Truimph Stag Fastback

Mike Taylor catches up with the father and son owners of the only Stag Fastback in captivity

- Mike Taylor

My father (always referred to as TE) was very interested in cars all his life,’ recalls Alan Hart, father of Tim Hart who is the current owner of the sleek looking Stag Fastback featured here. ‘After WW1 TE decided not to go into coal mining (which was the major employer in Nottinghamshire), but to try Coventry and was one of a very few young men to be given a grant from a wealthy lady to attend technical college. He then applied to join the Triumph Motor Cycle Company, working up to become transport manager and chauffeur to the company owner, Siegfried Bettmann. During this period my father met Donald Healey (who was working for Riley (Coventry) Limited) over buying a motorbike and side car. Healey of course later became Triumph’s Experimental Engineer.’

In the 1930s the Hart family moved from Warwickshire to Shropshire. By then the name of the company had changed to the Triumph Motor Company and they were manufacturing a range of motor cars. ‘My father would often bring home a different car from the works,’ continues Alan, ‘including entrants for the Monte Carlo Rally to put miles on the clock before they were taken to the start in Glasgow. I think this was where my interest in cars, especially in rallying, came from.’