Leyland P76

The Leyland P76 was a car of the upper middle class, the Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd. , A subsidiary of the British parent company, from 1973 to 1976 produced. The car was a serious alternative to the big Australian cars, like the Ford Falcon, the Holden Kingswood and the Chrysler Valiant thought.

History and development

Before the P76 had Leyland Australia and BMC Australia not directly comparable offer in this market segment, the most important of the Australian market, in the program. The P76 should change this.

Before BMC and Leyland had tried a whole range of vehicles to this market: The Marshal Morris 1958 was a renamed Austin A95. The Austin Freeway of 1962 was renamed Austin A60 with the taillights of the Riley 4/72, a grille over the entire vehicle width and a 2.4 -liter version of the 1.6 liter R6 -R4 - BMC B-series engine. The Wolseley 24/80, also from 1962, was a six-cylinder version of the Wolseley 16/60 and the Austin Kimberley 1971, a revised Austin in 1800 with 2.2 liter R6- BMC engine of the E series.

Customers and trade press ignored these vehicles, however, equally and did not see it as a serious competitor to the local suppliers. Nevertheless, the Freeway, the 24 /80 and the X6 a small but loyal following developed.

In 1973 came the P76 and got due to its shape the nickname "The Wedge " (Eng.: The wedge ). He had a large trunk, which could easily accommodate a 200 liter drum. Although a station wagon and a " Force 7 " coupe were planned, these vehicles did not go to series.

The name P76

The name is derived from the P76 BLMC code name of the vehicle during development. Using this name, and the idea for this vehicle, there are many speculations. One of these rumors says, would have been the number of the army unit of the British Leyland Director Donald Stokes. Others tell that the P76 went back to a Rover design and the "P" should show that origin. Rover vehicles were called P4, P5, P6 and P8 (the P8 was never produced in series).

The official version was that the P76 was an entirely Australian design, with no counterpart in other continents. The Rover SD1, which came out in 1976, contained many design details of the P76 - including front suspension with MacPherson struts, aluminum V8 engine and the driven rear axle beam.

Design and construction

The shape was designed by Giovanni Michelotti. The easiest P76 had the straight six -cylinder engine of the smaller Austin Kimberley / Tasman Austin with 2623 cc, overhead cam, which developed 90 kW (122 hp). The V8 engine of the top model, an aluminum engine with 4416 cc displacement and 149 kW ( 203 hp), was used only in the P76 and derived from an old Buick engine, which was also found in the Rover 3500. The safety equipment took the planned " Australian Design Rules" (ADR ) anticipate and consisted among others from embedded in the doors Door handles and reinforced side-impact protection on all doors.

Despite the slogan " Anything but Average" ( Eng.: Anything but average ) followed by the construction of the P76 usual conventions.

Some construction details that were new in Australia at that time, the P76 bot: rack and pinion steering, MacPherson strut front, front -hinged hood and concealed windshield wipers; and equally well-known institutions, as made in Australia Borg - Warner transmission ( 3 -speed column shifter ) or driven, rear live axle.

Special attention has been paid to structural rigidity, strength of the British Leyland constructions. This goal has been supported by efforts to reduce the number of metal sheets used to a minimum; it were, remarkably, only 215 pieces.

Market success

Although the V8 model was chosen by the magazine Wheels 1973 "Car of the Year", the sales of the P76 of some problems were negatively impacted: production problems in the work of Leyland Australia in Zetland (New South Wales) limited the number of cars produced; some teething problems, such as overheated, causing injury to reputation; the introduction of the vehicle coincided with the first oil crisis, so that the fuel prices increased dramatically. For this reason, the demand was for large cars after strong.

Thus, despite good press and positive customer response echoes the sales figures did not reach the expectations.

British Leyland announced their intention to sell the P76 in the UK. However, the production was set before this plan came to execution.

The car was successful in the World Rally Championship in 1974, when he won the Targa Florio. Leyland Australia celebrated this victory with a special model Targa Florio, a V8 Super with sports wheels, sport steering wheel and special paint with side panels.

P76 models, which did not go into series production

Next model after the sedan the coupe Force 7 should go in the fall of 1974 in production. It had a fastback body with a large tailgate. With the sedan, it had few parts in common. 56 copies were made when the decision was taken not to put the coupe on the market. Only 10 copies have survived, the others were destroyed at the direction of the new boss of Leyland Australia.

For 1975, the introduction of a station wagon was provided. At least one cluster prototype which had many common chassis and body panels with the sedan, but steeper rear door frame had been also built.

The end of the series

The Leyland plant in Zetland closed its doors in October 1974 and production of the P76 was discontinued. Only in New Zealand, the V8 models have been successfully produced and sold until 1976.

Leyland Australia sold eight Force 7 Coupe prototype into an auction. Two other Force 7V passed through the hands of a collector in the UK (one of them could have been sent to New Zealand ) and one is at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood Mill ( South Australia).

A smaller sister model, the P82 was designed by Michelotti and should replace the Morris Marina in Australia, but was never produced in series.

The P76 today

The P76 still has a small but loyal, local fan base with great enthusiasm for this car.

After production of the P76 Leyland Australia produced only mini in Enfield, commercial vehicles and buses.

Production figures for the P76

Totals: Deluxe: 8169; Super: 7462; Executive: 2,376; Total: 18,007; * = With Targa Florio model

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