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TRIUMPH STAG HISTORY
For a brief period at the end of the 1960s, Triumph had the world at its feet. Before brand identity or brand value became the ultimate buzzwords of car manufacturers, Triumph had a range of sporting family cars that could justifiably lay claim to be The Ultimate Driving Machine. This was quite an achievement for a company founded in 1885 to sell Triumph bicycles from a small shop in London. From these small roots the company expanded quickly into making its own cycles - at a factory in Coventry - and at the turn of the century in motorcycles, launching a brand of two wheelers that lasted, through various changes of ownership, into the 21st century. Car manufacture came along in 1919 when Triumph bought out a local car manufacturer and launched the Triumph 10/20, which was designed by local rival Lea Francis.
Despite good products and modest sales, the small company struggled to compete in an expanding but price-sensitive market. By the 1930s Triumph decided to move out of the mass market and specialise in low volume upmarket cars. New models were launched but financial problems led to the motorcycle business being sold off in 1936 followed by receivership in 1939. Although the company and its assets were acquired, World War II stopped production again and the Coventry factory was destroyed in 1940.
In 1944 the company's remaining assets and the brand were bought by the Standard Motor Company and production transferred to Standard's Canley site in Coventry. A new range of cars was quickly launched, sporting distinctive - and controversial - razor-edge styling.
In the early 1950s Standard decided to pursue a new strategy, using the Triumph name on sporting cars and Standard on saloons. This was the start of Triumph's glory days, with the launch of the Triumph TR2 in 1953 and the Triumph Herald in 1959. The relative success of Triumph cars meant that by 1963 all Standard-Triumph vehicles were branded as Triumphs. In that year Triumph introduced the under-rated Triumph 2000, a sporting family saloon that pre-empted the BMW 3-Series and managed to combine olde worlde English charm with sharp Italian styling.
In 1960 the still-ailing Triumph was bought by Leyland Motors and through successive mergers became part of British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968. Leyland and BLMC may have sowed the seeds of Triumph's demise but the company, led by Donald Stokes during the 1960s, got a lot right during this time. For many, the 1960s were Triumph's golden era. Its cars were well engineered and designed by Michelotti, who gave the whole range a distinctive shared identity long before this idea became fashionable. They sold well. In this period Triumph launched the Triumph 2000, successive Triumph TRs, the Triumph Stag, Triumph Spitfire, Triumph GT6 and the Triumph Dolomite. This created a desirable range of cars that had strong appeal to Middle England.
The problems for Triumph began with the creation of BL following the merger of Leyland and British Motor Holdings. Much has been written about the many failures of this gargantuan company, but it was quite simply too big, bureaucratic and under-funded to succeed. BL inherited a huge range of problems that it simply didn't have the cash to fix. Many view Triumph as one of the worst casualties of BL. When BL merged, Triumph was at the top of its game - its cars were desirable and successful. But, crucially, they were aging models and the company was a close competitor of Jaguar and Rover. BL chose to invest in Jaguar and Rover, content to let Triumph fiddle with product improvements to its existing range. These often involved highly innovative engineering solutions. The fuel injected 2.5 litre engine used in the 2500 saloon and TR6 was one of the first fuel injected engines on the market and the Dolomite Sprint used the first 16v engine. Triumph didn't help matters by stolidly pursuing its own 3 litre V8 engine for the Stag when the 3.5 litre Rover engine would have worked just as well.
BL's now-legendary poor quality hit Triumph. This, combined with aging products, created a self-fulfilling prophesy as the company's market share dwindled and money for new products dried up. What investment there was turned out to be poorly considered. The 1974 Triumph TR7, last in an illustrious line of sports cars, was loudly derided from the moment it was launched. Under-powered thanks to a Morris Marina engine, ill-handling, aesthetically challenging and shockingly unreliable, what should have been Triumph's savour was its nemesis. When BL finally got around to dropping in the Rover V8 to create the TR8 and launched a convertible version, it was too little too late.
