Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

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What was it like to use a Triumph Stag in the 1980s as a daily car?
Many of you will have seen this photo of mine which I bought as a one owner 29000 mileage car in 1979 fulfilling an ambition from 1970 when I first saw one.

Performance.
145bhp, 0 -60 8.9secs, top speed 116 mph as claimed.
I have always doubted the 145bhp figure. 125bhp was closer to it.
The 0 -60 was possible using 1st and 2nd but it was a brave driver to take it over 90 mph. It wandered over 90, the steering had no feel and the front end lifted too much as the rear squatted on it's haunches.

Handling.
In a straight line on a smooth road, fine. Cornering it "enthusiastically" and you soon found it was no sportscar. The heavy front led to understeer and oversteer soon thereafter. The steering was too lacking in feel despite rack and pinion and pas and the front suspension tended to "dive".
There was one nasty fault on every one. The splines on the telescopic driveshafts would lock momentarily on lifting off the throttle especially at 3000 rpm +. This would result in an unnerving "Twitch". The late Alan 969 told me that this could be eliminated by changing the driveshafts to those from a Datsun Violet 160 which by coincidence fitted exactly!

Economy
Many claimed 28 - 32 mpg. I rarely got 22mpg and 18 was the norm.

Bodyshell quality.

Thick metal with mutiple potential rust spots. I needed one new o/s front wing which was corroding in 1982. SNG Barratt had just started then in Trysull near Wolverhampton and the cost of a new original was £40!

Interior Quality.

ICI Vaumol vinyl upholstery which wore well but the black carpets on mine were dark brown and stiff like cardboard at 4 years old.

Running gear

Nearly all manual Stags have had clutch problems. Mine did. The previous lady owner told me the clutch had been replaced at 26k. The clutch became "juddery" and stiff at 32 k. Cause? The release bearing should be adequately greased after changing. If not the former happens but more importantly the flywheel can be damaged. Mine had blue "heatbloom" marks but fortunately was "young" enough to be refaced by machine.

Engine
Enough has been written elsewhere, most of it depressing.

A car that should have conquered the world?
Yes had it been developed properly and with a good engine.

I kept mine for nine years and stopped driving it regularly after 1982.
After that I decided to make it as pristine as I could, more of a trophy than a car and why I don't really know.
I achieved the "near condition perfect" with mine and it sold on the morning of the classified advert on Good Friday 1989 to the first to view and at asking price.

Rick posted a "Lemons" thread two weeks ago and it may have surprised many that I agreed with him.

In October 1988 I drove a rebuilt and re-engineered Triumph Stag which had been created by a young HGV mechanic. I have written of this before but in short it had an ex Rover SD1 Vittesse V8 and 5 speed gearbox.
Properly done with derated front springs, an altered brake balance and uprated dampers it was fantastic. Powerful with vicious acceleration and it handled and steered properly.

Boy was I jealous!

A Stag as it should have been built, the one that was, was a lemon.


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1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[ukdave2002]

Ellis
it was the Stag that got me interested in old crocks

as a teenager in the 80's there was just one car that i could recognise from its sound ...the Stag.

Many years on I now own one I still love the sound and that it can keep up with modern traffic, i have taken it to a few shows and listened to the anoraks point out the cooling inadequacies.... and watched them jump into their Mondeos... ok not really but thats what I bet they did

The Stag is not perfect but, it looks great from any angle, sounds great from any angle keeps up wit modern traffic ....what more do you want ??

Dave

[Ellis]