To Stag or Not To Stag

Alternatively - Scimitar GTC? There seem to be a few rather nice ones advertised at the moment. They're the nearest thing to the Stag that anyone else ever did...

Andy Breen Director of Space Science Research Insitute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences University of Wales, Aberystwyth Phone 01970 622814/622802, Fax 01970 622826

I run a late '73 Stag complete with child seat in the front - my 2.5 year old daughter thinks it wonderful.

At < 3000 miles a year - and with luck on your side - you shouldn't have any problems. Ours is still on its original engine, gets an oil change about once a year, and in my experience over the last 19 years of ownership any troubles with the car are pretty much proportional to mileage - so nowadays when I only do a thousand or two miles a year we haven't had any problems for years, and problems in the past have never been show stoppers.

If you want a glorious-sounding, high torque, easy riding convertible grand tourer that has enough space in the back for your other half (or perhaps the child seat if you fit read belts?) then I doubt there's anything else out there quite like the Stag. If you want a nimble sports car then you're best off looking for a different car.

Drop me email if you'd like to know more - but ours isn't for sale :-)

Mark

Well I would choose a Vitesse over a Stag (unless I had a gold credit card), but saying that if the main reason for having the (only?) car was for the family every day transport I would have a re-badged VW - aka a modern Skoda - how ever much this is a classic car group!

Give me a Stag, even with blowing head gaskets, any day! Scimitar's are only good if the body is immaculate and without blemish.

Owning a plastic car does reduce rust problems, but I'd have to Tax it, and I feel I pay enough to use the roads already. Also Scimiters have never been on my Cars I want to own list, where as the Stag always has been as various pop stars who lived near my childhood home in Surrey would drive through the village in stags looking seriously cool.

The garage selling the Stag does have Cilla Blacks Mercedes 450SL for sale which I remember seeing her in as a kid. I wonder if you get a child seat in back of 450 convertibles?

Thanks for the advice.

The car will generally be used for local trips round town for ferrying Little one to Swimming and doing the shopping, and then the occasional blast up the motorway to work on sunny days.

I'm looking for something that requires no significant maintenance past an oil and water top up as required, and gets a thorough service before the MoT once a year. So tales of Oil changes at 3 month intervals weren't fitting in with the low cost motoring ideal.

I'll take it for a spin an see what the Missus thinks, she is much more of a tourer person than a nippy sports car and often went looked pale when I was driving the Midget.

I used to have a gold credit card, but I now have a 1 year old, so it is rather chewed around the edges, also my buying cars for fun has been slightly curtailed.

Main family car is a Mazda 6 (I started at a Jensen Interceptor, She started at a Skoda Octavia we met in the middle with Mazda 6 Sport) so The Stag is only for when either us needs a car for local kid transport whilst the main car is being used for work commute.

Is your choice of getting a Vitesse over a Stag based on Experience or just common sense?

Apart from the chassis, of course - though most SE8s got galvanised chassis, IIRC..

It's a lower (flat) rate, though, so not as much as a modern 2L car..

Well, in this game that's the conclusive argument. I've always liked the old Scimitar and have never really seen the point of the Stag, but that's me..

. Possibly, for small values of child...

But then there is a whole raft of other problems with the GRP body, not cheap to get repaired properly if there is anything major wrong.

There's no reason why a Stag using decent modern oil should need it changing any more than any other similar age car - so once a year assuming average miles for a classic will be fine. The timing chain problems are caused by stretching - and no oil is going to prevent this.

A bit of both, there is no doubting that any major work on the Stag engine needs someone who knows what they are doing, also (from experience of working on both the Stag and 2000 range) the shear size and bulk of the body and mechanical units means that you need a good working environment.

I think you really need to decide if you are buying this car for practical reasons or because you *want* to own and run a certain car, also is your other half talking about a wish to own a Skoda or is she using the Skoda as an example of the type of *estate* car she would like to use for the every day chores - could it be that she is really using this as an opportunity to get something a little more practical?

The level of VED should never be a reason behind buying a car. Work it out on a weekly basis.....

(adrian snipped-for-privacy@postmaster.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Some compromise... That's firmly down at the "Yes, dear" end of the negotiation spectrum...

"Common sense" sees you in some tedious German or Japanese modern hatchback. Avoid it like the plague...

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Andrew Robert Breen, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

I can't abide Triumph Stags, especially not the ones with the original Triumph (ha) lump in.

I remember my dad had a few in his garage when I was young and they were spectacularly unreliable even then, and I'm talking about virtually new ones

Well, all you need to know about *that* is that I quite fancy one and have been caught bidding on one or the other on fleabay from time to time...

Celtic Classics (a bit south from here) have a FF....

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Andrew Robert Breen, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

I already have use of a '73 Interceptor III Convertible, I'm not insane enough to buy one just yet, but I've got a bit of an urge for a blue Coupé.

Have to be a 7.2 though.

Like many such BL cars, present day techniques etc can get round the design flaws and produce a reasonably reliable vehicle.

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Dave Plowman (News), managed to produce the following words of wisdom

True, but unlike stuff like the SD1 that was well designed but badly made, the Stag was ruined by that terrible Triumph V8 as well as being badly made.

Someone I know spent an absolute fortune in the early '90s restoring a Stag. No expense spared, all the best bits fitted by the best Stag gurus, engine rebuilt using all new genuine Triumph parts or the uprated equivalents, nothing at all was left to chance. This was to be the best Stag in the world, without exception, and it did look terrific. You could spend all day looking for a single blemish and you would not have found one. It would have won any concours event anywhere. Gorgeous looking thing, sounded nice as well.

30 miles after the full engine rebuild it blew a head gasket. It had the upgraded radiator and water pump, the engine had been built by respected professionals at huge cost, the car had been treated with the ultimate in care and respect and it still popped.

This was after a nigh on £40k nut and bolt restoration using all the best bits, assembled by the best people.

Triumph couldn't make them reliable, these guys couldn't make 'em reliable, and they weren't reliable when they were new.

That Triumph V8 is a travesty, underpowered, unreliable and unfit for purpose.