LE20700UBW

After deciding that the Green Stag from Houston was not a good candidate for restoration, I had been running an eBay search for several years to locate another candidate car with a good body and no engine. Through my membership in the Triumph Stag Club USA, I learned about a charity drive http://triumphtransamerica.org.uk/ involving restoring a Stag and driving it across the US. They urgently needed a J-Type overdrive for the project car, so I attempted to donate the whole car to the project. The details never worked out, and I am now quite (selfishly) thankful of that outcome. As luck would have it, only a few days after they found another closer donor, an eBay listing appeared for a '73 Stag in Salt Lake with a rust-free body (blue) and red leather interior. The engine was out of the car. I had the high bid, but the auction closed wothout meeting the reserve. I contacted the seller and he accepted my cash offer of $3000 for the car if I could pick it up the next weekend. Off to Salt Lake we went with the flatbed trailer. The engine, or at least the parts that were included, was in the trunk. The automatic transmission was still installed, and dragged on the trailer when we tried to load it. The soft top frame was not correctly fitted and broken in several places, so the tonneau cover would not fully close. Nevertheless, I instantly fell in love with the car. Someone had done a paint job a long time ago after having removed the engine and interior. It had then been passed from garage to garage with different owners finally deciding it was too much to handle. I was determined that the buck would stop with me!