To add insult to injury, the new SD1 saloon, whose smaller-engined models were originally going to be badged Triumph, ended up as a Rover-only product. The final ignominy for Triumph was the Acclaim, launched in 1981. Essentially a rebadged Honda Ballade, the Acclaim was built in Oxford and little more than a Triumph in name only. And yet, dull as this car was, it did ironically signal a new dawn for BL. It became the company's most reliable car ever with customer satisfaction levels that could only have been dreamed of years earlier. The success of the Acclaim led to a number of Honda-BL collaborations that saw the company limp through the 1980s until it was purchased by BMW in 1994.
The last Triumph, an Acclaim, was made in 1984 after which the brand disappeared. Over the subsequent 25 years there has been much talk of rejuvenating the Triumph brand. Today the name is owned by BMW. Despite the recent enthusiasm amongst motorists for all things retro, BMW's dogged commitment to a single-brand strategy plus waning awareness of the Triumph brand probably means that the idea of a new Triumph is just a misty glint in a TR6 owner's eye.
The Triumph Stag is testament to the fact that good ideas don't always come from asking customers what they want. Today car companies avoid risk, preferring to rely on endless market research to dictate the models they launch. Not so at Triumph in 1964.
In that year the genesis of one of Triumph's most success models began. Stylist Giovanni Michelotti, who had been working with the company for several years, was looking for a way to promote his talents at the forthcoming Turin Motor Show. He asked Triumph for a chassis - they supplied a ragged old 2000 saloon - upon which to create a one-off show stopper. Triumph agreed, provided they had first refusal if they liked what he did.
Before the show Harry Webster, Triumph's Engineering Director, paid a visit in 1965 to Michelotti's studio in Turin to view progress on the show car. What he saw was a shortened 2000 chassis on which Michelotti had designed a graceful four seater two door convertible. Webster recognised a car that would take Triumph upmarket and help launch the company in the USA. His enthusiasm helped drive the project - codenamed Stag, a name that stuck - through innumerable hurdles, including problems with productionising what was essentially a one-off show car. Most of the issues revolved around structural rigidity - which led to the use of a T-bar roll-over hoop rather than a full convertible configuration, and problems with the new Triumph V8 engine which was in development. As well as these challenges, the project got caught up in the 1968 merger that created British Leyland, resulting in the project passing from Webster to Spen King (of Rover fame) who saw it through to completion. The Triumph Stag was launched in summer 1970.
One of the most common stories about the Triumph Stag is that the company's engineers preferred to develop their own 3 litre V8 rather than adopt the proven - and reliable - Rover 3.5 litre V8. Although it is untrue to say that the larger engine would not fit - several Stag owners have made the conversion - Triumph felt its own engine, which was lighter, was better and Rover was unable to meet the planned production volumes for the Stag. But it is more than likely that politics were also involved - and had the Stag been launched with the 3.5 litre engine, it would been a more reliable and much more successful car.
The Triumph Stag's protracted birth did not bode well for its production life. By 1970 the design, albeit still graceful,was already dated and inextricably linked to a Triumph house style that was 10 years old. British Leyland, in its wisdom, elected to build the bodies in Liverpool - at Speke - with final assembly at Canley, resulting in product quality problems. The new 3 litre engine also suffered endless problems due to poor design and quality, particularly overheating. There were tales of BL service mechanics finding sand in the bottom of the engine where the block had been incorrectly cast. These issues did nothing to inspire confidence in a car that was marketed by Triumph at a premium price and the Triumph Stag, like many other BL products, quickly gained a reputation as an out of date and unreliable vehicle.
The Triumph Stag received a number of cosmetic improvements in 1973 when the Mk2 was launched. It was finally discontinued in 1977 after 25,877 cars were produced.
Today the Triumph Stag has a very strong following among classic car enthusiasts of all types. It is an excellent year-round classic car thanks to a choice of hard or soft tops. The tractable V8 engine makes long distance touring easy and the interior is comfortable and quiet. The Triumph Stag is, over 30 years since the last cars left the factory, finally being acknowledged as a great car to drive and enjoy.
