I've got to say you're making this whole bloody lockdown business a lot more bearable for a lot of us, keep it up.

Side note. 1975 I was an auto elect apprentice at Joseph Lucas Aust. (Soon to be Lucas Australia) working on the alternators of p76's. Apparently Lucas had tendered alternators at below cost just to get on the spare parts inventory...cos that's where the money is!...?! So I was continually replacing mediocre internal regulators. We also added a heavy duty wire from the alternator to the battery to reduce the voltage drop of the original wiring harness...but boy that v8 sounded sweet

Hi Ian glad the car didn't let you down too much! (interior door catch!). The local Leyland head of styling Mark Cassarchis did the nose and tail treatment. The actual build was 18007 but as always Leyland always started their cars at 1001 etc. One of my other cars a super v8 4 speed is engine number 4409 1002 ..ie 2nd of the series of that combination Super V8 4 speed with integrated Air conditioning...that might of been a cooler drive for you on a hot Hobart summers day..perhaps next time. Great presentation and you did the marque proud with your honest opinion.

British Leyland is the perfect example of why Engineers should run a company and not Accountants. I knew lots of Engineers who worked at BL who produced a prototype which worked perfectly and then were told to simplify and reduce specification until it just worked , for cost reasons. Then they became warranty claims. So much talent and ingenuity wasted, sadly most have passed on . One chap no longer with us had tales of the ECV3 , and what could have been .

Many years ago, my brother bought a Stag that had a new P76 engine fitted. There was a guy in Sydney that had a stock of unused P76 engines and did a really good job of the conversion, the Stag then actually had performance to match its looks. I used to love driving that thing.

A few points to make here. Yes, it does sound very nice, but it doesn't have the stock exhaust system, which was in fact very quiet, but would give a hint of a growl at higher revs. Build quality wasn't really any worse than "new models" from the other manufacturers, but Leyland didn't have its army of blind loyal followers who would buy their preferred brand, regardless. It really should have made its mark in a more positive way, with its huge emphasis on safety. It was the first local product to have power disc brakes across the range as standard, the side intrusion bars, as mentioned, were legislated in 1976 so 3 years ahead there. Even the reverse opening bonnet wasn't put there to annoy people who wanted to work on it, but served a big safety function. The latch at the back was the weak link, so when involved in a hard enough frontal collision, the latch would be the part that lets go, allowing the bonnet to lift at the rear, and not act as a guillotine through the windscreen. It also removed a large section of rigidity, resulting in a crumple zone of sorts. The boot had an all steel bulkhead, unlike the other 3, who had a bit of bracing, and a masonite board to separate the passengers from whatever might be launched through it, and the soft back seat in the event of a collision. First of the "big 4" cars to have the precision of rack and pinion steering, and they did handle extremely well, when pitted against the other big 3 of the day. Yes, they did make some mistakes, particularly in the styling department, but overall, apart from being underpowered, it was at least the equal of its competitors. You'll find its biggest critics and knockers, are those who have never even sat in one, let alone driven one, or weren't even born when it was released. One other sad point which never came to fruition, and may well have helped this car, was the other engine Leyland were working on. 3/4 of the engine in this one, a 3.3L all alloy V6 version, (2 middle cylinders chopped out) though the initial idea was to plonk it into the Marina instead of the 2.6 E series (think better weight distribution) a cast iron block, alloy head version would have worked very well in the P76.

On the windscreen sticker it says, "Better built, better backed." When Mitsubishi Australia launched the 380, it also had the slogan, "Better built better backed." Leyland Australia died while using that slogan, Mitsubishi Australia also died while using that slogan.

Whoever signed-off the naming of the paints must have been sniffing them at the time - and got away with it. Love it!

"British Leyland - It could have been great!" The most apt tagline ever.

