The Triumph Stag Soft Top & Hard Top

Terminology

Soft top, hard top, T‑bar: which is which

Three things get spoken of as though they were one, and a great deal of confusion in adverts, forum threads and parts searches comes from it. They are separate items with separate jobs.

• The soft top is the folding fabric hood. It lives permanently on the car on its own collapsible frame, latches to the top of the windscreen at the front, and folds back onto a stack in the well behind the rear seats. Every Stag was built to take one.
• The hard top is a separate removable roof, framed and skinned, with its own rear window. It is not fitted from the factory to every car and it is not part of the car in the way the hood is: it is lifted on, clamped down, and lifted off again when the weather turns, then stored somewhere else. A car can have both, one, or neither.
• The T‑bar is neither of those. It is part of the body, a roll‑over hoop behind the front seats with a spine running forward to the top of the windscreen frame. It does not come off, it is not an accessory, and it is not something a previous owner added. Both roofs are designed around it, which is why a Stag with the hood down still has a bar over the cabin, and why it looks as it does. The reasoning behind it is covered in Design & Michelotti.

The practical consequence: a car described as having “the hard top” may or may not still have a serviceable soft top under it, and the two are priced and sourced entirely separately. When buying, establish which of the three you are being shown.

Preparation

Before you start

A few habits, once ingrained, make hood operation quick and uneventful and add years to the fabric and frame:

• Level, dry ground. A hood folded and latched on a slope will end up slightly out of square, and putting a wet hood down onto its stack traps moisture that rots stitching and mildews the lining.
• Windows fully down. The door glass runs against the hood's side rails and seals. Operating the roof with the windows up drags glass across seals, scuffs the chrome frame and can crack the rear window.
• Nothing in the well. Check behind the rear seats before folding, no sunglasses, phones, keys or hood cover sitting where the frame will land.
• Never force a catch. If a header-rail catch will not close easily, the fabric is out of position or the frame is not square. Reset and try again rather than forcing metal against fabric.
• Two hands, both sides. Where the procedure allows, work with two hands and (ideally) a second person for the first raise or lower of the season. It is much easier than it looks once you have done it a few times.

Step by step

Lowering the soft top, step by step

1. Park and prepare. Level ground, handbrake on, engine off. Drop both door windows fully.
2. Release the header-rail catches. Reach up to the top rail of the windscreen. Unclip the two over-centre catches, one on the driver's side, one on the passenger's. They should release with firm hand pressure; if not, check the fabric is not trapped under the rail.
3. Lift the header rail free. Raise the front of the hood two or three inches clear of the windscreen top so the seal is no longer engaged.
4. Release the rear fastenings. Move to the rear of the car. Unclip the rear-quarter fasteners and the rear rail. If you have a tonneau cover fitted, undo its press-studs first.
5. Fold rearwards, supporting the weight. Guide the frame back over the rear seats and down onto its stack in the well. Support it with both hands, never let it drop under its own weight, which strains the pivots and can crease the rear window.
6. Dress the folds. Walk round the car and tuck any loose fabric or side flaps inside the frame so nothing hangs over the bodywork. Make sure the rear window is folded gently, not creased sharply.
7. Fit the hood cover. Fit the tonneau / hood cover over the stack. This both protects the folded hood from UV and dust and finishes the car visually.

Step by step

Raising the soft top, step by step

1. Prepare. Level ground, both door windows fully down. Remove the hood cover and set it aside.
2. Lift the hood forward. Reach into the well and lift the folded frame up and forward, keeping the fabric evenly tensioned across the bows as it comes over. A second pair of hands helps here.
3. Bring the header rail onto the windscreen. Lower the front rail down centrally onto the top of the windscreen. Line up the locating pegs; there should be no side-to-side twist.
4. Latch one catch, then the other. Close one over-centre catch to hold the rail in place, then the second. If a catch will not go over centre with firm hand pressure, do not force it: release, ease the frame forward, straighten the fabric, and try again.
5. Fasten the rear. Work rearwards fitting the rear-quarter fasteners and the rear rail. Smooth out any creases in the roof and rear window as you go, small creases now become permanent marks over time.
6. Check the seals. Walk round the car and check the side seals sit flat against the door frames and the rear rail is fully seated.
7. Raise the windows. Only now raise the door windows against the side seals. On a fresh hood the seal may feel firm the first time; this is normal.

