Newbie confused, Commission number, Body number, rear panel black or body colour

[Wolfgang1]

Hi,

This is my first post in the forum, so I thought I should introduce myself. I learned to speak English more than 40 years ago. So please have mercy.

My name is Wolfgang Koenig and I live in Germany in a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia called Haltern am See. Last year I bought my Stag in Northern Ireland. The licence number was HKH52N. The car was also registered as HIA9 in Northern Ireland. Perhaps someone knows the car. Besides the Stag I drive a 1978 Caterham Seven Twincam for more than 30 years now.

During the last months I have been restoring the Stag and changed some parts to meet the German technical regulations. Recently I decided to respray the car completely. And here is my question.

The rear panel of the car is currently black. Is this the original colour? The car was resprayed before.

The car has the Commission No LD40997O, Body No T38057LD, Engine No LF040923HE and was first registered 26/05/76.

According to the Comm No it should be a 1976 Stag, and referred to the Technical Bulletin from the Triumph Stag Register the rear panel reverted to body colour, co-incident with the aluminium sill covers, to the end of 1974. My car has aluminium sill covers. So the rear panel should have the body colour mimosa.

On the other hand, i have read in the forum the change back to body colour started with LD40000. Is it possible that the body of my car was build in 1975 (Body No T38057LD) and has a black rear panel and was assembled in the beginning of 1976 with aluminium sill covers?

I want to respray the car in the original colour scheme, so what colour is right? Black or Mimosa.

Many thanks in advance.

Wolfgang

[stagmyson]

Hi and welcome.
Ive had my stag for over a year myself. So pretty new to stags.
But i think the rear panel should be the same colour as car.
Only mk 1's were painted black

[Ray Smith]

Hi Wolfgang and welcome.

My Commission is slightly before yours, was built 6th Jan 1976 and has body colour rear panel,
Regards
Ray

[milothedog]

Don't know the exact com numbers when it changed but black rear panel was 73-76 cars.

Ian.

[DJT]

Hi and welcome.
Ive had my stag for over a year myself. So pretty new to stags.
But i think the rear panel should be the same colour as car.
Only mk 1's were painted black

Not so. Mk1 Stag rear panels were body colour. They were changed to black with LD20001 late '73. Returned to body colour again at LD40001 in Sept '75.

[Wolfgang1]

Thank you all.

I am still a little bit insecure about the body no of my Stag.

Body Plates.jpg

According to the above publication the body No T30001.. means 1974 and 1975 Mk II models. That's why I thought my car has perhaps a 1975 body and was assembled in 1976 and a black rear might be original.

Ray, do you perhaps know the body no of your car?

Thanks

Wolfgang

[DJT]

Wolfgang,

Welcome to the often bewildering world of Stag ownership. Triumph (BL) records weren't as accurate as we would have liked and if you read the paragraph at the bottom of the left hand column of the page you have photographed you will read that body numbers do not match the commission number. Bodies were often sidelined for various reasons and could come down the production line in almost any order. The commission number is more accurate in determining the specification of a car and yours is well into the production run of the Fifth Sanction of build which started on Sept 4th 1975 with LD40001.

[StagJonno]

For what it's worth, mine is Commission No LD 42830; buid date 10/09/76 registered 19/07/77, so well into the Fifth Sanction of Build (see Dave's post above). It too has a black rear panel which is contrary to the specifications for this build date. Many have queried its authenticity, but like Wolfgang, I don't know whether it arrived from the factory like this.

Wolfgang - I suggest that you consider how you'd like it to look. I'm happy with mine and only might think about changing the colour if I were doing a full respray. However, it has the benefit from not showing black traces from the exhaust

Good luck with your considerations and don't worry too much. Your English is brilliant - if only could remember my German so well after all this time!

Jonno

[Mrs hoskins]

For what it's worth, I recently met a chap who worked on the Stag production line for 3 yrs from 72, and amongst other things we discussed the black rear panel as my car ( apr75) has a black panel and I wasn't sure it was right.
He described the production line , in particular the body panels/ colours/ fixings/ extras etc, as being a pretty chaotic place , mainly due to the pressure to improve quality ,against the contrast of warranty claims costs. Therefore , although in theory , changes happened in a defined order, in practice it was all a bit random. If the back panel is black , it was probably always black.....would anyone re spraying a car really change from body colour to a black panel ?? I doubt it.

[Jeff]

Mine is 1974 and is black

[KOY 23]

Mine is 1974 and is black

But so's the rest of it.

[DJT]

For what it's worth, I recently met a chap who worked on the Stag production line for 3 yrs from 72, and amongst other things we discussed the black rear panel as my car ( apr75) has a black panel and I wasn't sure it was right. If the back panel is black , it was probably always black.....would anyone re spraying a car really change from body colour to a black panel ?? I doubt it.

When I got my car the back panel was body colour. During the respray we discovered that the panel had a lot of filler where it had been 'bumped' in the past. Under the filler was the black paint. It has now been restored to black.
My car is a late '73 build, about 6 from the end of the Third Sanction. Your April '75 should be black, according to the documented production changes.

[jbuckl]

I think 'Original Triumph Stag' ~ a restorers guide contains the sanctions that had a black back panel.

I will look up & report back.

[mike@thenook]

Mine is 1974 and is black

so's mine - but only the back panel

[DJT]

I think 'Original Triumph Stag' ~ a restorers guide contains the sanctions that had a black back panel.

I will look up & report back.

That is where I got my info from Julian (Posts #5, #7, & #12)......