Early Stag Vs Late Stag

The Stag did not change drastically during its seven-year production run, but there are options to consider when comparing early and late cars. Peter Robinson is your guide with an unavoidably cavalier attitude to the concept of first vs last.

- Peter Robinson

The facts about the changes Triumph made to Stag are very simple: the Stag started being built for public consumption on 13th March 1970 and finished on 29th June 1977. During that time it remained basically the same: the first car had that sleek Michelotti body with 2+2 seating and T-bar and was powered by the unique Triumph-designed 3.0-liter V8 engine, while the last car had that same sleek Michelotti body styling with 2+2 seating and T-bar and was powered by the same 3.0-liter V8 engine.

You could perhaps argue that it, therefore, does not fit easily within a series of articles on ‘first and last.’ Of course, one could say that the last car had a double pinstripe down each side, aluminium sill covers and five-spoke alloy wheels whereas the first car was plain sided, plain skilled and had steel wheels with cheaper stainless steel wheel covers, but are these really important changes when it comes to deciding whether an early car or a later car would suit you best? Today it has become difficult to tell early cars from later cars anyway as many early ones have already been updated with pinstripes, sill covers, and alloy wheels because they were simple and cheap to add to a car during the late 1970s and 1980s when it mattered that you were seen to have the latest version available.

Still, while Triumph did little to change the original design idea that Michelotti came up in 1965 and which was tweaked and laid down in Engineering at Canley during 1966/67, it can still be interesting to see what small changes were made, if only to lay certain misconceptions to rest. It is also true that there are some crucial differences between outwardly similar Stags even if these are not necessarily age-related, so please do bear with me if I stretch the bounds of the feature brief slightly.