The Leyland P76 is a large

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

that was produced by

Leyland Australia British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and ...

, the Australian subsidiary of

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...

. Featuring what was described at the time as the "standard Australian wheelbase of 111 inches", it was intended to provide the company with a genuine rival to large local models like the

Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * For ...

, the Holden Kingswood, and the

Chrysler Valiant Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

. But, due to the first real fuel crisis and demand far exceeding the supply, Leyland rushed the assembly process with the first of the P76s to come off the assembly line, resulting in poor build quality and some reliability problems. The combination of the rushed assembly, fuel crisis and strikes at the component manufacturers' factories, resulted in the Leyland P76 being labelled a lemon, despite receiving the Wheels magazine Car of the Year in 1973. By 1974, sales of the P76 had slumped and BMC decided to end the production of the P76. Although the P76 has been labelled a lemon in Australian motoring history, it is viewed by some as an iconic Australian car and has a loyal following. Elton John briefly owned one and called it ‘Austin’ after his great grandfather Sir Austin Minivan. In 1969, Leyland Australia was given the go-ahead to build a large car for Australia. At the time of the car's launch, it was reported that Leyland Australia had an accumulated deficit equivalent to £8.6 million, and had borrowed the same amount again in order to fund the development of the P76. The P76 was designed and built from scratch with a fund of only A$20m. This was also a decade of serious financial and operational challenges for the parent company back in Britain. Commercial success for this car was therefore seen as crucial to the survival of Leyland in Australia. Launched in 1973, the P76 was nicknamed "the wedge", on account of its shape, with a large boot, able to easily hold a 44 gallon drum. Although station wagon and "Force 7"

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

versions were designed, these never went into mass production.

Naming the P76

The name of the P76 derived from the car's codename while in development (Project 76). The official line was that the P76 was an original Australian designed and built Large Family Car, with no overseas counterpart and that P76 stood for "Project 1976". The

Rover SD1 The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produ ...

(released in 1976) shared several engineering features with the P76 – including

MacPherson strut The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles, and is named for American automotive engineer Earl ...

front

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...

, the

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

and a live rear axle. The P76 itself was, however, out of production by 1976. An alternative theory is that P76 were simply the first three digits of Lord Stokes' National Service number (Donald Stokes was Chairman of British Leyland at the time).

Automotive forebears

Before the P76, Leyland Australia and its corporate predecessor BMC (Australia) had not successfully fielded a direct competitor in the large-car sector which then dominated the Australian car market. Previous attempts had been mounted with the 1958 Morris Marshal (a rebadged Austin A95); the 1962

Austin Freeway The Austin Freeway is an automobile which was developed by BMC Australia, based on the British Austin A60 Cambridge. Introduced in 1962, it was marketed under the Austin name in both four-door sedan and five-door station wagon body styles. ...

and

Wolseley 24/80 The Wolseley 24/80 is an automobile produced by British Motor Corporation (Australia) from May 1962 to October 1965,Austin A60 with

Riley 4/72 Riley may refer to: Names * Riley (given name) * Riley (surname) Places * Riley Park–Little Mountain, a neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * Riley Creek (Ontario), a tributary of the Black River in Central Ontario, Canada * R ...

tail lights, a unique full-width grille and a 2.4-litre 6-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infi ...

version of the 1622 cc B-series engine; the Wolseley was a 6-cylinder version of the

Wolseley 16/60 Wolseley may refer to: People *Sir Charles Wolseley, 2nd Baronet (c. 1630–1714), English politician *Sir Charles Wolseley, 7th Baronet (1769–1846), English landowner and political agitator *Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley (1 ...

); and the 1971 Austin "X6"

Tasman Tasman most often refers to Abel Tasman (1603–1659), Dutch explorer. Tasman may also refer to: Animals and plants * Tasman booby * Tasman flax-lily * Tasman parakeet (disambiguation) * Tasman starling * Tasman whale People * Tasman (name), ...

and Kimberley (facelifted

Austin 1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16), ...

with the 6-cylinder 2.2-litre E-series engine). Each of these cars was a compromise and the motoring public overwhelmingly preferred the locally established Holden and

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

products. Nonetheless, the Freeway, 24/80 and the X6 each developed a loyal niche following.

Design and engineering

The shape was penned by

Giovanni Michelotti Giovanni Michelotti (6 October 1921 – 23 January 1980) was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with t ...

