Original 1275GT Rebuild

[Jared Mk3]

I'll post the progress from a UK thread I started :

Seeing as I have my own project on the forum, I thought it would be nice to add my dad's one. His car is a South African built 1275GT that was found in 2011 or so after having sat in a barn/garage for 15 years prior to our acquirement. It is one of 935 GT cars that were made here in South Africa. It's a really special car though in that it wears a different paint scheme when compared to any of the other cars made here. These cars were only available in BRG, Killarney blue and Aloe red. The one we found was Protea white in colour. Having looked all over the car, we've come to the conclusion that it hasn't been resprayed - an interesting find was the PW lettering on the rear seat back inside the car. The car has an ox blood colour basket weave interior. Whether this colour was available on these cars or not, I wouldn't know. 
 
Probably the luckiest find with this car was the engine, which turned out to be a 1275 Cooper S item, along with its crank. We have yet to inspect the rods and pistons (the block was split from the 'box, but head still attached). The head is a 12G940 item, so not 'S', but it has had some work done to it in the past. The 'box appears to be a GT item, except for the addition of Hardy Spicer joints.
 
I could go on with mundane info, so we'll get straight to pictures :
 
The car as found :
 

 

 

 
And back home with us :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
She shall be treated to a full rebuild, whilst saving some of the important and original bits, like the interior. We're going to try and do as much as we can on our own. This way we save money and also get it done exactly how we want it.
 
The updates on this one will be few and far between for the time being, but progress shall commence soon.

---

And, after a slow process of stripping the engine bay :
 

 
The nuts and bolts are still a little rusty, so penetrating fluid is being used all over. Hoping to have the front area fully stripped soon.

---

Slow going at the moment still, these pesky nuts and bolts and screws aren't budging. I did manage to get the dash area out today, just to get both pads out now. Oh boy, I can't wait for that . . .
 
The interior looks like this :
 

 
I found some interesting things while going through the car, most notably the insurance disc from 1982 :
 

 
And, a Suzuki key, a small file, two can tab pulls and two keys for a lock of some kind :
 

 
These were all hiding behind the dash pieces, with the tab pulls being stuck in the hesian lining of the firewall.
 
This is the carpeting in the car - whether it's correct or not, I don't know yet :
 

 
And lastly, all parts are being bagged and labelled :
 

---

I had a little bit of a look at the car tonight and decided to take the door card off, simply because I can. Well, I was blown away. No water damage, all clips still attached, even the dust shield tape is still there.
 

 

 

---

Probably the worst bit of bodywork, apart from the front valence :
 

 
Also, I'm amazed at how good the interior trim still is. These dash pieces are mint :
 

---

Stripped some more bits off the car. She came with no keys and the petrol cap is locked. How we're going to sort this, I don't know yet. Consequently, I only managed to get the RHS tail light unit out. I just want to get to the business of fixing parts and putting back on. Hate this thing of dirt all over while trying to take the car apart.
 

 

 
Someone has painted the boot area black, along with cutting small holes in the parcel shelf for speakers.
 

 

 
Original or not, I don't know :
 

 

 
Also, pulled this from the boot when I opened it up. One of a few bits to come out :
 

---

The engine bay now looks like this :
 

 
It was a real mission to get the the pedal box and master cylinders out. The clevis pins were in pretty tight. Front loom is also out now.
 
The passenger door is even better than the other one, with all dust shields still present :
 

---

More pictures of the car being stripped.
 
Wheel arch cover with padding :
 

 
Sponge behind the card of the rear companion bin :
 

 
Everything removed :
 

 
Inside the bin, with a sticker at the bottom that I can't quite make out :
 

 
Front area almost all stripped :
 

 
Date on the lower dash pad - 23 July 1972 :
 

 
Almost all stripped inside now :
 

 
Very faint P/W on the seat back - it stands for Protea White :
 

---

Seeing as it's a public holiday today, I did a little more on the car this morning. 
 
The fuel tank is now out :
 

 
I'm still finding interesting little details on this car as I go along. Here's another one, a sticker with part number and other info on the lower tank strap :
 

 
Also, some masking tape behind the C-pillar cover to hold the wiring loom in place :
 

 
The rear windscreen and quarter windows are now out as well. The back is fully stripped, apart from the bootlid :
 

[Miniac]

Now this is the build thread that I've been waiting to see.

[Jared Mk3]

Head light bowls now out, along with the top dash pad :
 

 
Found another date, this time on the aforementioned top dash pad :
 

 
Top pad is a '71 and the bottom a '72. Quite interesting. 

---

Gave the car a wash inside and out today - got rid of a lot of dirt!
 

 

 

 
Engine bay looks a lot better now :
 

 
Still had the sealant around all the floor grommets etc. :
 

 
Lastly, it seems there were thin lines of black paint around the window frame at the front and by the heater lip outlets :
 

---

Now this is the build thread that I've been waiting to see.

This is pretty much where I'm up to now. Need some caster wheels for a pallet so we can take the subrames off. 

[Dion]

Was the mk1 style boot lid standard fitment on the GT?

[Jared Mk3]

Was the mk1 style boot lid standard fitment on the GT?

I think at that stage, they were trying to get rid of the extra panels they had. I've seen some other early '70s cars with the Mk1 style bootlid as well - fitted to original cars.

[Miniac]

I've seen a 71 clubby fitted with hydrolastic suspension, those were mostly parts bin cars in that email.

[Jared Mk3]

I've seen a 71 clubby fitted with hydrolastic suspension, those were mostly parts bin cars in that email.

I know the early GT cars had hydro - how many exactly, I don't know.

[Vinay-RS]

Good job getting this build thread up on the forum. This is one special car and we're all keen to see the progress.

[Jared Mk3]

Good job getting this build thread up on the forum. This is one special car and we're all keen to see the progress.

I think a few guys have been waiting to see this one since I first showed pictures back in 2011 or so.

[Jared Mk3]

Wow - this has slipped down to page 2. My bad!

I removed the bootlid and doors today :







Getting there slowly.