What fails first

The soft top itself: frame, fabric and what fails first

A hood is three things working together: a folding metal frame, a fabric cover stretched over it, and a set of seals and fastenings that hold the two against the body. Faults usually belong to one of the three, and telling which saves a great deal of money.

The frame

The frame is a linkage of bows and pivots that folds the hood into the well and holds it square when raised. Its enemies are corrosion at the pivots, seized or dry joints, and distortion from being forced. A frame that has been repeatedly heaved against a reluctant catch, or folded with the windows up, ends up slightly out of true, and a frame out of true will never let the fabric sit right no matter how good the cover is. Keep the pivots clean and lightly oiled, and treat any stiffness as something to investigate rather than to push through.

The fabric

Hoods have been supplied over the years in coated vinyl and in woven cloth of the mohair and Sonnenland type, and a car of this age may be on its second or third cover in either. Vinyl is cheaper and easier to clean; woven cloth looks and sounds better and costs more. The care regime differs slightly between them, which is why the reproofing advice below says to match the product to the material rather than naming one. If you do not know what your hood is made of, ask a trimmer or the Stag Owners Club before putting anything on it.

What fails first

In rough order of how often it comes up, and none of this needs the whole hood replacing:

1. The rear window. Plastic, not glass. It clouds with age and UV, scratches from dry wiping, and creases permanently if the hood is folded carelessly or in the cold. It is often replaceable on its own by a trimmer.
2. Stitching. Thread perishes before the cloth does, particularly along the seams that take tension and around the rear window. Caught early it is an afternoon's work; left, a seam bursts and the panel needs replacing.
3. Seals. Rubber hardens and shrinks. A hard seal does not conform to the glass or the header rail, which is where most leaks actually start.
4. Fastenings and catches. Over‑centre catches wear and go slack, press‑studs and rear fasteners pull through. A slack catch lets the header lift at speed and drums the fabric.
5. The cloth itself. Usually last, and usually from something avoidable: mildew from being folded away damp, abrasion from grit washed into the weave, or splits at a fold line in a hood that has been stored folded for years.

The hood cover, and the tonneau

Two separate items, frequently muddled in adverts. The hood cover, sometimes called the hood bag or envelope, is the small shaped cover that goes over the folded hood alone, tidying the stack and keeping sun and dust off the fabric and the rear window. The tonneau is the full cover that stretches over the whole cockpit, seats and all, when the car is parked with the roof down. A car can have either, both or neither, and a missing one is not a fault so much as a thing to price in.

The cover earns its keep. A folded hood left bare sits in the sun collecting grit, and the plastic rear window is the part that suffers, because it is uppermost and it scratches. Fit the cover every time the hood goes down for more than the drive itself, and fit it only over a dry hood, since a cover over damp fabric holds the damp in rather than letting it go. Press‑studs are the usual weak point on both items: they pull through the fabric, and a stud that needs real force is telling you the cover has shrunk or is being fastened out of order. Work round it evenly rather than dragging one corner into place.

Care & cleaning

Soft-top care & maintenance

A Stag hood is a serious piece of trim to replace, both in cost and in specialist labour. Routine care is what keeps it looking presentable and watertight for years rather than seasons.

Everyday habits

• Hood up when standing. Whenever the car is left standing outside for more than a few hours, put the hood up. Sun, dew, dust and bird droppings all damage the fabric and rear window.
• Store hood-up. For any storage lasting more than a day or two, and always for winter lay-up, store the car with the hood up so the fabric is under gentle even tension. See the Storing Your Classic Car guide.
• Brush before washing. Always brush loose grit off the dry hood with a soft brush before any water touches it. Washing grit into the weave scuffs the fabric and can scratch the rear window.

