem of where to store it.
In a future article I will deal with the problems associated with the engine and cooling system when first sold, suffice it to say here that these areas are no longer a concern when taken care of - most cars will have been modified by now. Our cars run comfortably in the mid to high ninety degree ambients - that is as high as we have been exposed to in the last few years. I don’t know about you, but higher temps than that causes some over heating of the operator in my case.
With such a large interest in the Stag in the UK, a number of design updates have been developed and the only limit is your pocketbook. Redesigns available are 4 wheel disc brakes, ZF four speed overdrive automatic transmission, upgraded shock absorbers, increased cooling radiators, electric fan (we use North American Haydon) Holley or Carter carburetors, F.I conversions, stainless steel exhausts, walnut trim, leather upholstery, Cibie lights, Constant Velocity rear drive shafts and many more items. For the ‘non purist’ in the SOC, a group has been added for ‘modified cars’ as there are quite a few that evolved into modern tourers with all these design updates.
The SOC. has an annual event titled ‘National Day’ which is actually a weekend event. It draws cars from all over the UK and Europe. With the size of this club you can expect to see 400 to 500 Stags at this event. I attended one such weekend in Exeter, England, a few years ago and there were 400 cars attending. All the major parts suppliers have booths there, as do flea market type suppliers together with exhibits, such as engine rebuilding and rag top installation etc. A great weekend for the Stag enthusiast.
There is one active US club for the Stag run by Mike Coffey in Pennsylvania with about 80 members. He puts out a quarterly newsletter with cars for sale and tid bits of information. There is no reliable way of estimating the number of cars remaining in North America but it is believed to be less than 1,000. There are nine cars known in Southern Ontario.
If you have any questions about the Stag email me at pfox@ionsys.comTTC (remove TTC from address.
I will be pleased to answer any of your questions on this very interesting
car.