Fastback stag

[brooklands green]

Just watching auction sold for £46,500

[jbuckl]

Considering an rvc prefix (Ld 12?) went a few years ago for a shade under 40 k I’m surprised the fastback wasn’t sold for more….. important car maybe… not so attractive maybe.

[Registrar]

Why would people with money want it ? If you had money, you would not want something which has a 'reputation' engine - you would buy an E-type or a Ferrari. Stag has its own following and that following is not necessarily interested in a car you can't take the roof off - if you want one of them, but an XK8 coupe for £5k. The Fastback is important in Stag circles but Stag circles do not spend £50k on a Stag - unless it is their own and they love it already. LD 12 was sold prior to auction at low £30k's and sold at auction at top £30k's a short while later. The most I have known a Stag to sell for at auction is £44k (if I remember correctly) and that was a low mileage car from a private museum in brown (believe it or not).

I was worried that the fastback would sell to the USA or Japan, where many 'special things' go, but, set against that was the knowlesdge that Stag has a very, very small following in the States and a nil following in Japan. After the auction, the car remains in the UK, which is good for us all and, hoppefully, it will venture out so that we can all enjoy it over the next years. Also hopefully, my two prototypes and the one being restored by SOC Spares will be able to join it. That will be a very interesting meeting when it happens.

Peter

[Gemini 51]

Peter, a slight correction to the sale of LD12, it was presented at auction, was bid to the lower £30k's but didn't meet the reserve, it was later sold through a classic car dealership for a figure just south of £40k within a couple of days of being offered for sale. Hope this helps to clarify the facts.

[richardthestag]

What I do not understand about the stag values concerns the equivalent values of 1970's Range Rovers. But if we just concentrate on the 1969 and 70 Range Rovers - prototype and pre production - The values are significantly higher than stags in the same category. just to remind you that both launched in June 1970.

waiting lists for both were healthy, yet very few RR found new owners until start of 1971 due to extreme supply issues for the Rover v8.. yep they couldn't make enough engines so I doubt that BL would have pushed for an RV8 in the stag anyway. que more bar room nonsense..

Velar pre production cars have sold over the last few years at heady 6 figure sums

the "only" surviving prototype sold for an un disclosed sum. it would have made someone's eyes water.

so Range Rover, thirsty as eff, noisy at speed, greenhouse on wheels and consistently at the top of the unreliability index of the time.. is now infinitely more desirable than stag..

should the club not be doing more to promote the car?

[jbuckl]

Agree, but just a straw poll …. There’s too many still doing pub talk & how much about stags.

Range Rovers were the same list price around the early’70s


Quite a few merc sl owners who have a stag still choose the stag in preference for trips out on sunny days…. 2 local stag owners swapped back to stags after sl’s too.

This year has been the first I’ve seen dolomite sprints sell for over £30k

Just heard a montego turbo went for £26k too.

Stag values are being affected (aka too low) due to all the nonsense still being talked about them …. And all the ‘magpie-snake oil’ being considered necessary

[richardthestag]

Even our registrar mentions that fragile engine ffs.

An engine that I am comfortable and confident to run up to the red line on occasions, make the hairs tingle on my neck - awesome noise... Ok it happens almost every time I drive it. And then I have no issues at all with jumping in it and driving across Europe.

My stag has been off the road for some time now, while I set up the business, it will go back on the road next month and after some basic checks I have absolutely NO concerns that it might let me down with the recovery of shame. In fact the only time it ever subjected me to that was down to powerspark module failing.. Yep, I am 100% with you Julian on what I frequently refer to as "upgrades" or "improvements"

And when certain specialists start to jump on the "improvement" band wagon I kind of just avoid that specialist in the future.

Member of the SOC, a club that is looking after the best interests of the Stag whilst doing nothing and thus ensuring that values stay low, keeping it firmly in the doldrums and making it an ongoing laugh.

[Registrar]

Must be Mike telling me that I got it slightly wrong. The figures were correct, the situation I got wrong. Many apologies for the inaccuracy,

To support Richard's last para - for the 50th anniversary celebrations I suggested to members of the Committee that we try to get 50 Stags doing the RBRR and use that as a publicity event. OK, it could have backfired if we had a rash of engine failures but I had the confidence that this wouldn't happen. What did the Committee go with ? That's right, moving a childs toy around the country for two years. Some Clubs have balls and some just don't.

