What? Stags in conversation? Menas I'd better pop out of hibernation
and spout off...
Lee Daniels is apparently afflicted by a deisease which strikes many, but
which, with help (or money) is curable. The help is the kind of help that
Peter Egan wrote about a few years ago WRT XKEs: everytime one of his
crowd started looking, someone would Help him, like by putting exploded
drawings of the E-type rear suspension on his desk...
The Money part comes in, when, after the Help fails, you have to attend
to the Stag (think of it as a Jag, not a Triumph, and the math gets
easier!).
> OK, OK, before I go any further, yes, I've heard all the horror stories
> about the Triumph Stag.
_All_ the horror stories? Are you sure? I think mine gets better with the
telling, but I'm vain sometimes.
> That said, let's also say that I've loved the look
> and aura of the Stag since I first wandered around one in a dealer's
> showroom in 1973. That look that suggests what a Spitfire might look like
> when it grows up. Those beautiful factory aluminum wheels. That nicely
> integrated roll-bar. And, important for those of us with pre-schoolers, it
> has a workable "utility" back seat. A convertible Triumph with looks, a
> V-8, and a back seat!
All true, in spades. Remember, too, that some of those same cars you
saw in the showroom failed spectacularly, some even on the lot...
That being said, lets summarize the car: RHD (strike, IMHO), automatic
(not as much fun as the manual), a rebuild of perhaps uncertain expertise,
and 10 years of sitting. All for $8000.
I'd say that the locals who say it ain't worth much are right. The long
storage certainly hasn't helped its condition (all those seals in the
engine and the mostly-dreadful automagic box are not getting better with
age).
The fact that the engine was rebuilt is good, but who built it? Stags
need to be upgraded on rebuild; as Scott Fisher says, with LBCs,
don't replace: FIX. For a Stag V8, that's more true than for most cars.
In Houston, you're likely to overtax the already-overworked cooling
system, and the Stag will trample you for that. In other words, IMHO,
expect to do another engine sooner rather than later.
If you really want it, maybe $2000, if that also satisfies the garage
debt. They're awfully nice, and fun. But if you get it for $2k, think
you paid $8k and bank a few thousand shekels - you'll be happy when
the bill comes due.
But if you really want it, buy it or another by all means. They seat
4, they're fun to drive, the exhaust sounds alone are worth it.
In fact, as I think more about RogerGs need for a kid-compatible
LBC, the more I think about getting mine on again...
But buy a good one. The good ones are good, but the bad ones are very,
very bad.
Good luck!
ed
PS - if anyone knows of interesting Mac/Unix OO development in the area
from Richmond VA to maybe Boston, I'm ready to go back and finish my cars
now...
ed devinney * ``And so a lot of people say there's too much personal
pismobch@netcom.com * freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you
san francisco, ca * have to move to limit it.''
- President W. Jefferson(!) Clinton, 19 Apr 94
|