Great Britain, great cars. The UK motor industry is respected the world over, and though many of the vehicles are actually owned by foreign manufacturers, there can be no doubting of the fantastic heritage of the British motor.
To celebrate Britain’s famous history CarSupermarket.com is launching a series looking back on some of the most famous vehicles the UK has ever seen.
Triumph Stag
A true mark of a British classic car is its appearance in a James Bond movie, and the Stag achieved that goal when it was chosen by Sean Connery’s Bond in the 1970 movie, Diamonds Are Forever.
Unfortunately, Triumph Stags were not forever. Launched as a British rival to Mercedes Benz’s long line of SL class models, at first glance Triumph looked like they had hit the spot with this sports tourer of merit. The car started life as an experiment by legendary sports car designer Giovanni Michelotti, the Italian had built a reputation for putting together the finest Ferraris and Maseratis. Michelotti cut a deal with Triumph’s Director of Engineering, Harry Webster, that if his styling experiment was liked, the prototype could be used for the basis of a new model.
Webster and Triumph liked the car so much they put it together to build a two-door drop head convertible.
The Stag looked great, but its problems were under the bonnet. A sophisticated V8 engine may have given the luxury car plenty of poke, but it also came with plenty of complications, and was unreliable and often seen at the side of roads requiring treatment. The Stag’s engine troubles weren’t minor either, some of the issues suffered led to the car being beyond repair, which was not a great selling point at all.
The problems weren’t helped by the fact that 1970s were a decade of turmoil for the British car industry, with a shortage of funds for development and industrial disputes, it is perhaps surprising that the Stag’s production run all of seven years, producing almost 26,000 cars.
There’s no doubting the Stag’s classic status, with a sizeable owner’s club, there are believed to be around 9,000 still on the roads in the UK, though how many of those have the original engine is up for debate.
Years of manufacture: 1970-1977
Price when new: £2,093
Price now: £1,500-£25,000
Engine: 2,997cc 8cyl petrol, 146bhp
Top speed: 115mph
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