Unipower GT hill climber nears completion

The restoration of the Unipower GT jointly owned by Howard Darby and Bob Neville ('LTM 80G' - this one) is nearing completion and Howard was kind enough to contact me about it. He told me that he and Bob first met when they were apprentices at BMC, with Bob eventually moving to MG at Abingdon and finally ending up working in the BMC Competition Department. What's more: Bob also looked after the Unipower of BMC's works driver Alec Poole, who famously owned one, with Bob being allowed to use it as daily transport whilst Alec was away for several months. That's a sweet memory!

Since Howard and Bob purchased the car in February 2020 it underwent a complete strip down and where necessary chassis members were repaired or replaced. The bodywork went to a fibreglass specialist who had to make moulds for the rear face of the rear shroud as well as one for the roof to sort out an earlier poor repair. Back from the fiberglass specialist the car went to Normandales of Daventry for a respray. The colour they chose is a Porsche Carrera Yellow and does look good on the car.

The rebuilt began next and the engine is a genuine 1275 'S' bored out to 1293cc and tuned to full race specification with Omega pistons, Swiftune camshaft, fully gas flowed cylinder head and a 45 Weber carburetor. It comes with the right gearbox (333 casting), which now has close ratio straight cut gears. The drop gears are also straight cut as is the final drive, which has a limited slip. The exhaust system had to be hand made and proved quite challenging as there is an extra horizontal chassis member which the pipes had to go round, or so Howard told me.

The GT will now have its shakedown soon since it has been entered at the Prescott Hill Climb on May 14th. Remarkably, the very same car was entered at the same event on April 14th 1991 and this was its very last time it turned a wheel under its own power before a very long winter sleep of 31 years! 

More to follow.

Ready for shakedown! Rebuilt Unipower GT racer will be road legal, too

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

The car, 'LTM 80G', had languished for three decades and needed serious work

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

Chassis is partly hidden into the bodywork, making restoration not easier

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

The car's bodywork was fully repaired at a fibreglass specialist

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

New moulds were made for rear face and roof, which had been cut out / repaired poorly

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

Resplendent in Porsche Carrera Yellow at Normandales of Daventry

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

A plus B plus C... Exhaust system proved quite challenging to be made...

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

...going around a horizontal chassis member

Picture courtesy Howard Darby

And like the exhaust system, the suspension is a piece of art, too

Picture courtesy Howard Darby

The fully rebuilt 1293cc 'S' engine comes with a 45 Weber carburetor

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

There you go: from tired old car to fully restored racer again, ready to go

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

The restored car will now debut at Prescott Hill on May 14th 2022

Picture courtesy Howard Darby 

Howard (left) and Bob with Bob's E-type at last year's Goodwood Revival

Picture courtesy Howard Darby

Bonus picture: the Unipower GT at Goodwood when owned by Peter and Wendy Nash

Picture courtesy Howard Darby