Leyland P76 & Force 7
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In 1973, Leyland Australia announced that all former Austin and Morris cars would be replaced by a sweeping range of new Leyland badged cars.

The Morris Marina was treated to an Antipodean re-engineering effort, receiving the E4 and E6 engines and being relaunched as the Leyland Marina, but more ambitiously, BLMC wanted to compete with the locally produced Ford Falcon, Holden Kingswood and Chrysler Valiant.

Leyland P76

he P76 as styled by Michelotti, was offered with the E6 engine in 2622cc form or "Rover" V8 manual or automatic form - the V8 was available in 4416cc displacement, as opposed to the standard 3528cc used in Euopean and US Rovers. The larger engine one of the few elements of the aborted Rover P8 programme, scrapped in 1971. There were plans for a coupe version, the Force 7 (pictured below), to be offered alongside the planned-for station wagon and ubiquitous "ute". This range of cars never reached fruitition though, because Leyland pulled out of Australia in 1975 - before they made production.

The press were generally enthusiastic about the P76 and was crowned "Car of The Year" by the highly respected Wheels magazine in 1973. Being a European design, it was well equipped, with power assisted front disc brakes (still optional on it`s locally designed rivals) and the nicety of concealed windscreen wipers (like the forthcoming Princess). Demand rapidly exceeded supply at launch, but quality control problems and strikes at component suppliers (in the UK as well as Australia) reduced the number of cars sold. Does this story sound familiar?

The Leyland P76 was unfortunately very short lived (being taken out of production at the end of 1974), and this is because BLMC were forced to close the Leyland-Australia factory at Zetland, downsizing the operation significantly. This undertaking cost the company £15.7 million and was very much a last ditch attempt to keep the parent company afloat in the UK.

According to production records, 12,524 P76 sedans were produced at the Leyland plant in Sydney before it was closed.

Leyland Force 7

It is obvious from the above picture that the Force 7 shared no external panels with the P76 Sedan - and if you look round long enough, you will find that Matchbox models in the UK produced it as a toy!

he Force 7 is interesting in that had it entered full-scale production, it would have been Australia's first locally-designed hatchback. As it was, fifty cars were built before the plug was pulled. This run of now extinct models were ordered to the crusher - and in doing so they were driven from Zetland (The Leyland-Enfield plant in Sydney) to the Enfield Transport Terminal, where they were loaded onto trucks to take them to the Simsmetal scrap metal dealers. Of these, amazingly 10-14 cars (this figure is yet to be confirmed) were auctioned off on the understanding that they were "Uncompliant" (not to be registered for road useage), but most were subsequently registered anyway! One of these was shipped to the UK for evaluation, and was apparently used during the development of the SD1 (the Rover Sports Register reportedly accepts it as an SD1 prototype!). The car was later used by Lord Stokes as his personal transport, before being sold via auction to an enthusiast.

Words by Declan Berridge & Michael Hickey

Leyland P76 for the UK?

The P76 was thoroughtly evaluated for local (UK) consumption, but after consideration, the plan was dropped as the gap between the Rover SD1 and the Jaguar XJ6 3.4 was far too narrow to justify the expense of local homologation. P76s were spotted pounding the MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) test track at Nuneaton - and it is reported that they stood up to the pavé better than any other BLMC car before.

Click here to read a contemporary magazine article reporting the P76's UK evaluation

Article kindly supplied by Michael Hickey

Copyright © 2002 Keith Adams.