Cleaning the fabric

1. Work in the shade, on a cool car, with the hood up and latched.
2. Brush the whole hood down dry with a soft-bristled brush, front to back, following the weave.
3. Rinse with cool clean water to lift the surface dust.
4. Apply a dedicated soft-top cleaner (a fabric-specific product, never washing-up liquid, laundry detergent, or car shampoo with wax additives, all of which strip the proofing). Work it in gently with a soft brush.
5. Rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear. Any residue left in the weave attracts dirt back within days.
6. Let the hood dry fully in the raised position before lowering or covering. A folded damp hood is the primary cause of mildew and rotted stitching.

Re-proofing

Once a season, or as soon as water stops beading on the surface, apply a matched fabric reproofer, for example a Renovo, Fabsil or equivalent product intended for the type of cloth your hood is made from (period vinyl, mohair or Sonnenland-type). Apply to a clean, dry, raised hood in the shade, following the manufacturer's instructions. Two thin coats give a more even finish than one heavy one. Do not re-proof a hood that has not first been properly cleaned, you will lock the dirt in.

Rear window

The rear window is plastic, not glass. Clean it separately with a plastic-safe cleaner and a soft microfibre cloth. Never use household glass cleaner containing ammonia, and never a paper towel or dry cloth, both scratch and cloud plastic quickly. When folding the hood, always guide the rear window into a gentle curve; a hard fold puts a permanent crease into it.

Frame, seals and stitching

• A drop of light oil on the pivots and header-rail catches once a year keeps the mechanism working freely.
• Wipe rubber seals with a rubber-safe conditioner occasionally to keep them supple; hardened seals leak.
• Inspect the stitching along the seams and around the rear window every season. Small failures caught early are a trimmer's afternoon; a burst seam is a re-cover.

What to keep away from it

The short version: nothing from under the kitchen sink, and nothing meant for paint. Washing‑up liquid and laundry detergent strip the proofing out of the fabric, and car shampoo containing wax leaves a film that blotches woven cloth and holds dirt. Silicone dressings and tyre or vinyl shine products do the same on a coated hood. Solvents and bleach attack thread and coating alike, and any mildew remover strong enough to work quickly is usually strong enough to take the colour with it.

• No pressure washer, ever. It drives water through seams and stitching that are perfectly sound at normal rainfall, and it will lift a seal or peel a printed coating.
• No automatic car wash. Brushes abrade the weave and can catch a rear window or a rail.
• No stiff brush, and no scrubbing at a mark. Repeat gentle passes lift more than one hard one, and hard scrubbing polishes the nap of woven cloth into a shiny patch that never comes back.
• No hot water, and no drying in strong sun. Cool water and shade throughout.
• No glass cleaner on the rear window. Ammonia clouds plastic. Nor paper towel, which scratches it.

Test anything new on a small hidden area first, at the back of the stack where a mark will not show, and follow the maker's instructions rather than anything written here. If in doubt about what your hood is made of, ask before you open the bottle.

Why the garage matters more than the products

An unheated, unventilated garage is harder on a hood than the road ever is. Cold air holds less moisture than warm air, so when the temperature drops overnight the moisture condenses onto every cold surface in the building, and a car standing still is a large cold surface. That damp settles into the fabric, the lining and the hood well, and with no air movement to take it away it sits there for weeks at a time. Mildew on the lining, haze inside the rear window, corrosion at the frame pivots and perished stitching are all the same problem wearing different clothes.

Heat is not the answer, and heating a garage intermittently can make matters worse by warming the air and then letting it cool against cold metal. Ventilation, or a dehumidifier in a reasonably sealed space, is what actually helps, along with a breathable cover rather than a plastic sheet. Never put a car away damp, and give the hood well and its drains a look before the door closes for the winter. The full storage picture is set out in Storing Your Classic Car and Winter Storage & Care, which is where to go for the detail rather than repeating it here.

Leaks

Water ingress: where a Stag leaks

Almost every open car of the period lets some water past eventually, and the Stag is no worse than its contemporaries when it is right. The important distinction, and the one most owners skip, is between water getting in where it should not, and water arriving normally and then failing to get out. The second is far more common and far cheaper to fix.

