I think if I sat down and worked it out I could find thirty in a day.
The one at Birdwood is the last one built, even though there are some that were registered later than end of 1978, and some that have compliance plates dated later than 10/78. Reason for this is the compliance plates were fitted when the car was sold to a dealership and the 1275 LS was available from some dealerships into early 1979 (latest I've heard of was March 1979. Latest I've seen was December 1978.)
The car in Birdwood was registered and driven a very little bit - Gary Norwood recalls driving it from one Leyland facility to the spare parts division, and has paper work to prove it. The speedo reads a little over 100km, but Gary thinks that either the speedo was disconnected at some point, or even reset, to give lower milage than is actual - but that is only a theory.
When production of the Mini ceased it was put on display in Birkinhead Point Motor Museum in Sydney, but was only on loan from Leyland. Don't forget, Leyland was still making Mokes up until November 1981. Somewhere around the same time, the car was given to the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, where it remains today.
As far as I am aware, it has never been resprayed or restored and is completely original. When I photographed the car, under the bonnet was filthy, due to more than 20 years of dust build-up, but outside and interior were pristine - still had the Leyland paper footwell protectors in there.
This is the basic story, and we will have a full feature on this car, and the 1275 LS in general, in a later issue of The Mini Experience - stay tuned.
Cheers,
Watto.
, suffice to say it's in the same family since new , very much valued in a private collection and still registerred with it's original plates .
