Sleeping Beauty: 1973 Triumph Stag Mk II
The Triumph Stag was a Giovanni Michelotti (known for his work on the BMW New Class, DAF/Volvo trucks, Triumph Spitfire, and various Ferrari/Maserati things) designed 4-seat convertible coupe that used a B-pillar roll hoop that connected to the windshield via a t-bar. It isn’t a bad looking classic, and is powered by a small British built V8 that is NOT the Rover 215. Find this 1973 Triumph Stag Mk II offered for $6,750 in Chiraq, IL via craigslist. Tip from Zach.
In the late 60s Triumph started tooling up for production of a luxury sports car that was originally planned to use the Triumph 2.5 inline-6 for propulsion. Thankfully, hotter heads prevailed and the engineers at Triumph slapped together two inline-4s on a common crank to create the 3.0 liter Triumph V8. Did they really tool up an entire engine for just the limited (25k total production)? Sort of — the plan was to use the V8 for a range of Triumph saloons, and a few even made it into prototypes of the Saab 99 before Saab decided to go Turbo. If you want a Triumph V8, you’ll need to buy a Stag.
Sitting under the hood is a 3.0 liter iron block/allow head V8 that puts out breaths via twin Zenith-Stromberg carbs and pushes out 145 horsepower and 170 ft-lbs of torque. A buyer could opt for a 4-speed (with electric overdrive) transmission, but this one uses the more common Borg-Warner sourced 3-speed auto. Unfortunately you’ll need to do some refreshing in this Stag because it hasn’t been on the road for 30 years.
See another V8 powered classic convertible for cheap? tips@dailyturismo.com
You fellas got a good night's sleep and are feeling wonderfully positive. Good to see.
These were actually Triumph engines that were used in the first years of the really very sublimely designed Saab 99's in the late 60's. A more onerous engine in mainstream car could be hard to find, but people forgave Saab once they built their own design a few years later.
This V8 was not really "mainstream" but it was really the exponential constellation of all that was wrong in the original design along with its own "unique" traits for self-destruction.
In the true British fashion, local mechanics have pretty much found fixes for the litany of poor engineering maladies that caused these cars to be sitting for, say 30 years.
Thanks for this truly "glass half full" assessment of this Stag: " Unfortunately you'll need to do some refreshing in this Stag because it hasn't been on the road for 30 years."
I love chipper. Chipper is good. "some refreshing" indeed 🙂
Maybe I'm partial since my first Spitfire was the same Sienna Brown color. A couple of IFs feed into this one, but IF the engine is free/spins, if the car was stored dry, and if the rot is minimal, this could be a simple re-commision while incorporating the latter-day engineering fixes to maintain proper non-electrolysis in the cooling system. Shame about the BW 3-speed, but that, too, can be fixed. Or just cram an LSx in and be done with it.
The only running Stag I know of has a Chevy V6 in it.
The Stag, engine issues aside, might have been a perfectly competitive car in 1965. Trying to peddle something like this in the '70s…uh…
A little dental work to straighten the smile too, but it certainly doesn't look like t's been cooking outdoors very long. Seems like a decent starting point for a nice project. Wonder how many of those miles are on the 'new' motor, and how much would said engineering fixes run? I guess you had to be a child of the 70's but I always liked the Stag.