The usual entry points

• The header rail. Where the front of the hood meets the top of the windscreen. A hardened seal, a catch that is not pulling the rail down evenly, or a frame sitting a fraction back all show up here first, usually as drips onto the screen rail or the sun visors.
• The side seals and door glass. The door windows have to meet the hood rails cleanly along their whole length. Glass that is out of adjustment, or a seal that has gone hard, leaves a gap that only shows in rain at speed.
• The T‑bar junction and rear quarters. The point where the fabric, the body and the fixed hoop all meet is complicated by nature, and it is a known place for water to track through if a fastening is slack or a seal has shrunk.
• The hard top's own seals. A hard top leaks in the same places for the same reasons, with the addition of the rear fixings, where over‑tightening distorts the panel and lifts the seal elsewhere.

The drains, which cause most of it

The hood well behind the rear seats is designed to collect water and pass it out through drain channels. Leaves, moss, grit and old sealant block those channels, the well fills, and the water then goes wherever it can, which is inside the car and into the metal. A wet rear footwell on a Stag is more often a blocked drain than a torn hood. Clearing them is a torch, a soft length of wire or a gentle flush of water, and ten minutes a season. It is also why the hood well is one of the first places to look on a rust inspection, covered in the rust inspection walkthrough and in Bodywork & Rust.

Finding the actual source

Water travels along a frame member or a seam before it drips, so where you see it is rarely where it entered. Work with a helper and a hose at low pressure, never a pressure washer, starting low and moving up: sills, then doors, then the glass line, then the roof joints, with somebody inside watching with a torch. Stop the moment you see water and deal with that, then start again from the bottom. Chasing several leaks at once is how people end up replacing a sound hood.

The hard top

The hard top

The factory hard top clamps to the windscreen header at the front and to the rear body, with the T-bar carrying it in the middle, turning the Stag into a quiet, snug closed coupé. It is also heavy and awkwardly shaped, and it is expensive to repair if dropped or scuffed. Treat every fitting and removal as a slow, two-person job.

What it weighs, and handling it single‑handed

No weight figure is given here, because we have not been able to verify one from a source we would stand behind, and a wrong figure in print is exactly what persuades somebody to try lifting a roof on their own. If you need the number, ask the Stag Owners Club or check the instructions supplied with your fitting kit.

What can be said honestly is this: the difficulty is as much the shape as the mass. It is wide, it has no natural handholds, the paint and the rear window are both vulnerable, and the person carrying the rear end cannot see the car. Two people, one at each end, moving slowly and keeping it level, is the sensible default.

Owners who do it alone do not do it by lifting. The two common arrangements are a hoist or block and tackle anchored to the garage roof structure, with soft straps under the top, so the car is driven out from underneath it; or a wheeled stand set at roughly the height of the car, so the top is slid across rather than carried. Both take an afternoon to set up once and then save your back and your paintwork for years. If you use a ceiling hoist, hang it from something structural and rated for the load, not from a roof lining or a light joist.

Fitting the hard top

1. Fold the soft top away first. The hard top will not sit correctly on a raised or partly-raised soft top. Some owners remove the soft-top frame entirely for the winter; for occasional swaps, folding it flat onto its stack is fine.
2. Two people, level ground, doors open. One person at each end of the hard top. Lift it level and keep it level; tilting it puts all the weight on one locating point.
3. Front pegs first. Lower the front of the hard top onto the top of the windscreen so the locating pegs drop into their sockets. Support the rear so it does not thump down onto the body.
4. Settle the rear. Gently lower the rear of the hard top onto the rear body / T-bar seal area. Check round the whole car that no seal is rolled under.
5. Latch the fronts. Engage the two over-centre clamps that pull the front of the hard top down onto the windscreen top. They should close firmly by hand, not with a hammer.
6. Secure the rear. Fit the rear fixings, clamps or bolts depending on the mount kit, that hold the rear of the hard top down. Do not over-tighten; excessive clamp force distorts the roof and cracks the paint round the fixings.
7. Final check. Walk round the car checking seals, gaps and window fit. Raise the door windows and confirm they seal cleanly against the hard top's frame.

