will undoubtedly be vindicated.
In 2010, the first year that he owned
the GT, it was sent to The Real Mini
Company in Wallingford and they
took charge of the whole project. It
was not a budget-breaker as the first
owner had been so diligent. Two front
wings were the only panels replaced.
Even better, the previous owner had
already had the original engine and
box rebuilt by Oselli. Sticking to his
philosophy of reversible mods only,
young Rob specified yellow powder
coating for the dry subframes and for
some of the suspension components.
A boot trim kit was fitted and the GT
received 5.5x12 Minilights in black. The
bodyshell was completely resprayed in
BL Inca Yellow, one of BL’s few moments
of inspiration in the dreary 1970s.
It had been a great stroke of luck to
find that the interior was complete and
Rob has kept it standard apart from the
Mountney three-spoke. GT was the first
production Mini to get the oblong line-
of-sight three-clock pod but it retained
the useful open dash. The OE seats have
black vinyl backing and grey velour with
monotone stripes. Along with a black
28 June 2019 MiniWorld
[ Modified 1979 1275GT ]
Mini's first three-clock, line of sight
pod appeared in the GT. Black and
grey work well with bright yellow.
Three-spoke wheel is after-market.1275GTs of this vintage would
have had dreadful Denovo wheels
and tyres as standard. Rob prefers
these much lighter alloys.