Leyland P76

Leyland P76
Leyland P76 Executive
Overview
Manufacturer	Leyland Australia
Production	1973–1975 18,007 produced
Assembly	Zetland, New South Wales, Australia Petone, New Zealand (CKD only until 1976)
Designer	Giovanni Michelotti
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size car
Body style	4-door saloon 3-door coupe (Force 7V - 60 built 8 auctioned, 2 kept by Leyland, 50 rest destroyed) 5-door station wagon (Two or Three built)
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	2.6 L E-Series I6 (Australia only) 4.4 L Rover V8
Dimensions
Wheelbase	111.25 in (2,826 mm)
Length	192 in (4,900 mm)
Width	75.2 in (1,910 mm)
Height	54.11 in (1,374 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	Austin Kimberley/Tasman

The Leyland P76 is a large car that was produced by Leyland Australia, the Australian subsidiary of British Leyland. 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, the Holden Kingswood, and the Chrysler Valiant. 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 issues. 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 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 has become an iconic Aussie car and has a loyal following.

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 versions were designed, these never went into mass production.

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".