. The entry-level P76 featured an enlarged 2663cc 121 bhp (83 kW) version of the 6-cylinder engine from the smaller

Austin Kimberley The Austin Kimberley and Austin Tasman (sold by Morris in New Zealand alongside the Austin models) "X6" models are a pair of Leyland Australia-designed front-wheel-drive sedans based on the Austin 1800 (ADO17) platform, that were produced fr ...

and Austin Tasman. The top-of-the-line 192 bhp (143 kW) aluminium 4416 cc V8 unit was unique to the P76, and was a derivative of the ex-

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

V8 that was powering the Rover 3500 and Range Rover. Leyland Australia cited a weight advantage approaching for the P76, most of which was attributed to the lighter weight of the aluminium engine block when compared to the cast-iron blocks (with bigger displacements) of the V8s from Chrysler, Holden and Ford. It was hoped that the weight advantage would feed through into superior fuel economy and extended tyre life. Nevertheless, the car was a full-size car in Australian terms, for which class leading boot/trunk capacity was claimed. Leyland P76 with 44 gallon drum

Safety equipment preceded the forthcoming Australian Design Rules, and featured front discs as standard on all models, recessed door handles and full-length side-intrusion reinforcements on all doors. Transmissions for the car were all bought in from

Borg-Warner BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 emplo ...

Australia who were already also supplying transmissions to Ford and Chrysler. Notwithstanding the advertising slogan ("Anything but average") the P76's engineering followed conventional lines. It did offer a combination of features which were advanced in this category in Australia at the time: rack-and-pinion steering, power-assisted disc brakes, MacPherson-strut front suspension, front-hinged bonnet, glued-in windscreen and concealed windscreen wipers, as well as the familiar Australian-made Borg Warner gearboxes (including 3-speed column shift) and a live rear axle. Particular attention was paid to structural rigidity, a British Leyland engineering strength. This goal was aided by a conscious effort to reduce the number of panels needed to build the car's body—a remarkably low 215, reportedly only five more than for a

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

. At the time P76 production ceased, Leyland was developing a V6 version to replace the E6 variant. The V6 was derived from the 4.4-litre P76 V8, with the two rear cylinders chopped off.

Performance in the marketplace

Despite the V8 model winning ''

Wheels A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

'' magazine's

Car of the Year Car of the Year (COTY) is a common abbreviation for numerous automotive awards. The "Car of the Year" phrase is considered to have been introduced by ''Motor Trend'' magazine in 1949 when the new publication named Cadillac as Motor Trend Car of the ...

for 1973, sales of the P76 were adversely affected by a variety of issues. The controversial new Labor government was fuelling rapid inflation; industrial action was affecting component manufacturers and production at Leyland Australia's plant in Zetland. Also, the release of the P76 coincided with the 1973 oil crisis, when fuel prices increased dramatically. As a result, demand for all larger cars subsided. Hence, notwithstanding generally favourable press and public reaction to the car, sales did not reach expectations.

announced plans to sell P76 in the UK. However, production ceased before these plans could come to fruition. Leyland_P76_Targa_Florio_(15892920337)

The car achieved success in the 1974 World Cup Rally- winning the Targa Florio section and placing 13th overall. Leyland Australia celebrated this victory by releasing a limited edition

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 195 ...

model: the V8 Super with Limited slip Diff, sports wheels and steering wheel, as well as special paintwork, including side stripes. Gerry Crown and Matt Bryson won the Classic Category of the

2013 Peking to Paris Endurance Rally Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

in their Leyland P76 with a time of 237:30:10 Gerry Crown and Matt Bryson also finished Second on the 2015 Road to Mandalay classic car rally, winning the Malaysian Cup for being the fastest car.

Unreleased P76 derivatives

1974 Leyland Force 7V coupe (6108225099)

1974 Leyland Force 7V coupe (6108212625)

1974_Leyland_P76_Super_station_wagon_prototype_(9603547518)

Although development had started much earlier – the Force 7 coupé was announced in 1974 but eventually only 10 pre-production coupés survived. By the time of the factory closure in 1974, one Force 7 was already in England for secret testing, Leyland Australia kept one example and finally donated that coupé to an Australian museum with some other components of the P76 production line and the remaining eight coupés were offered for sale to private buyers in an auction after the factory had closed. The handbooks had even been printed and were offered for mail order sale by the auctioneers. There was to have been a base six-cylinder Force 7, a more powerful Force 7V with the V8 unit, and a range-topping Tour de Force. All the surviving cars are the "mid" range Force 7V. It was unusual in that it had full seating for five adults and a large rear hatchback, the first of its kind produced in Australia. It shared few body panels with the sedan. At the time of launch, the company announced the intention of introducing a station wagon/estate version later that same year, and at least three, prototype station wagons (estate cars), which shared much of the sedan's structure and body panels but with more upright rear door frames, were built: one was broken up by Leyland Australia for examination of the body strength, one was crash tested by Ford Australia for Leyland to gain part of the registration certification and the last and only surviving example was eventually used as a factory hack until it was sold at the same auction as the Force 7s as part of a pair of cars which included the last car made. The wagon and the "last" car remain in private collections and the wagon is currently undergoing basic restoration. All of the coupés sold at auction did not have registration compliance plates fitted to them as final registration testing and approval had not been completed on either station wagon or coupe bodies. Currently – in 2018 all 10 coupés and the single wagon survive.

