1970s Leyland P76 - Australia's most hated classic car?!

Leyland P76

By the time the P76 arrived on the forecourt, the Australian market had been sold plenty of British vehicles and the link between British Leyland and Australia was well established.

For more information on how this market developed, it’s worth looking at the Export or Die policy which kicked in after the Second World War. Essentially, manufacturers of vehicles had to sell a proportion of their vehicles abroad to access the government’s steel supplies and of course, bring much needed money into the country.

A Morris video from the immediate post war period states 95% of Morris products were exported.

In short, this means more than a handful of Australians were thoroughly well acquainted with the British marques.

Now back to the P76. This is a really interesting creation by British Leyland because many of these earlier vehicles which had arrived in the 40s, 50s and 60s were designed for the British market and with that, were thoroughly unsuitable for the Australian market where drivers were going hundreds of miles and crossing rocky terrain.

The journey to the creation of the car was a logical one: British Leyland knew that to compete in the Australian market with marques such as Ford and Chrysler they needed to make a car which was designed with the terrain, the competition and the customer expectation in mind.

It wasn’t Leyland’s first foray into making an Australian offering and the Kimberley had come before it, but the P76 was the car Leyland Australia saw as the car which would redefine their position in the market.

First off, the car did away with the wheezy engines which had powered their British cousins and the company went in with two engine options to rival the American competitors like the Ford Falcon, Holden Kingswood and Chrysler Valiant and issued the car with a v8 or a 6.

Recognising what Australians were used to, the company designed the vehicle with a 111 inch wheelbase and paired the meaty engine choices with either an automatic or manual, rack and pinion steering and for the suspension the company went with MacPherson struts with coil springs, dampers and anti roll bar to front and four link with coil springs and dampers to rear.

The car also had 35 cubic feet of boot space, which practically tested, was big enough to hide me and the week’s shopping in the boot.

Now all of this was going well so far - Leyland had spent 20 million Australian dollars on the creation of the P76 and it was rigorously tested: Leyland stated within the sales brochures the cars had been tested in three separate operations over four years doing the equivalent of 100,000 miles of testing and they even tested in the Australian outback in the searing heat.

And the car stood up to every challenge, which convinced Leyland it was wise to take the car to market. The car even won Wheels Car of the Year 1973 but then something terrible happened: everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

I talk about this when we go driving but essentially early cars poorly built, an oil crisis, rumoured sabotage from market rivals and silly little errors which could’ve been avoided culminated in the car described on marketing booklets as anything but average becoming anything but reliable.

Leyland tried to combat this with a Buyer Protection Plan covering the car for the first 12,000 miles but the damage was done and buyers weren’t keen.

In the end, quite frustratingly, all the hard work didn’t pay off and the fiesty P76 didn’t cut into the market like it deserved to; selling around 18,000 units. Today, the car is a beloved underdog of classic fanatics in Australia and New Zealand, but with far fewer fans than it should’ve had if everything had gone to plan and hadn’t been overly rushed.

[idriveaclassic]

Hi there!

If you’re watching this and noted I said V6 when I meant 6 (I got it right in my voiceover section) and I said exported instead of imported, yes, it’s a mistake. I do these videos entirely unscripted and occasionally you make a mistake whilst remembering a million facts and driving a completely new car.

Thank you for understanding!

[incompetentdiplomat]

you know the more i look at this australian thunder from downunder, the more i like it.

[atpete]

I worked for Leyland assembling the P76 when I was a teenager. I used to fit the horrible chrome trim around the windscreen. We had endless problems.
NZ farmers loved them as they could get two bales of hay in the boot along with the dog.

[David-uuwq]

Lovely looking motor, and credit to whoever restored it.

[Carl-xyc]

Being a New Zealander, I'm familiar with this car. I was in my teens in the 1970s. So I remember them being assembled and sold here in NZ. I saw one being raced in 1975 at the Benson & Hedges 500 race event. It was an endurance race for NZ assembled cars. It didn't win, but gave the Australian Fords and Holdens, plus some Chrysler Valiants a run for their money.

[daveowen]

Lovely car, thanks Steph. When they designed it, one of the requirements was that the boot could accomodate a 44 gallon drum!

[davepax]

I've owned 2 of these. Enjoyed every second with them.

[BRETTYZCAR]

An Aussie team in a P76 have just completed The 2024 Peking to Paris Rally and finished 1st in classic class and top of the time sheets overall after 37 days and 14 500 kilometres. A grand feat of achievement from a true Aussie Grand Tourer.

[shaneadams]

OMG, I've never seen one of these in such great condition! It's better than when it left the factory. Even the taillights look brand new.
Never expected to see a P76 on Idriveaclassic and couldn't hit play fast enough!

[xjet]

Ah, the P76... fond memories of summers/autumns spent endlessly driving around Australia looking for fruit-picking work back in the 1970s.

[biastv]

That interior is magnificent.
Currently in Australia, there is very active P76 clubs in every state of Australia . They are very well supported and excellent cars to drive.

[davidhynd]

Leyland Australia was up against it from the start with the P76. It was a totally fresh design at a time when labour troubles and financial restrictions very much worked against them. The P76 was more advanced than the Ford, Holden, Valiant competitors at the time. It deserved much better.

[IanRobertson-iuev]

What a fine example of a classic Aussie car. My Dad used to work for Leyland Australia and I still remember being a ten year old and Dad taking to the Zetland (Sydney) factory and showing me a brand new Force 7 car that was suppose to supersede the P76, however never went into mass production.

[robertjohnstone]

My uncle bought 1 new, he loved it for 30 years . He said once you fixed all the build faults it was a great car.

[Grumpy-sywr]

I had a 6 cylinder Super, and apart from a notable lack of low end torque, everything about the car was better than the big 3 offerings. Very much a drivers car in every aspect. Handling was one of its better points, compared with the other 3.
10:30 it was actually a V8 or inline 6 E engine, a 1725 with 2 added cylinders making 2.6 litres.
That particular air conditioner is an aftermarket unit. The factory unit was integrated, with central vents matching those shown at the ends of the dash.

[realjohnboxall]

Brilliant, as an Australian this is a highlight. Thank you :)

[hunterhomeservicesracing]

Being from Australia, that is one nice example
A friend of mine actually developed these cars and has a great example in his shed
When you coming over to Australia, next year we have the morry nationals in WA

[Veryfastslowcar]

As an Aussie always thought these were under appreciated. Speaking of v8s, living in rural Queensland you’d be lucky to walk through town for 5 minutes without hearing a hotty v8 go by still to this day.

[cdg]

That is one very sorted P76. Great video. Even had the weather for it. Great stuff!

[Roy-giul]

As a Pom, this is new to me! And what a well proportioned design it is.I love it.