Leyland P76 40 years of nothing but average

• It's been 40 years since Leyland Australia rolled out its large Australian P76 car into the sunshine. Once the butt of jokes, the P76 is now looked upon with tender nostalgia. The owners fiercely defend its reputation and always strive to extol the virtues of the car.
• It was written by the Italian Giovanni Michelotti. His job was to design a big car for a big country and make sure the boot could fit a 44-gallon drum.
• The P76 offered features that were quite advanced in Australia at the time, including rack and pinion steering, power disc brakes, McPherson strut front suspension, front pop-up hood, glued-in windshield and hidden wipers.

• It's been 40 years since Leyland Australia rolled out its large Australian P76 car into the sunshine. Once the butt of jokes, the P76 is now looked upon with tender nostalgia. The owners fiercely defend its reputation and always strive to extol the virtues of the car.
• It was written by the Italian Giovanni Michelotti. His job was to design a big car for a big country and make sure the boot could fit a 44-gallon drum.
• The P76 offered features that were quite advanced in Australia at the time, including rack and pinion steering, power disc brakes, McPherson strut front suspension, front pop-up hood, glued-in windshield and hidden wipers.

Once the butt of jokes, the P76 is now looked upon with tender nostalgia. The owners fiercely defend its reputation and always strive to extol the virtues of the car.

The P76 offered features that were quite advanced in Australia at the time, including rack and pinion steering, power disc brakes, McPherson strut front suspension, front pop-up hood, glued-in windshield and hidden wipers.

Safety equipment was ahead of looming Australian design regulations with recessed door handles and full-length side reinforcements. The engines were a 2.6-liter six and a 4.4-liter V8 made of aluminum alloy.

So with all this cutting edge technology, Leyland had high hopes for big sales and ran a publicity campaign touting the P76 as "all but average". A local motoring magazine added to the shine by awarding the car its annual Car of the Year award. So what went wrong? Well, three things stood in the way of Leyland's success: style, fuel and money.

Let's face it; The P76 was not a very attractive car. It was written by the Italian Giovanni Michelotti. His job was to design a big car for a big country and make sure the boot could fit a 44-gallon drum. And he did. But he forgot one thing - make it look good! The side view of the P76 was fine with its aggressive wedge shape, but the front and rear looked plain and unfinished compared to its rivals.

Then the Arab oil crisis hit and big cars fell out of favor as buyers looked for smaller alternatives. Finally, Leyland Australia was not strong financially. The same goes for his British parent. There were not enough funds for development and marketing. They didn't have the financial means to compete with Holden, Chrysler, and Ford, along with their strong dealer networks and deep pockets. Naturally, sales slowed down.

By the end of 1974, the inscription was on the wall. The local general manager left and the British sent their repairman, 31-year-old David Abell. He wasted no time and closed the whole show. Approximately 16,000 76 P 5000 were made in total. More than XNUMX people lost their jobs when Leyland closed its Sydney plant.

David Burrell, editor of Retroautos.com.au