The Car / History

Triumph Stag History and Development, 1965 to 1977

The Stag began in 1965 as a Michelotti show special built on a Triumph 2000 floorpan, was adopted by Triumph the following year, kept its internal “Stag” code name into production, and was launched in June 1970 with a 3.0-litre V8 enlarged and re-carburetted under Spen King. Weak American sales, against a 12,000-per-year target, ended production in 1977 with no direct successor.

1965, Michelotti & Webster

In 1965 the Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti asked Triumph's Director of Engineering, Harry Webster, for a Triumph 2000 saloon to turn into a show special. Webster agreed on one condition: if Triumph liked the result, the company got first refusal.

Michelotti's answer was a convertible built on a shortened Triumph 2000 floorpan. Webster was sufficiently impressed that in 1966 the car was taken back to Coventry and developed for production.

The name “Stag”

“Stag” was the internal code name during development and was kept as the production name, the only Triumph to carry its development code name unchanged into showrooms.

1968, Spen King's V8

From 1968, under Spen King, the planned 2.5-litre V8 was enlarged to 3.0 litres. The enlargement was done by increasing the bore rather than the stroke, which is why the finished engine is unusually oversquare.

The engine's troublesome mechanical fuel injection was dropped in favour of twin Zenith-Stromberg carburettors, largely with the United States market in mind.

June 1970, Launch

The Triumph Stag was launched in June 1970, positioned as a luxury four-seat convertible to sit above the TR range and rival the Mercedes-Benz SL. Power steering, electric windows and power-assisted brakes were standard from the outset.

Where it was built

Every Stag body was built, painted and trimmed at Triumph's No. 2 plant at Speke, Liverpool, which also built the TR6 and the TR7. The finished bodies were taken by road on a two-deck flat wagon to Canley in Coventry for final assembly. The No. 2 plant closed in 1978. For an engineer's account of the work, see Building the Stag at Speke.

1977, End of production

Approximately 25,939 Stags were built between 1970 and 1977. 17,819 were UK-market cars and 8,120 were exports; the year-by-year table behind those totals is on the production data page.

The Triumph Stag Club of the Americas has now verified that 2,871 Stags were sold in the United States, from the records of the US distributor. The US Federal-spec guide publishes the year-by-year breakdown and its source.

The Stag had been aimed, in part, at an American market that largely rejected it on the basis of its reliability reputation. Against a target of some 12,000 sales per year, this shortfall is why production ended in 1977 with no direct successor.