The failure to appreciate the publicity value of the fastback was another example of the lack of true forsight that the Committee exhibit.

Peter

[Rod1883]

It was at the Goodwood Classic Car breakfast club on Sunday. We parked next to it, sadly I didn't get to speak to the owner other than to say it was nice to see it there.
DSC06760a.jpg

[Pete 21]

I think it’s harsh to criticise the club for not focussing on pushing up values. Shouldn’t making the car popular and affordable be the priority?
The price is driven by supply and demand and almost ironically, given the car suffered from such a negative reputation for unreliability, it’s price is relatively low because there are so many good Stags still on the road.
My mk2 is 50 years old next year and I’ve had it for 35 of those, something that really surprises people if I mention it.

[mole42]

It’s important to remember that there are still ⅓ of the Stags built that survive. No other marque can achieve that. Values are lower than they should be for many reasons but we can all enjoy driving our cars which were the pinnacle of large-scale British motor manufacturing at the time.

[Rod1883]

The fact that values haven't risen as much as other classics of a comparable vintage could be seen as an advantage in keeping the car of interest to younger classic enthusiasts. They can't afford a TR or an other classic but a Stag is still in that affordable bracket

[richardthestag]

I think it’s harsh to criticise the club for not focussing on pushing up values. Shouldn’t making the car popular and affordable be the priority?

The club is doing neither in my humble opinion.

Promoting a car, that has a tricky reputation, popular whilst keeping values low is somewhat a paradox. Folk will buy one, it will be like 1979 all over again with a badly maintained car failing to impress. no money will be spent before it moves onto the next hapless owner seeking that bargain stag.

He clears off down the pub moaning like hell about it, his mates drag up the bar room bollocks all over again, Quentin "bloody" Wilson pips in with his hairdresser narrative. Another Triumph classic car club writes an article proclaiming the car to be a disaster on flat tyres, and you get a viscous and rapid downward spiral.

Parts to maintain become lower in quality because owners cannot justify (or are too tight) spending money to do the job properly.

The number of cars available exceeds the marketplace by a high factor, further keeping prices low.

By the way, Series Land Rovers have a high proportion of survivors also - but are seen as desirable across all age ranges. This is despite a filling rattling ride in a thirsty, noisy and uncomfortable vehicle.

[Philip Wardle]

My mk2 is 50 years old next year and I’ve had it for 35 of those, something that really surprises people if I mention it.

My Mk 1.5 basket case project car was 50 years old in April, of those I've had it for 38 years and it should be going on the road for the first time since 1984 in the next month or two, after fighting us at every step along the way. We're down to the last few jobs to finish-off. No way has it been a viable proposition financially, but we've not half learned a lot.

[Registrar]

Rod is right, but so is Richard.

I liked the fact that Stag was affordable - probably diue to the fact that many of those built emain. I'm not rich but neither am I poor and £20k for a car is a very serious outlay - I've paid less for houses ! The problem is that there is a lot of spare cash about and retirees/pensioners are spending it on classic cars in general, which pushes prices up across the board. You shouldn't worry about Stag not keeping up with the Jones's classic Alfa or TR6, just revel in the fact that you are driving a bargain - and only you and a few others realize this.

I am, however, worried about Richard's scenario of poor cars being sold on .. and on ... and on... as this will damage any reputation. Which brings me to the problem of the cost of parts as these have kept pace with general classic prices and not with Stag prices, so they are relatively expensive when compared to the cost of a complete Stag. How is an original rear wing 'worth' £1800 ? when in an advert next to it on Ebay was aJaguar wing at £25 (OK, not directly comparable but the disparity is enormous). Anyone contemplating a rebuild is looking at very serious money and there are few ways of now doing it on the cheap and doing a decent job. Which leaves us with tatty Stags which people can't afford to restore properly and good cars which are worth more than an average man will think of paying. It is becoming a rich man's game - which is not what a liking for old cars should be about.

Rock on Wolfie Smith, the common man has his rights !

Peter