Removing the hard top

1. Two people, level ground, doors open, windows down.
2. Undo the rear fixings first. Release the rear clamps or unscrew the rear bolts, the ones inside the boot or behind the rear seats depending on your fitting kit.
3. Release the front catches. Undo the two over-centre catches on the windscreen top rail.
4. Break the seal. Lift the whole top straight up an inch to break the seal. Do not slide it forward or back on the paintwork.
5. Walk it clear. Lift the hard top level, walk it clear of the car, and carry it to its storage stand keeping it level throughout.

Storing the hard top

• Use a proper hard-top stand or trolley. A padded stand supports the top on its outer edge / rain rail rather than on the paint or headlining. Trolley-mounted stands with castors also let one person move a fitted top round the garage.
• Never lean it on its edge against a wall. It will scuff, and eventually it will fall.
• Never stack anything on top of it. The roof skin will dent and the paint will craze.
• Cover it. A soft breathable cover protects the paint and the rear window from dust and UV.
• Allow for the room it takes. A hard top on a stand occupies roughly the footprint of a small table and cannot be squeezed into a corner without risking a knock every time somebody walks past. In a single garage this is the real constraint, which is why ceiling hoists are so popular: the top goes up out of the way and the floor stays usable.
• Store it somewhere dry, not somewhere cold and damp. An unheated, unventilated garage or a shed condenses moisture onto every cold surface, which rusts the frame and clouds the rear window. A breathable cover and some air movement matter more than heat.

Storage

Hood up or down when the car is stored

Up, and latched. Folded away for a winter, a hood sits in the same creases for months, holds any damp that went down with it, and asks the frame to hold a shape it was not designed to keep indefinitely. Raised, the fabric is under gentle even tension, air moves round both faces of it, and the rear window is not folded against itself.

The building matters more than the hood does. An unheated, unventilated garage cycles between cold and damp, condensation forms on every cold surface, and a car left in it will grow mildew on the lining and haze on the rear window while doing nothing at all. Ventilation, a dehumidifier or a breathable cover are the answers, not heat, and they are dealt with properly in Storing Your Classic Car and Winter Storage & Care, which is where to go for the detail rather than repeating it here.

If the car is going away with the hard top on instead, the same rule applies to the soft top underneath: dry before it is folded, and check the well and its drains before you shut the door on it for four months.

Buying

What to check when buying

Roofs are one of the places where a car's history shows plainly, and where the cost of putting things right is easy to underestimate. This is the roof‑specific list; the full inspection sequence is in the Buying Guide.

• Establish what is actually included. Soft top, hard top, both, or neither, and whether the hard top comes with its fixings, its stand and its seals. Fittings sold separately from the top itself are a common and expensive surprise.
• Operate the hood yourself, fully, both ways. A seller who offers to do it for you, or who says the frame is a bit stiff, is telling you something. Watch whether the header rail lands square and whether both catches close by hand.
• Look at the rear window in daylight. Clouding, scratching and hard creases are the difference between a tidy hood and a hood that needs a trimmer.
• Run a hand along the seams and the seals. Perished stitching, hardened rubber and pulled fastenings are all cheaper than a re‑cover, and all worth pricing before you agree a figure.
• Lift the boot carpet and check the hood well and its drains. Damp, staining and blocked channels here are the leading indicator for corrosion in the area behind the seats, so pair this with Bodywork & Rust.
• Check the hard top for fit, not just for looks. Ask for it to be fitted. Panel gaps, seal contact all the way round and paint cracking around the rear fixings tell you whether it has been over‑clamped or dropped.
• Ask where the hard top has been living. One that has spent years on a proper stand under a cover is a different item from one that has been leaning against a wall behind a freezer.

Common questions

FAQ

What is the difference between a Triumph Stag hard top and a soft top?

They are two separate roofs for the same car. The soft top is the folding fabric hood that lives permanently on the car, on its own frame, stacked behind the rear seats when down. The hard top is a separate, removable steel-framed roof panel that is lifted on and clamped down, and which lives off the car when not in use. They are not alternatives to the T-bar: the T-bar is the fixed hoop and spine that runs over the cabin, it is part of the body, and it stays on the car whichever roof you use, or none.

