About this 1275 LS
This 1275 LS recently turned up online, and was last located in Drouin West, Victoria at the time of sale in late 2014. If anyone knows where this LS ends up, please contact us and let us know, or just leave a comment.
Unfortunately, this car has been separated from its original engine. Original engines for the 1275 LS can be hard to come by these days, and generally the closest replacement for the 1275 used would have to come from overseas - where the original LS engines were built (in Sweden in fact).
Other than the missing engine, the car appears to be reasonably solid and rust free, other than a few typical spots. It still has its original seats, steering wheel and long range tank, along with the 12 inch wheels. A lot of accessories appear to have parted however, such as the dash instruments and radio.
If you know any more details about the car, please get in contact with me by clicking on my club name (Mini 1275 LS Club of Australia). It would be great to hear from anyone with further information, or anyone who would like me to add their car to the register.
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 is our guide on how to identify a genuine Leyland mini 1275LS:
http://classicregister.com/content/how-identify-1978-leyland-mini-1275-ls
Vehicles are added to the register for historical record purposes by owners and enthusiasts. If you have a question about this vehicle, please contact the user that added the vehicle by clicking "Contact Author" below.
Log in or signup to comment