Stag Eligibility for Tax Exemption

[Mike Wattam <MikeWattam@domain.elided>]

For the avoidance of further mis-information, the last Stag to be made in
1972 was commission number 21086.

Therefore if your commission number is 21087 or higher, it was made from
1973 or later.  This is an official number supplied by the British Motor
Industry Heritage Trust, who have all production records.

If your Stag is shown on the Registration Document as registered in 1973 or
later, but it has a lower commission number than that shown above, you will
need to Write to BMIHT and get either a;

 - dating certificate from BMIHT ONLY at a fee of 10.00 Sterling which is
suitable to be sent to
    the UK taxation authorities for exemption purposes only
 - Production Record Trace Certificate at a fee of 25.00 Sterling.  This is
much more detailed 
   and is prepared by looking at the orginal build sheets from the Triumph
assembly line.  It 
   is suitable for wall mounting also, if that turns you on and the UK
taxation authorities will 
   accept a good photocopy ofthis as proof of exemption.

Both can be obtained by writing to;

Archive Department
Heritage Motor Centre
Banbury Road
Gaydon
Warwick
CV35 0BJ

and enclosing your payment.

From the above chassis numbers you will note that the MkII actually started
being built in 1972, although it was released to the UK public on 20
February 1973 and the first examples were registered on/about that date.

Although the so-called MKII was released as above, most of the 'new'
cosmetic features had already been used on overseas Stags, the MKII
designation was used to re-launch the car on the public with the slightly
modified engine and ancilliaries to counter criticism of the MKI which had
already been the subject of 'anti' press comment.  

Therefore, the MKII changes were essentially visual/cosmetic and very few
minor changes were made which were not already in process of
production/assembly.  At the time, Triumph 'beat the drum' about all the
improvements they had made.

Triumph's attitude to modifications and upgrades was always that they would
be 'running modifications', that is when the old material was used up and
the new became available, it would be fitted.  If you want an even worse
example of this, I can tell you a bit about enginering and cosmetic changes
to the small saloon range (1300/Dolomite) which is complex to say the
least.

This is why such changes publicised as 'new' for the MKII had already been
in production for some time, such as the upgraded water system, revised air
intake, interior light, and also why the first few hundred MKII's still had
the MKI door locks.  Also why late MKI's with engine failures were almost
always fitted with brand new MKII motors, usually suffixed ESS.

Note also that when the UK specification MKII was introduced, standard
equipment did NOT include alloy wheels, tinted glass, overdrive, headrests
even though nearly all dealer orders on the factory specified almost all of
these options except alloy wheels which were in very short supply in the
first year.  Overseas specifications normally included all these items.

I hope the above prevents any further mis-information.  More details
available.

Mike Wattam
Chairman - Triumph Stag Register