The Unipower GT is a British specialist sports car that debuted at the January 1966 Racing Car Show. It uses the powertrain from the BMC Mini mounted amidships. Production lasted until the end of 1969. History Early development Ernie Unger worked at Lotus in 1954 and 1955 as a mechanic and racing car preparer, then entered the student-apprenticeship program with the Rootes Group, eventually becoming a development engineer on the Hillman Imp. His racing involvement included a stint as team manager for Elva. Inspired by the sophisticated engineering and body development of the Italian Abarths, Unger produced sketches for a car meant to combine these qualities with the excellent vehicle dynamics of the best contemporary British sportscars. During the car's gestation, Unger moved from Rootes to Ford, where he was involved in development of the Ford Cortina. At Goodwood in 1963 Unger and Valerian Dare-Bryan talked about their shared views on car design. Dare-Bryan was a free-lance automotive designer who had previously worked at Lotus alongside Colin Chapman, and with aerodynamicist Frank Costin. In 1964 and 1965 Dare-Bryan designed the Attila series of racing sports cars for Racing Developments of North London. By the late 1960s he was running Roy Pierpoint's Ford Falcon team. Dare-Bryan partnered with Unger to handle mechanical development of Unger's concept. The shape of the car was drawn by a moonlighting member of Ford's design staff. Ron Bradshaw was working on the design of Ford's new GT40 when he was approached by Unger and Dare-Bryan about their project, and agreed to draw the new car as well. Bradshaw's final drawings and a prototype chassis with a wire-frame skeleton built in Pierpoint's shop were delivered to coachbuilder Robert Peel and Company, Kingston upon Thames, who fabricated an aluminium body over the supplied structure using the drawings as a guide. The car was shown to Mini designer Alec Issigonis. The famous engineer was so impressed that he arranged for Unipower to obtain parts from BMC at a price far lower than the replacement retail they would have otherwise had to pay, which helped keep the price of the car low. UPD Tim Powell was the owner of Universal Power Drives Ltd (UPD) in Perivale, Middlesex. UPD built specialised multi-axle trucks that were sold under the Unipower brand. Powell was a racing enthusiast who later became involved in powerboat racing and was eventually made Commodore and President of United