1974 Triumph Stag

Registered in May 1974, this Mk 2 Stag automatic has gone through a 3-year restoration programme at the hands of its current owner Mark, who bought it from his father-in-law after 30 years of pampering. 

Recently resprayed to a very high standard in Russet Brown. Our car does have the optional hard top, bought separately on the secondhand market in 1980.

With all the hoses and pipework replaced, and a lot more besides, including the engine to a Rover V8 – see the History section for more details – this Stag is now at that perfect stage for a caring next owner. All the major work has been done: it’s now just cosmetic primping needed to take it on towards perfection.

As you’d expect from a recent respray, there are no obvious imperfections in the rich russet paint. The original chrome trim is far better than you’d expect from a 45-year-old British car, while the distinctive Stag wheels have been refurbished and look great. 

Stag experts hunting for rust will struggle. An easy way to get a quick take on the state of a Stag’s floor is to lift out its rear seat base. The section of floorpan that comes into view on our car looks remarkably solid, as do the sills, wheelarch lips and door bottoms. 

Serviceable rather than concours, the black vinyl hardtop would surely respond well to some light restoration work with proprietary cleaning and reconditioning products. The softtop however is in fine shape with no major blemishes to either the fabric or the plastic rear screen.

Triumph’s classy grained and textured Ambla vinyl did a more than passing impersonation of leather when it was new, and it still looks good now 45 years on. The foam in the driver’s seat could maybe be replaced as part of the next owner’s potential programme of works, and there is a small tear in the side bolster on the transmission side that could be patched, but it's out of the way so could just as easily be left as is. The seat in the back looks practically new.

The original thin-rimmed steering wheel has been replaced by an engraved four-spoke Moto-Lita item that nicely complements the well-regarded feel of the Stag’s rack-and-pinion power steering. All the Smiths clocks and other electrical items appear to be working perfectly. Even the electric aerial for the period Pioneer radio cassette unit has survived the passage of time.

There’s no delamination apparent on the fascia wood and no cracking on the dash top. The carpets are original and in a nicely usable condition, the one in the boot covering a bespoke ply sheet that protects the spare tyre and fuel tank. Lifting the front carpets on both sides reveals no corrosion.

Get under the car and your positive first impressions about the solidity of this Stag are reinforced. The suspension and steering components all look dry, the dust gaiters are intact and the front strut towers look strong. The exhaust system seems to be in excellent condition.

Triumph’s in-house 3.0 litre carburetted V8 came with a few silly design flaws that immediately saddled the engine with a reputation for unreliability. The water pump was badly positioned and poorly engineered, leading to overheating, while the engine’s iron block/aluminium head combination meant correct-spec antifreeze had to be used all year round. Topping the system up with nothing more scientific than a bottle of water invariably led to internal corrosion and ruinous metal debris jamming up the coolant system and oilways. 

Triumph never resolved the problem, so owners who loved the Stag in every other respect took matters into their own hands by replacing the entire engine with either a Ford V6 or the famously reliable 3.5-litre Rover V8 – which would have powered the Stag’s replacement if the plans for it hadn't been binned by British Leyland.

Our Stag has the Rover unit, which many would consider to be a more characterful option than the Ford. The ninth pic in the Gallery (immediately after the hardtop shots) is a startup and run video in which you can hear the V8 running smoothly and quietly through the Stag’s trademark shotgun twin exhausts.

Owner Mark’s restoration project stopped short of detailing the underbonnet area. The soundproofing material has seen better days but a couple of fun weekends spent on that area will have the car ready for shows.

Mark estimates he’s spent around £15,000 on this car’s restoration. This continues the healthy amount of time and money spent on the car over its lifetime judging by the huge pile of receipts. There are actually too many from the cars early life in the 1980s to individually photograph them, but it will give even the most cynical observer no reason to believe anything other than that the 65,000 miles on the odometer is correct.

In with the enormous sheaf of paperwork you’ll find a charming selection of period paperwork including the original Driver’s Handbook, the Triumph Passport To Service and a lovely invitation to join Club Triumph, ‘a friendly world-wide association for all owners of Standard and Triumph vehicles’. Not sure what would happen to your application now, but it doesn’t matter because you’re sure of a warm welcome from the present-day Stag Owner’s Club.

Some cars look good in pictures but then disappoint in the metal. Not this Stag. The more you look at it, the more it grows on you. It has the strong bodywork, excellent paint, good interior, long history and recent expenditure, and just because it has the 'wrong' engine, we estimate it will sell for £10 -14,000.

The fact this one grow on you is actually a pretty accurate reflection of the Stag’s production lifestory. Thanks to mechanical design flaws, it had a poor start. Owners did the right thing by it, fitting new engines to give it the reliability it should always have had. Now it represents a highly desirable – and considerably more dependable – all-weather cruiser that will have onlookers’ ears twitching before it turns their heads.

A Stag with an original Triumph V8 engine will now be worth a little more than a Rover V8 car like this, not because there are any particular problems with the Rover unit – far from it – but because technical developments over the last 40 years have gone a long way towards rehabilitating the original Triumph motor.

The thing about Rover-engined Stags is that the pool of mechanical knowledge is much bigger. You can drive it on a daily basis in the same way as you might a V8 Land Rover Defender, a Morgan Plus 8, a TVR Griffith or a Rover P5B, safe in the knowledge that whatever fixes might be necessary will be easy ones.

Of the 25,000 or so Stags made between 1970 and 1977, 19,000 were sold in Britain. Today, there are still around 3700 Stags registered here, and many more off-the-road waiting for resurrection. That’s a reflection of the inherent robustness of the car, and of the level of restoration interest that only applies to cars deemed worthy of saving.

As ever, The Market always invites to view any of the cars on auction. This car is on site at The Market’s premises near Abingdon. Prospective bidders are more than welcome to come along for a viewing and a cup of tea. To organise an appointment, just use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing.

Our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ sections is designed to answer any generic questions you may have, but we’ll always respond to any specific questions or observations put in the Comments section below the images.

If you need advice and help on car purchase-financing, storage, transportation or classic car insurance, we regularly work with Classic & Sportscar Finance, Thames Valley Car Storage and Footman James.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.