There was a Stag for sale here about 10 years ago. Nice looking car it was, too, good condition. I was told by One Who Knows to keep very far away. Said the engine is impossible to repair for head troubles because the head bolts are angled, they don't go in perpendicular to the block surface. WTF is up with that??!!??!?!? Mill the head and it doesn't line up any more!
BTW, the One Who Knows races TR6s, and holds the class record for the Chimney Rock Hillclimb, which sadly, no longer exists.
I drove an X1/9 back in the day, when it available as a new car. Loved it!!! Handled great, had low enough power that you could flog it as hard as it would go without fear of going to jail. Few years ago saw one blow up on an autocross course. Glad I didn't get one!
My own British car experience is limited to the '66 MGB my dad had in the 60s, which I learned to drive in, but never had out without Dad in the car, and my brother's '69 Sprite, which couldn't keep carbs clean long enough to pass fuel into the engine for a road trip, and it burned through ignition points between oil changes (or should I say oil refills?)