Leyland P76 - The End of The Line

The End of The Line

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 manufacturers back in Britain. Commercial success for this car was therefore seen as crucial to the survival of Leyland in Australia. The Leyland plant at Zetland closed in October 1974, and production of the P76 ceased, although assembly continued at the Austin plant in Petone, New Zealand, where it was sold successfully in V8 form, until 1976. Surplus stock spare V8s were sold off by distributor NZ Motor Corporation and were popular as a boat engine.

Leyland Australia produced some 56 or more Force 7 coupés, the majority of these were crushed at the factory to enhance the value of the 8 that were auctioned off in 1975. Leyland Australia auctioned off the last eight Force 7 coupé prototypes to the public, these all still exist and are owned and indeed regularly driven by their private owners. Another car, an Omega Navy one with white trim, was sent to England and was used by Lord Stokes for some time; this was later sold to a private collector, who in the last two years sold the car to a NZ collector which is where it resides now. One is at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood Mill in South Australia which is on permanent loan from Leyland Australia.

A smaller medium sized car, was also intended called the “P82”. Styling for this car became a competition between Michelotti and Leyland Australia’s own internal design department. In 1982 - claims were made in some motoring papers that Leyland England had decided on Michelotti’s version but at the time - the ex head of Leyland Australia’s design department was unaware of such a decision. This car was intended to replace the Morris Marina in Australia but only one prototype car and styling mockups were ever produced. At least two experimental V6 engines were made with one being based on a cut down Rover V8 at about 2.6L and another based on the actual P76 V8 motor at about 3.3L. Concepted as a high volume / profit car – the P82 was designed to have many body styles placed over the same basic structure and was intended to be offered in 4, V6 and V8 forms dependant on body style. After the Australian plant closed, the prototype car was reported to have been sent to Rover in England for examination before being destroyed. Just before the plant closure in 1974, Leyland Australia’s styling department were still working on the P82 styling and one single 1/5 scale clay model survives of the P82 in the sedan “short front and rear” variant.