New Zealand and the end of the line

The Leyland plant at Zetland closed in October 1974, and production of the P76 ceased, although CKD (completely-knocked-down) assembly continued in

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in P ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, in exchange for NZ-assembled

Rover P6 The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK. The P6 was the first winn ...

s that were shipped to Australia. In New Zealand, the P76 was successfully sold in V8 form only in Deluxe, Super and Executive forms, until August 1976. Other P76s were imported into NZ as complete cars. NZ-built P76s can be identified by a 'Z' stamped onto the chassis plate immediately after the 076 model designation – i.e. 076Z. After production ended, surplus V8s were sold off by local distributor

New Zealand Motor Corporation The New Zealand Motor Corporation was the New Zealand representative, importer, distributor and retailer of a number of the best-known British automobiles. It carried out the same functions for a wide range of manufacturers of industrial machi ...

, and were popular as boat engines. Leyland Australia produced 56 or more Force 7 coupés, the majority of which were crushed at the factory to enhance the value of the eight that Leyland auctioned in 1975. All of them still exist, and are regularly driven by their private owners. Another car, an Omega Navy one with white trim, was sent to Britain and used by Lord Stokes for some time. It was later sold to a private collector, who later sold the car to a collector in New Zealand, which is where it resides now. Another one is at the

National Motor Museum, Birdwood The National Motor Museum, formerly also known as The Old Mill and Birdwood Mill after its initial location, is an automobile museum in the Adelaide Hills in the township of Birdwood, South Australia. History The museum was started by Jack ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, on permanent loan from Leyland Australia. A smaller, medium-sized car was also planned, called the "P82". Styling for that car became a competition between Michelotti and Leyland Australia's own design department. In 1982, claims were made in some motoring media that Leyland in Britain had decided on Michelotti's version, but the ex-head of Leyland Australia's design department was unaware of any such decision. The car was intended to replace the

Morris Marina The Morris Marina is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Morris product line, which ...

in Australia, but only one prototype and some styling mock-ups were ever produced. At least two experimental V6 engines were made, one being based on a cut-down Rover V8 of about 2.6 L capacity, and another based on the actual P76 V8 motor at about 3.3 L. Conceived as a high volume/profit car, the P82 was supposed to have many body styles over the same basic structure, and was to be offered in 4, V6 and V8 forms, dependent on body style. After the Australian plant closed, the prototype car was reported to have been sent to Rover in Britain for examination before being destroyed. Just before the plant closure in 1974, and its subsequent takeover by the Australian military, Leyland Australia's styling department were still working on the P82 styling, and one single 1/5 scale clay model of the P82 survives, in the sedan "short front and rear" variant.

P76 today

The P76 continues to have a loyal following of owners who have great enthusiasm for the car. There are at least seven P76 owners clubs in Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand P76 Owners' Club was founded in 1983. After production of the P76 ceased, Leyland Australia limited its local production to the

and

Mini Moke The Mini Moke (styled "MOKE") is a small, front-wheel-drive utility and recreational convertible, conceived and manufactured as a lightweight military vehicle by British Motor Corporation (BMC), and subsequently marketed for civilian use unde ...

, both produced at Enfield, along with commercial vehicles and buses.

Total P76 production numbers

*Model, Version, (Model Code), Production *Deluxe, Column Auto 6, (2C26) – 2118 *Deluxe, Column Manual 6, (2N26) – 2342 *Deluxe, 4 Speed Manual 6, (2M26) – 516 *Deluxe, Column Auto V8, (2C44) – 1532 *Deluxe, Column Manual V8, (2N44) – 1281 *Deluxe, 4 Speed Manual V8, (2M44) – 380 **Deluxe Total – 8169 *Super, Column Auto 6, (3C26) – 1132 *Super, T-Bar Auto 6, (3A26) – 380 *Super, 4 Speed Manual 6, (3M26) – 719 *Super, Column Auto V8, (3C44) – 1928 *Super, T-Bar Auto V8, (3A44) – 2256 (including 488 Targa Florio model) *Super, 4 Speed Manual V8, (3M44) – 1047 **Super Total – 7462 *Executive, T-Bar Auto V8, (4A44) – 2376 **Executive Total – 2376 Production Figures provided by James Mentiplay and the Leyland P76 Owners Club of WA.

References

Notes

Bibliography

Books

* * * *

Articles

External links

National Web site for P76 OwnersStuart Brown's P76 Website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060427081920/http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?p7682p82f.htm Leyland P82 history on Austin-Rover.co.uk {{British Motor Holdings and British Leyland cars, 1966-1986 P76 British Leyland vehicles Cars of Australia Cars introduced in 1973 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Police vehicles Hatchbacks Sedans Station wagons