Description

1988 GTM Rossa MkI

Mini based kitcar with mid-mounted Mini engine; huge history file; ideal for track/sprint/hill climb or fast road use

Hampered by a succession of confused identities following the initial success of Cox GTM in the late ‘70s, the name was bought and sold until the brand eventually morphed into part of Westfield cars in 2007 under Westfield’s parent firm’s umbrella “Potenza Sports Cars”. The brand was discontinued in late 2010 with a promise of further development down the line by Westfield.

The Rossa was an evolution of the original 1969 Cox GTM Coupe, which then became the GTM Coupe in 1982 morphing into the Rossa in 1989 and then the Libra in the mid ‘90s.

This Rossa looks like it has been used for some fast road fun or competition (which many were) given their lightweight structure and mid-engine layout.  On a ‘Q’-plate, the car was registered in 1988, the V5C stating “made up of parts, some or all of which were not new” – pretty normal for a kit car.

The engine is recorded as 1,275cc on the V5C but the vendor tells us its actually bigger than that, c.1380cc with a note on file suggesting it’s a ROSA Engine with no. 10H791AA38155 tuned by Veloqx Motorsport (sticker on the nose cone), although the engine looks relatively stock from what we can see under the engine hatch and there are no bills to support any tuning or different size.

The history file includes the V5C revealing eight former keepers to the current, one old MOT the last MOT which expired in May-22 recording two advisories for front and rear wheel bearing play at 10,497 miles. We also find some build instructions and diagrams along with various bills from the 1980s for Mini related parts and purchase receipt for what we assume to be the donor Mini registered LOP479P in August 1987 for £125 along with a bill from GTM for the supply of the Rossa kit in magnolia with grey interior for a total of £3,175 also in August 1987.

The file of bills relating to its build and upkeep through the 80s is considerable and also includes several receipts for the sale of the car over the years plus a few more recent sundry bills from 2018.

Starting promptly with a bit of manual choke the car appeared to run well moving about with ease for these images.  The body/paint work has seen better days but being fibre-glass its readily repairable and re-paintable and as a potential competition car for hill climb/sprint etc that’s perhaps less of a concern.

Lots of fun with lots of potential tuning available for the well proven Mini engine mounted in the middle, or throw that away and stick a revvy K-series lump in there….it would certainly go well then!

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