Leyland P76

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Leyland
Leyland P76
Leyland P76
P76
( YDO26 / YDO27 / YDO28 )
Production period: 1973-1976
Class : upper middle class
Body versions : Limousine , station wagon coupé
Engines:
Petrol engines : 2.6-4.4 liters
(90-149 kW)
Length: 4880 mm
Width: 1910 mm
Height: 1410 mm
Wheelbase : 2820 mm
Empty weight : 1250 kg
Previous model Austin Kimberley , Austin Tasman

The Leyland P76 was a car of the upper middle class , which the Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd. , a subsidiary of the British parent company, from 1973 to 1976. The car was intended as a serious alternative to the large Australian cars such as the Ford Falcon , the Holden Kingswood and the Chrysler Valiant .

Prehistory and Development

Before the P76, Leyland Australia and BMC Australia had no directly comparable offer in this market segment, the most important of the Australian market. The P76 should change that.

Before that, BMC and Leyland had sought out a whole range of vehicles for this market: The 1958 Morris Marshal was a renamed Austin A95 . The 1962 Austin Freeway was a renamed Austin A60 with the rear lights of the Riley 4/72 , a full- width grille and a 2.4L R6 version of the 1.6L R4 B-series BMC engine. The Wolseley 24/80 , also from 1962, was a six-cylinder version of the Wolseley 16/60 and the Austin Kimberley from 1971 a revised Austin 1800 with a 2.2 liter R6 BMC engine of the E series.

Customers and the trade press alike ignored these vehicles and did not see them as serious competitors to local providers. Nevertheless, the Freeway, the 24/80 and the X6 gained a small but loyal following.

1973 came the P76 and got the nickname “The Wedge” because of its shape. It had a large trunk that could easily hold a 200 liter drum. Although a station wagon and a "Force 7" coupé were planned, these vehicles did not go into series production.

The name P76

The name P76 is derived from the BLMC code name of the vehicle during development. There is much speculation about this name and the idea behind this vehicle. One of those rumors is that this was the army unit number of British Leyland Director Donald Stokes . Others say that the P76 was based on a Rover design and that the "P" should show this origin. Rover vehicles were called P4 , P5 , P6 and P8 (although the P8 was never produced in series).

The official version was that the P76 was an entirely Australian design, with no counterpart on other continents. The Rover SD1 , released in 1976, featured many of the P76's design details - including the front suspension with MacPherson struts , the aluminum V8 engine, and the powered rigid rear axle.

Design and construction

The shape was drawn by Giovanni Michelotti . The simplest P76 had the in-line six-cylinder engine of the smaller Austin Kimberley / Austin Tasman with a displacement of 2623 cc and an overhead camshaft that made 90 kW (122 hp). The top model's V8 engine, an aluminum engine with a displacement of 4416 cm³ and an output of 149 kW (203 hp), was only used in the P76 and derived from a former Buick engine that was also found in the Rover 3500 . The safety equipment anticipated the planned “Australian Design Rules” (ADR) and a. made of door handles embedded in the doors and reinforced side impact protection in all doors.

Despite the slogan “Anything but Average”, the construction of the P76 followed the usual conventions.

The P76 offered some design details that were new to Australia at the time: rack and pinion steering, MacPherson struts at the front, bonnet hinged at the front and concealed windshield wipers; and well-known devices such as Borg-Warner transmissions made in Australia (with 3-speed steering wheel gearshift) or driven, rear rigid axle.

Special emphasis was placed on structural rigidity, a strength of British Leyland constructions. This goal was supported by efforts to reduce the number of sheet metal parts used to a minimum; there were 215 pieces, 5 more than the Mini.

Market successes

Although the V8 model was named “Car of the Year” by Wheels magazine in 1973 (although only Australian models were available), the sales of the P76 were negatively impacted by a number of problems: Production problems at the Leyland Australia plant in the Sydney suburb Zetland limited the number of cars produced, a number of teething troubles such as overheated engines and numerous quality defects damaged the reputation, and the introduction of the vehicle coincided with the first oil crisis , so that fuel prices rose dramatically and the demand for large cars fell sharply.

Thus, despite good press echo and positive customer reactions, the sales figures did not meet expectations.

British Leyland announced plans to sell the P76 in the UK as well . However, production was stopped before this plan was implemented.

The car was successful in the 1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally when it won the Targa Florio stage (13th place overall). Leyland Australia celebrated this victory with a special Targa Florio model , a V8 Super with sports wheels, sports steering wheel and special paintwork with side stripes.

P76 models that did not go into series production

Leyland Force 7

The next model after the sedan, the Force 7 coupé was to go into production in autumn 1974. It had a hatchback body with a large tailgate. It had few parts in common with the sedan. 56 copies were made when the decision was taken not to bring the coupé onto the market. Only 10 copies have survived, the others were destroyed on the instructions of the new head of Leyland Australia.

Leyland P76 station wagon (prototype)

The introduction of a station wagon was then planned for 1975. At least one station wagon prototype, which had many chassis and body parts in common with the sedan, but had steeper rear door frames, was also built.

The end of the range

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

Leyland Australia sold eight Force 7 coupe prototypes in an auction. Two other Force 7Vs passed through the hands of a collector in the UK (one of which may have been sent to New Zealand) and one is in the National Motor Museum at Birdwood Mill, South Australia .

A smaller sister model, the P82 , was designed by Michelotti and was intended to replace the Morris Marina in Australia, but was never mass-produced.

The P76 today

The P76 continues to have a small, but loyal, local fan base with great enthusiasm for the car.

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

Production numbers of the P76

model version Code number Production number
Deluxe Automatic R6, steering wheel gearshift 2C26 2.118
Deluxe 3-speed manual gearbox R6, steering wheel gearshift 2N26 2,342
Deluxe 4-speed manual transmission R6, center shift 2M26 516
Deluxe Automatic V8, steering wheel gearshift 2C44 1,532
Deluxe 3-speed manual gearbox V8, steering wheel gearshift 2N44 1,281
Deluxe 4-speed manual gearbox V8, center gearshift 2M44 380
great Automatic R6, steering wheel gearshift 3C26 1,132
great Automatic R6, center shift 3A26 380
great 4-speed manual transmission R6, center shift 3M26 719
great Automatic V8, steering wheel gearshift 3C44 1.928
great Automatic V8, center shift 3A44 2,256 *
great 4-speed manual gearbox V8, center gearshift 3M44 1,047
Executive Automatic V8, center shift 4A44 2,376

Totals: Deluxe: 8,169; Super: 7,462; Executive: 2,376; Total: 18,007; * = with Targa Florio model

Web links

Commons : Leyland P76  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.milesago.com/Features/p76.htm