new member

[Terryvanman]

Hello all.

My wife has decided to join me in classic car ownership and bought a Stag....I have a Rover P5B Coupe 3.5 so we can go to meeting and shows where we live in Malta together..Today we went to our first meeting in the Stag and left the Rover in the garage feeling abandoned.
Here are a few photos I'll be asking a few questions as time goes by so please be genteel if they are stupid.

[mike@thenook]

Welcome Terry, that sure is a lovely looking Stag - Clearly your wife has excellent taste!

Cheers

Mike

[SaphireSpud]

Hello Terry, nice looking cars. Loads of help and good advice on this forum. Enjoy. Regards from John and Diana in South Wales.

[Rod1883]

Nice looking cars, both with Bristol registrations too?

[Tdm]

Hi from another Terry, now living in Tenerife and been a Stag owner for the past 25 years.
From 1985 to year 2000 used to spend all our holidays in Birzebugia Malta and loved the place.

Whereabouts in Malta do you live as I know the Island well.
As I know well the Maltese men love their old British cars.

The local brew, that I liked then was "Cisk" lager, and it was cheap but good, but it was the years before Malta swapped Maltese Lira for Euros.
Knew quite a few people in "Birze" including a close neighbour of my wife's sister called "Cetta" whose sister ran a cake shop in Birze called "Bubbles".

Never did though saw a Stag in Malta, but plenty of other Triumphs.
Is "Lampuka" and swordfish still a Malta specialality?

Do you still drive on the Left side of the road normally, but on the Right when that is where the shade is!?

[The_PPA]

Terry, those are both absolute stunners !

I've always loved the P5B and the colour scheme on that is lovely.

I'm loving the chrome / braiding on the Stag too.

[v8ken]

Merħba (welcome) Terry,
That's another white one in Malta then..Mario who used to be on here has one.
Mines a blue one on Gozo,also there's a green one in Qala,,we'll have to set up our very own mini region of the SOC.
I've not taken mine accross to Malta since last Summer when it was called up for the airport run,when my Rover was out of action for a while.40 degrees with the hard top on,at least the passengers were the only thing that overheated.That reminds me ,I'll have to get around to fitting that hoist up in my garage.
You have probably heard of the old motors club,they do organised runs arounf the islands,,I have meant to make the effort and join in on one sometime,now the appartment is finished.
Nice looking cars BTW.
Ken.

[Terryvanman]

Well thank you one and all for the welcome.
Answers
Yes the local brew is still Cisk and boy does that go down well in the heat, We live in Ta'Xbiex over looking the marina. Yes lampoki is still the favorite fish dish and rabbit is still sold in just about every restaurant, a nation dish left over from the war years I think. Yes Ken there are at least 4 other Stags on the islands and rumors of others hidden in garages. I am a member of The Old Motors club and attend meetings when we can. We love the Maltese so friendly and welcoming.....until that is, they drive there cars, then keep your eyes open and your foot over your brake. pedal,,,and yes we do drive on the left and yes they do drive anywhere on the road that has shade ha ha

[Neil in Deal]

Terry,

Welcome to you and your wife, yep, she does have good taste! Loads of nice shiny bits under the bonnet....and the Rover's looking pretty good too.
It's a very long time since I was in Malta - 1986 if memory serves correctly.
Loved using the local buses, it was literally only a few pence fare and every trip was an adventure! I could see just why there were usually lots of religious artefacts in most windscreens !
My wife and I had the use of a hire car when our ship was in the China Dock. When I was driving out the security guard spotted one of the tyres was nearly flat.
He helped me change the wheel, and even arranged for the flat tyre to be repaired ready for our return in the evening.
We found most Maltese were like that, very helpful.
I'm sure you'll enjoy the Stag in the sunshine.....if your wife will let you drive it !

All the best,

Neil.

[Tdm]

Neil - 1985 was the first time I, the misses, and 2 kids visited Malta,and as I said before we loved it.
Loved the old buses and regularly used to ride them all over the Island.
One year we nearly bought an Apartment in Birzebuggia that was for sale cheap, but I think the infrastructure then put us off as the electric was always going off.
Used a boat taxi to visit Comino, and a friend and local took us in his car to Gozo one day, ending up with us all swimming in Gozo's Inland Sea.
Some old snapshots taken on Malta at the time can be seen on my YouTube site (I wonder how much has changed since) Link being :-
.

[Terryvanman]

some more photos of the rover

[Terryvanman]

[KOY 23]

Lovely car.

[mike@thenook]

That is a beauty,
I remember my grandfather having a 3 litre version the colour of your roof before they started fitting the V8 - he often used to try to re-start it as he thought it had stopped, the engine was so quiet and smooth

[Terryvanman]

Thank you....yes I’ll be sad to see it go on the other had I still get to drive the Stag D0C31E97-4DA5-44E2-B80C-A4C3C958064B.jpeg 0FB1A784-23E9-46A8-9FA5-D21965E3B36F.jpeg 2CE86195-D306-4E3D-ACE8-5DDA6F945174.jpeg 00B956EF-0636-4241-922F-67BCD2E13AF8.jpeg BA03F02F-5019-44EF-BD5C-498E5E7AA999.jpeg