In the golden age of British sports cars, when Lotus, TVR, and Marcos were experimenting with lightweight engineering, a tiny company set out to make a mark with a car unlike anything else on the road. That car was the Unipower GT, a rare and ingenious mid-engine coupé that encapsulated the adventurous spirit of the 1960s. Built in very limited numbers between 1966 and 1969, the Unipower GT remains one of the most fascinating “what if” stories in automotive history.
The project was the brainchild of Ernie Unger, a former Lotus engineer, who envisioned a compact and affordable sports car with the balance and handling of a racing prototype. Styled by Ron Bradshaw, best known for his work on the Ford GT40, and financed by Universal Power Drives Ltd., the Unipower GT debuted at the 1966 Racing Car Show in London to considerable acclaim. Its recipe was simple but brilliant: a lightweight steel-tube spaceframe, a fiberglass body shaped for aerodynamics, and proven BMC Mini mechanicals cleverly re-engineered into a mid-rear layout.
Buyers could choose between the 998 cc Mini Cooper engine or the more potent 1,275 cc Cooper S power unit. With the latter, the Unipower GT produced up to 75 horsepower—modest on paper, but thrilling when pushing a car that weighed little more than 500 kilograms. The result was a top speed approaching 113 mph and handling that rivaled much larger and more expensive sports cars of the day. Even more impressive was its packaging: at just over 3.5 meters long and under a meter tall, it looked like a miniature exotic, yet it was road-legal and practical enough for everyday use.
Despite glowing reviews and a loyal following among enthusiasts, the Unipower GT never achieved commercial success. Production was painstakingly hand-built, which made costs high, and only around 75 cars were completed before the venture ran out of steam in 1969. A brief continuation under U.W.F. Automotive Engineering added minor refinements but failed to revive sales, and by 1970 the story had come to a close. Today, surviving examples are treasured by collectors as both historical curiosities and genuinely enjoyable driver’s cars.
What makes the Unipower GT so captivating is not only its rarity but its place in the broader narrative of 1960s British engineering. It showed how small teams of visionaries could take existing mechanicals and transform them into something fresh, elegant, and forward-thinking. The GT was, in many ways, a people’s exotic—a car that carried the spirit of Le Mans prototypes into a form that ordinary enthusiasts could aspire to own.
If you’d like to experience the Unipower GT as it was originally presented to the public, we’ve prepared a high-quality digital version of the original factory brochure. It captures the ambition, artistry, and optimism behind this unique car. You can browse it here ↗️