Mini 1275 GT "KGP 779K"

"I first knew of this car about 6 years ago when it belonged to a friend of fellow club member Simon Bayliss. It had been `stored` in a lock up in London since 1984, needless to say, although the weather had been kept off it, it had sustained quite a bit of superficial damage, but it was remarkably still original with a host of period extras fitted . I became the proud owner of KGP 779K approximately 2 1/2 years ago, the car was built in 1970 and registered for use on the road in September 1971. To date the car has undergone a `light` restoration, which has included replacing, inner and outer sills, half passenger side front floorpan, bonnet landing panel, both headlamp mounting panels, rear subframe and several other `localised` repairs. The car was refinished in BMC Tartan Red (not the original colour, about 2 shades out, but hey, its my preference!!!) by a friend of mine, Simon Cooke, who runs A & A Auto Specialists, an excellent accident and car repair business in my hometown. The car is fitted with a Britax full-length sunroof, twin 5 ½ gallon petrol tanks (genuine R/H tank!) Super Minifin rear brake drums, ST (special tuning) Bump stop kit front and rear to aid the Hydrolastic suspension system, and to stop the characteristic `pitching` up and down of this type of suspension set up, the car is also fitted with an additional Front Shock absorber kit. I have carried out all the repair work on this car myself (apart from the paint job!) and future areas to be addressed include: - to `up rate` the 1275cc engine, and sort the interior trim out. The brief is, as 10 inch GT`s are very rare now, to keep the outward appearance of the car original, and try only to use accessories that may have been fitted in the 70`s ...... we’ll see, to date I am very pleased with the results, as, like most of us, I am working on a limited budget!"

" Keith Dodd (Mini Spares founder) identified the car as a GT 'S'.

Dean Davies (RSP Cooper Register) had bought the car from it's original owner when he seized the motor on the (then new) M25. He'd actually overheated the engine and caused a rod to 'let go' and this totalled the engine and gearbox. Only the carbs were salvaged as everything else was marked.

Dean owned the car for about 10 years, during which time it didn't see much of the road, being a toy really, although he did do 2 seasons of sprinting in it, also some RWYB's too, including the British Mini Showdown '95 in which it was placed 2nd in class."

Dean and Andy understand the car to be one of 50, and Dean relayed the following information, included here in case anyone can add to the history or fill-in the detail of these cars for us:

"They all differ slightly I'm told.
That one was weird, in a good way though.
It's got a Mini-Moke type sumpguard, it's hydro with front shox, the hydro units are Cooper S, the drivers seat was trimmed as per the rest of the interior but it was a Contour bucket, it has a 3 point Britax harness, the parcel bins and the front screen pillars are trimmed in black, as per Cooper and S Mk1/2/3, it has twin petrol tanks, it has SuperMiniFin alloy drums at the back and an export botlid badge (which Andy has now taken off).
The engines were all different too, that one had twin HS4's with rampipes and no filters, a modified head with very high CR, centre exit exhaust system, 544 cam, ultra-lite flywheel assembly and the head was an 11 stud jobbie.
It also had the hardy-spicer type driveshaft couplings.

Some were fitted with oil coolers and more exotic stuff like straight-cut boxes too, or rollcages. They went right up to group 6 racers as a showroon car, really weird.

The bloke I got that car off had it from new, he went into the Austin dealers to buy a Landcrab, and the salesman talked him into having this Mini.
It was in the showroom unregistered for almost a year, the new model with dry suspension was already out by then and nobody wanted this old model with hydro, the salesman sold that car with all those extras for £975
It was apparently a cancelled order.
The only salvageable parts of the engine were the number,the flywheel and the carbs. So I just transfered the number onto a new block and restored the car."

The following shots were taken at the London to Brighton Mini Run on Sunday 18th May, 2003:

Photos reproduced by kind permission of owner Andy Waltham, of POSH Mini Owners Club.

Last Updated: 19 May 2003