Triumph Stag

Triumph’s four-seater V8 tourer stumbled at the hurdles marked ‘development budget’ and ‘build quality.’ The good news is that all the teething troubles are now well known and a large proportion of surviving Stags have been put together properly, with specialist knowledge. That leaves us free to describe it as a stylish, strong and refined grand tourer that’s simple and cheap to maintain and has one of the best exhaust notes this side of a street rod event. Common with a three-speed auto, but the manual/overdrive version is preferred, not just because it uses less fuel.