Is the Triumph Stag T-bar removable?

No. The T-bar is a structural part of the body, a roll-over hoop behind the front seats with a spine running forward to the windscreen frame. It is welded in and does not come off. Both the soft top and the hard top are designed around it, which is why a Stag with the roof down still has a bar over the cabin.

How do you put the soft top down on a Triumph Stag?

Park on level ground with the handbrake on. Lower both door windows fully so the frame clears the glass. Release the two header-rail over-centre catches above the windscreen, lift the front rail a few inches, then walk to the rear and unclip the tonneau/rear-quarter fasteners. Fold the header rail back and guide the hood down onto its stack behind the rear seats, do not let it drop under its own weight. Tuck the rear window and side flaps in cleanly so nothing is trapped in a fold, then fit the hood cover.

How do you put the soft top back up?

Windows down first. Lift the folded hood forward from its well, keeping the fabric evenly tensioned as the frame comes over. Bring the header rail down onto the top of the windscreen and locate it centrally. Latch one over-centre catch, then the other; if they will not close easily, ease the frame forward rather than forcing them. Work rearwards fastening the rear quarters and rear rail, smoothing out any creases as you go. Only then raise the windows against the seals.

Should the windows be up or down when raising or lowering the hood?

Down. Every time. On a Stag the door glass sits against the hood's side rails, so operating the roof with the windows up scrapes the glass along the seals and can bend the frame or tear the fabric. Drop both windows fully before you touch the header-rail catches, and only raise them once the hood is fully latched and fastened.

How much does a Triumph Stag hard top weigh?

No weight figure is published on this site, because we have not been able to verify one from a reliable source, and a wrong figure would encourage somebody to try lifting it alone. What can be said from practice is that it is heavy enough and bulky enough that two people are the sensible minimum for lifting it on and off, and that its awkward shape matters as much as its mass. If you need a figure, ask the Stag Owners Club or check the fitting instructions supplied with your particular hard-top kit.

Can one person fit a Stag hard top on their own?

It is done, but not by lifting. Owners who manage single-handed use a hoist on the garage ceiling, or a wheeled hard-top stand at the same height as the car, and slide or lower the top into place rather than carrying it. Lifting one alone risks a dropped roof, a scratched rear deck and a hurt back. Treat two people as the default and a hoist as the alternative, not solo lifting.

How do you fit the hard top to a Triumph Stag?

The Stag hard top is heavy and awkward, always a two-person job. With the soft top folded away (or removed), lift the hard top level and lower it evenly onto the T-bar and windscreen header. Locate the front on the windscreen pegs first, then let the rear settle onto the body. Engage the two front over-centre clamps to the windscreen top rail, then the rear clamps or bolts inside the boot / behind the rear seats depending on the fitting kit. Check the seal beads all the way round before driving.

How do you remove the Stag hard top safely?

Two people, level ground, doors open. Undo the rear clamps or bolts first, then release the two front over-centre catches on the windscreen rail. Lift the top straight up an inch to break the seal, then walk it clear of the car keeping it level. Store it on a padded hard-top stand or trolley, never leant against a wall on its edge, and never stacked on the floor where it can distort.

How do you store a Triumph Stag hard top?

On a purpose-made padded hard-top stand or trolley, sitting on its lower edge or rain rail, upright and level, with a soft breathable cover over it. Ceiling hoists are the other common answer and save a great deal of floor space in a single garage. Never lean it against a wall, never lay it on its roof skin, and never stack anything on it. Allow for the room it takes: a hard top on a stand occupies roughly the footprint of a small table and cannot be tucked into a corner without risking a knock.

Where does a Triumph Stag leak?

The usual places are the header-rail seal along the top of the windscreen, the side seals where the door glass meets the hood rails, the joint where the hood meets the T-bar and the rear quarters, and the hood-well drains at the back. A great deal of what owners call a leak is in fact water that came in normally, failed to drain, and then found its way inside because the drain channels were blocked. Check and clear the drains before condemning any seal.

