The Triumph Stag was never designed to meet a carefully researched market need, although it could be suggested that the car may have been Triumph’s idea of a replacement for the outgoing Austin-Healey 3000. The concept started life some time around 1964 as a modified Triumph 2000, which was then Triumphs very successful family saloon car.

Stylist Giovanni Michelotti, who already had strong links with the Triumph car company, had already penned the designs for the Herald, TR4, Spitfire and 2000 saloons and around 1964 he asked the Engineering Director of Triumph, Harry Webster, for a surplus works vehicle to use as the basis to build a show car with which he wanted to use to show-off his talents at the forthcoming Turin Motor Show. As Webster and Michelotti where on good terms, a well used Mk1 Triumph 2000 saloon was earmarked for the Italian designer with the proviso that if Triumph liked the design they would get first refusal to build it.

So, in June 1964, having finished its duties as support vehicle for the racing Spitfires at the 1964 le Mans 24- hour race, 6105 KV was driven to the Michelotti studios in Turin and Michelotti himself began to work his magic on the car.

Later, whilst visiting Michelotti's premises, Harry Webster saw the show car that had once been the rather tired Triumph 2000 support vehicle for the first time since it left home. The drive train and suspension of the 2000 had been retained, as had the floor pan, albeit somewhat shorter than before. However, instead of a four-door saloon car the body had been transformed into a stylish four-seater, two-door convertible.

Webster was so impressed that he snapped up the design for Triumph and in the middle of 1966 the car was delivered to the factory for evaluation and never did grace the Michelotti stand at the Turin Motor show. Webster, mainly through his infectious enthusiasm, managed to convince the executives at Triumph that this new car had the potential to be the car that would launch Triumph into the potentially profitable Grand Touring market thus opening another channel for sales to the USA.

The development of the car from show special to production vehicle was indeed problematic. At first there was the problem of the lack of rigidity within the monocoque shell, despite the use of double skinned body panels. The issue was finally solved by the introduction of a rollover bar bracing both "B" pillars together, with another brace from this to the centre of the windscreen surround giving the car its distinctive T-top, which was to become so identifiable with the model. Webster had said that he wanted the car to be produced with the option of a new Triumph engine that was also under development at that time as a fuel injected 2.5-litre V8 unit. But it was still in the very early stages of its development and was nowhere near ready to be used in a production car. During this time the parent company of Triumph, Leyland, merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC), who produced MG, Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolesley and Austin-Healey, and British Motor Holdings, who produced Rover, Daimler and Jaguar, to collectively form BLMC, The British Leyland Motor Company. The internal corporate changes that followed saw Webster's talents being directed away from triumph to the Austin-Morris division.

However, in 1968 the reigns of the Stag development programme where taken up by Spen King of the Rover division of BLMC, during which time the development of the Triumph V8 engine saw an enlargement in its cubic capacity from 2.5 to 3 litres, and the fuel injection discarded in favour of a more reliable carburettor arrangement.

Following corporate upheavals, in-house squabbling at BLMC and development problems, the first pre-production Stag was not finished until the Autumn of 1969 and not until June1970 was it that the Stag eventually was released to the public, keeping its factory code name of Stag all the way through development stages to final production.

The Stag offered an intriguing mixture of features, such as a 3-litre V8 engine, smart fashionable styling, true 2 + 2 seating, electric windows, padded roll bar, wide doors to get in and out, easy to reach controls, reclining bucket seats, detachable hard top with heated window, automatic transmission, and air conditioning. It was a luxury Grand Tourer intended to appeal to the more upper class motorist and 25,877 were produced.

However, despite its pretty looks the Stag’s poor reliability and build quality meant that production of this car lasted for only 7-years, selling for only 3 of them in the US. All through its production run the Stag was dogged by problems, which did nothing to enhance the reputation of BLMC cars and Triumph. The design of the 3-litre V8 engine was basically that of two 1500cc 4-cyclinder Dolomite engines formed together in a 90 degree Vee configuration and became well known for overheating, warping cylinder heads, stretching timing chains and even for its tendency to catch fire. Despite these factors the car, since its demise in 1977, it has become very much sought after today as an affordable and desirable classic. Many of them have been converted by their owners to take the Rover 3,500 V8 unit, an engine that many argue it should have been equipped with right form the start.