A Triumph Stag just showed up on CL. What is there to know about these? It's rough-ish looking and the top is gone. Appears to have knock off wire wheels. Do I want it?
A Triumph Stag just showed up on CL. What is there to know about these? It's rough-ish looking and the top is gone. Appears to have knock off wire wheels. Do I want it?
The hardtop makes that car look spectacular! I'm searching and finding that they're supposed to be terrible, but a car that pretty can't really be terrible, can it?
Chevy 350 cut the hood Scoop auto trans 13.3 in the 1/4 at the GRM/Classic Challenge circa Video lik
I actually saw a Triumph Stag on the road yesterday. I don't think I've ever seen one in motion before.
What I remember reading about them was stuff about poorly cleaned blocks from factory leaving trash in an under-sized cooling system, a weak manual trans or a lame-duck Borg Warner auto, the usual fun with electrics, and a not amazingly stiff chassis even with the t-bar top. The usual 'watch for rust everywhere' warning applies as well I think. The Triumph V8 does sound nice but that's about the best part on paper. Never touched one of these cars so grain of salt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Stag
It describes it very well.
I've always had a soft spot for the Stag.
My brother had those wheels on his MGB-LE. I always loved them.
The stock V8 is actually two Triumph slant fours mated together. Poor cooling, warped/cracked heads. But they are beautiful..even if they're more of a Cruiser than a sports car or GT. Karl's already covered the engine swap stuff.
Personally, I like the alloys better than the wires. Weird thing--even though the only two Triumphs I ever had were a TR-4 and a GT6, the reason I was a Triumph fan was that they seemed to be one of the few Britcar brands that actually made an effort to design a "modern" car. Damn shame they weren't put together with a little more care, they might have survived.
Jezza on the Stag (start about 1:15 or so):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGJty_Rdp1U
Heh..that one's got steelies with Rostyle hubcaps. My GT6 had those. 
mazdeuce wrote: A Triumph Stag just showed up on CL. What is there to know about these? It's rough-ish looking and the top is gone. Appears to have knock off wire wheels. Do I want it?
Depends upon price, engine, transmission, rust and many other variables, but I see them as a future investment you can still afford to drive.
There are a few necessary fixes to get the stock drive-line to be dependable
geezus, ain't seen one in about 30 years being from the NE salt zone.
classy w/ the hardtop
Insanely expensive to restore. Used parts fetch a premium. Most new stuff has to come out of England. I replaced floor boards on a buddies Stag a couple of years ago. Just finding replacement panels was tuff, but once I found them, I'd wished I'd never spent the time trying to find them. They were something like $1000 for four panels. Since the floors were rusted up beyond where the panels reached anyway, I just decided to make them myself. I cut up 2 TR7 trunk lids and started fabricating. Came out nice. Unless you are a long time Stag guy, stay away from any kind of project. That is unless you plan on bastardizing the car, then maybe you can make it work dollars and cents wise.
Read what I wrote here, then multiply by two. The engine is not two fours siamesed together. The four is half a Stag V-8.
OK, I think a combination of logic, common sense and a strong desire to preserve my marriage has talked me out of this particular stag. That and it doesn't have the hard top. I'm going to put it on my 'cars of oopportunity' list, cards that I'm not actively looking for, but will grab if the right one becomes available. They sure are pretty.
mazdeuce wrote: OK, I think a combination of logic, common sense and a strong desire to preserve my marriage has talked me out of this particular stag. That and it doesn't have the hard top. I'm going to put it on my 'cars of oopportunity' list, cards that I'm not actively looking for, but will grab if the right one becomes available. They sure are pretty.
CL add Linkage ?
I am just about in the third (and final?) year of restoring my Stag. The Stag is pretty unknow here but across the pond they love them, think 1st gen camaro parts availability, but they are all across the water. Most of the issues that the car had when it was new have been solved by enthusiasts over the years. The big one is the engine, The warping heads of death are caused by overheating (Aluminum heads on a steel block) an upgrade to a large modern radiator and electric cooling fan help to solve the problem. I could go on and on. The car was made to compete with the Mercedes SL, so think of it as a much cheaper Pagoda SL. Have some pictures....
My car with its new wheels
Yes it needs to be lower in the rear...
Here's the ad for the car in Houston. If it had the hard top I'd think he was asking twice what sounded reasonable to me. http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/3528680101.html
I have tops, 
VonSmallhausen wrote: I am just about in the third (and final?) year of restoring my Stag. The Stag is pretty unknow here but across the pond they love them, think 1st gen camaro parts availability, but they are all across the water. Most of the issues that the car had when it was new have been solved by enthusiasts over the years. The big one is the engine, The warping heads of death are caused by overheating (Aluminum heads on a steel block) an upgrade to a large modern radiator and electric cooling fan help to solve the problem. I could go on and on. The car was made to compete with the Mercedes SL, so think of it as a much cheaper Pagoda SL. Have some pictures....
Jerry From LA wrote: Read what I wrote here, then multiply by two. The engine is not two fours siamesed together. The four is half a Stag V-8.
I stand corrected.
The Stag is one of those cars where it definitely pays to buy the best you can afford.
I believe the Rover engine slides in there nicely and was supposed to be the engine they used until someone decided it needed to have a Triumph engine. But I'm no expert in these.
Run and hide. If you really want a V8 Triumph then get a TR8.
A stag and a TR8 are completely different animals. Yea they are both V8 engined Triumphs, but that is where the similarities end. A Stag is James Bond and a TR8 is a soccer hooligan. Throw enough money at either one of them and you can pretty much turn them into each other. I've had way too many TR8s and will continue tracking them down, but I'd love it if a nice refined Stag found it's way into my collection.
I would also think an electric water pump down low to replace the top mounted pump would be a good idea. Helps make sure water is actually always moving through those heads.
Stags are neat cars; classic sport-luxury cars. Beyond what is listed above, the jack shaft on the dizzy drives the oil pump and it's a potential problem too. The solutions are all out there. As a TR3 owner I was looking for another classic. It was going to be a TR4, Stag or a TR8. I found the TR8 first and I love that car, but would have been most happy with the Stag.
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