Stag

No, not a post about a bachelor party.

One recurrent theme in this blog is the discussion of how peoples’ interests arise. Why are some drawn to science fiction films whereas others like romantic comedies? (Not that they have to be mutually exclusive, either.) It’s not a mystery on the surface: interests are almost always some combination of genetics and environment, like virtually everything else. However, strong attachments can sometimes be difficult to explain, even to one’s self.

From magazine-cars-for-sale.com a picture of a Triumph Stag. These cars were a huge disappointment for British Leyland, the large conglomerate that seemingly had a monopoly on British makes in the 1970s. The Stag developed a bad reputation for being unreliable, especially for overheating. (The Wikipedia article about the Stag has a detailed description of the many flaws.) All that being said, I love these cars.

Why? I don’t know, really. I do like roadsters with small displacement V-8s (these were equipped with a newly built 3-liter Triumph V-8, which was so bad that many people dropped in the Rover V-8 that was actually a Buick V-8, but that’s another story), but why do I like roadsters with small displacement V-8s?

I think it’s a great looking car, but why? (Well, the body was designed by the famous Giovanni Michelotti.) Does it really matter? I don’t want to “break a butterfly upon a wheel” to quote Alexander Pope, but unlike the implication in Pope’s famous line, our interests are significant, after all.

Anyway, I really like this car. I wonder if I could buy one and then drop in a small block Chevy V-8?!