How do you clean and care for the soft top?

Brush loose dirt off dry, then wash with cool water and a dedicated soft-top cleaner (fabric-specific, never household detergent or car shampoo with wax). Work in the shade with a soft brush, rinse thoroughly, and let the hood dry fully in the raised position. Once a season, re-proof with a matched fabric reproofer (for example Renovo, Fabsil or an equivalent for mohair / Sonnenland-type cloth). Clean the rear window separately with a plastic-safe cleaner and a microfibre cloth, never glass cleaner containing ammonia or a paper towel, which scratch.

Can you leave a Triumph Stag with the hood down overnight?

You can, but you shouldn't as a habit. Damp air, dew, UV and dust all shorten the life of the fabric, stitching and rear window. Put the hood up whenever the car is left standing for more than a few hours, and always overnight or in the rain. When storing the car long-term, store it hood-up so the fabric is under gentle even tension and the frame is not fighting a folded shape.

Should a Stag be stored with the hood up or down?

Up. A hood stored folded sits in creases for months, holds any residual damp against itself, and puts the frame under a shape it was not meant to hold indefinitely. Raised and latched, the fabric is under gentle even tension and air can circulate round it. The bigger factor is the building: an unheated, unventilated garage swings between cold and damp and will mildew a hood and cloud a rear window faster than the car being used would.

What is a hood cover, and is it the same as a tonneau?

No. The hood cover, also called a hood bag or envelope, is the shaped cover that goes over the folded hood alone, keeping sun, dust and grit off the fabric and the plastic rear window while the roof is down. A tonneau is the full cover that stretches over the whole cockpit, seats included, when the car is parked open. A Stag can have either, both or neither, and both are usually priced separately from the hood itself.

What should you not use to clean a Triumph Stag soft top?

Nothing from under the kitchen sink and nothing meant for paint. Washing-up liquid and laundry detergent strip the proofing, car shampoo containing wax leaves a film that blotches woven cloth, and silicone dressings do the same on a coated hood. No pressure washer, no automatic car wash, no stiff brush, no hot water, and no ammonia-based glass cleaner or paper towel on the plastic rear window. Cool water, shade, a soft brush and a fabric-specific soft-top cleaner.

Is a mohair hood better than a vinyl one on a Stag?

It depends on what you want from the car. Woven cloth of the mohair or Sonnenland type looks and sounds better and costs more; coated vinyl is cheaper and easier to clean. Cars of this age are commonly on their second or third cover in either material. The practical point is that the care products differ, so establish what your hood actually is, from a trimmer or the Stag Owners Club, before you put anything on it.

Why is my Triumph Stag's rear footwell wet?

More often a blocked drain than a torn hood. The well behind the rear seats is meant to collect water and pass it out through drain channels, and when leaves, moss and grit block those channels the well fills and the water goes inside instead. Clear the drains with a torch and a soft length of wire before condemning any seal. It is also a reason to check that area for corrosion.

Does a Triumph Stag hard top fit any Stag?

The roof itself is common to the model, but the fixings are not always the same story. Some cars carry original factory mountings, others have period or later aftermarket kits, and a top bought separately may arrive without the clamps, bolts, seals or stand it needs. Establish exactly what is included before buying one, and follow the fitting instructions for your particular kit rather than a general description.

How do you get creases out of a Stag hood?

Gentle warmth and time, with the hood up and latched so the fabric is under even tension. Leaving the car in mild sunshine with the roof raised will let many folding creases relax out over a few days. Hard creases in the plastic rear window are usually permanent, which is why the window should always be guided into a gentle curve when folding and never folded in cold weather. Do not attempt to iron or heat-gun a hood.

What should I check on the roof when buying a Triumph Stag?

Establish first what is included: soft top, hard top, both or neither, and whether the hard top comes with its fixings and a stand. Operate the hood yourself, fully, both ways. Look at the plastic rear window in daylight for clouding and creasing, check the seams, stitching and seals, and lift the boot carpet to inspect the hood well and its drains for damp and corrosion. If a hard top is included, ask for it to be fitted so you can see the panel gaps and seal contact.