> I may have had a car follow me home today. A fellow moving out of
> state contacted my mechanic today in ref to loosing his storage
> space due to the move and needing to get rid of his Stag project as he
> only has room for one and he is keeping his B (very sensible man).
> So, it had all the body work done and is in inside storage in Mass in
> epoxy primer (2 years old). The drivetrain is out as well as the interior.
> I did not ask in the first call if it was the auto (BW 35) or standard
> gearbox (TR6) or whether or not it had the hardtop which I guess was
> pretty common. I am surfing the web tonight looking for what I can but
> for the cost of nothing including the delivery to my house I do not right
> now figure I have much to lose on this. Anybody out there got any
> experience? I have read on some of the pitfalls. But it is hard not to try
> and 'save' another even if it is just a triumph.
> Carl
The Stag is a wonderful car... when in proper shape. Things that suck about
the Stag:
Waterpump leaks, head gasket failures, finding parts, electrical gremlins
related to power windows and other power options.
It takes about 5 and a half hours to change the waterpump, so if the engine
is out, I would highly recommend doing it. It is a simple follow-the-book
task, it just takes a lot of time to remove everything that covers the
waterpump. The distributor is kind of in a tight spot as well so make sure
that is spot on once and then try not to worry about it ;-)
The nice thing about the Stag is that it is a proper luxury tourer. They
all came standard with hardtops and they all had overdrive transmissions (or
automatics). The transmission is not swappable with the TR6, because the
input shafts are different lengths, but are otherwise the same. The Stags
have a good number of power features, like power windows and power steering.
The engine is smooth and torquey, a true joy to drive. The car handles
quite well and I find it hard to fault the Stag in any area, other than when
reliability is questionable due to maintenance neglect.
If I were offered a free Stag with the body work already completed, I would
be jumping on it. Just do it justice and paint it a decent color as the
length and proportions of the body do make some colors look bad on the Stag.
White and Yellow in particular are not flattering, Black and Red work well.
What is the worst that can happen? You get a free car decide you do not
like it and sell it for $500? Although I hope you do restore it, as the
Stag is truly a unique and underrated British car. You'll also annoy the
piss out of MGC owners when you beat them off the line with your 3.0L V8 ;-)
Kai
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