1978 Leyland Mini 1275 LS
Vehicle details
About this 1275 LS
A previous owner of this car has contacted us, and would like to know this car's whereabouts today - if you are the owner, or know the current owner, please contact us so we can pass your information on.
Unfortunately we have very few images of this car. This 1275 LS appears to be in good condition, and notably, has a vinyl sun roof installed (aftermarket presumably). There also may be a turbo charger by the looks of it under the bonnet. Little more is known about the car - I believe it was on Ebay in 2012 some time. If anyone has any further information about this car, including the corresponding engine number, that would be appreciated.
The 1275 LS was a limited production mini within Australia. This is one of the last 800 cars produced in Australia, half of which were produced in gold, and the other half in Hi-Ho silver. As noted above under factory options, the 1275 LS came with several features considered 'premium' in the mini range, as the car was designated as the highest specification model to be made available in Australia in the late 70's.
If you have any information about this car, or other 1275 LS cars, please get in contact with me by clicking my username to rebveal my contact details.
About the 1978 Leyland Mini 1275 LS
The Leyland Mini Clubman 1275 LS was the last mini version to be introduced and produced in Australia. The model was intended to have a longer production run as a high spec model in the Australian line up. However, with BMC ending manufacturing in Australia, the 1275 LS ended up being a run-out model, with estimates of 800 – 1000 cars produced overall.
The 1275 LS was produced in two colours, Nugget Gold and Hi-Ho Silver, both versions having side stripes with “1275 LS” printed to distinguish them from other models in the Leyland Mini line up. As the top model in the mini range, the 1275 LS was fitted with a 1275cc engine (sourced from and built in Europe), larger 12” wheels to house bigger front disc brakes, a long range fuel tank, and several other more “luxury” features available from the Mini parts bin of that era.
Interior features included a single speaker radio, triple pod instruments, adjustable seats and Formula GT steering wheel. Silver cars were generally fitted with Red corduroy style velour cloth seats, with black vinyl seat backings, door trims and roof lining. Gold cars were fitted with the same style fabric (but chocolate brown in colour), backed by cream vinyl, door trims and roof lining.
Without reference to the features of the car as briefly outlined above, a genuine 1275 LS can only be determined by its engine and chassis number. It is worth noting that the chassis plate of a 1275 LS will not specify “LS” like was done with other pre-1978 mini’s in Australia. The correct chassis first half prefix for a 1275 LS is XNFAD18Y/. The correct engine number can come in two forms. The most common form of the first half of the engine number prefix is 12H902. The other is 12H897.
It is unknown how many 1275 LS’s are still on the road, however, we have managed to collect the details of a decent number of cars on www.classicregister.com. If you have any information about any of the cars we have on this register, or would like to have your 1275 LS put on the register, please get in contact with us.
Here's our guide oin how to identify a 1978 Leyland mini 1275LS:
http://classicregister.com/content/how-identify-1978-leyland-mini-1275-ls