You have certainly got to hand it to Leyland. The Australian public were buying large rear wheel drive cars at that time, so to be competitive they needed to come up with one. Their three main competitors were all American based, so building this type of car was second nature to them. But Leyland was English and they had to come up with a large car from scratch, and the P76 is what they came up with. Which I think is a truly remarkable effort. It had rack and pinion steering while their competitors still had recirculating ball steering. The six cylinder engine had an overhead cam while the others were still push rod. The V8 was alloy. Holden didn't have an all alloy engine until around 2000. You could imagine the excitement when the car was still in it's design stage, that they knew that had a car with more advanced features than the competition. Well done Leyland!

You did the P76 proud. I had one for a long time and just love the way they drive. Mine is modified with engine mods and suspension work.

The car industry is littered with 'could have been great' cars. Maybe that says much about the car industry in general.

There was an earthy red coloured P76 always parked at the top of my street in Hobart in the late 7Os ... rare even back then. As a kid I was always fascinated by its unique front and rear end styling.

The most anticipated event of the year

Lovely V8 noises, lovely indicator relay click, lovely wiper design, quirky 1970s colours, poor build quality, unloved in its days and now very rare... This car definitely ticks all the HubNut boxes!

I’ve owned 2 of these, both V8s. First thing to do is to replace the standard radiator- not up to the demands of an Australian summer, and also replace the carburettor , which strangles the engine ( I put a Holley 320 on mine). P.S the engine is not all aluminium, it is aluminium alloy. Great video,

What a subLIME 70's work of automotive art. The interior, CHOC full of space and comfort. I'll get my coat.

This is a bloody great video. My parents, both from the UK, had one of these beautiful beasts way back in the day, a lovely Corinthian Blue one. It was my Mum’s total pride and joy and she always said how she never had any issues with parking it, in spite of its size. A great car that was released at the wrong time in Australia.

Ian, you talked a lot about it during your trip, now we can finally see the P76 ourselves. Thank you.

This drive brings back so many memories of my V8 Super which I bought in the 80's to pull a horse float and came in between a Marina and, later a Series II SD1. One thing I found with it was that nearly everyone else just got out of my way when merging in traffic or coming into an intersection. The only drivers who didn't were the Valiant owners who had even less to lose. The window scoop would have been an essential add-on as the big screen baked the car in summer and the ventilation was anaemic at best. I ended up getting an after market aircon installed in the passenger side. Their knees froze, the cool air swirled around the back seat passengers and I still roasted.

As a "Pom" I didn't get all the excitement about a Leyland P76 when you started on about them Ian......I do now, what a lovely big relaxing car, even if it is in Hi Vis Green, I'd have had one of those back in the day.

My Dad owned a Blue Targa Florio.We lived in country NSW and had many long flat roads between towns. One day my Dad saw a Torana V8 and a Ford Gt having a bit of a race he caught up at around 160kmh (100 mph) then overtook them ended up going 200 kmh or (125 mph). And it handled the speed well as it was a fairly flat straight road.

We arrived in Melbourne in 78. Our first cars were a 74 Kimberley and a 66 Falcon. I was intrigued by the P76 and spoke with their owners whenever the opportunity present. I cannot recall any of them being anything but in love with their P76. The Australian car fleet was quite unique back then. A few years later we had a Kingswood loaner for a couple of weeks. We were quite impressed. My last car in the UK was a 74 Austin Maxi 1750. Years late i saw one parked and note how small it look compared to the car I was then driving. After numerous cars in the intervening years we now drive KIA’s an Optima GT my17 and a Sportage Gli my 16. Love your videos. Keep up the good work and regular shaves and haircuts

I did drive a 6 cylinder P76 once. The colour was Am Eye Blue . It wasn't bad, I thought it performed adequately. The OHC six had a claimed 121 hp, compared to the 118hp of the base 2.83l pushrod unit in the Holden, and the 130 hp of the 3.3l unit in the Falcon. The P76's handling was so far ahead that, around a corner it would be P76 first, daylight second. It was such a shame that it failed. That was a lot of money invested for only 8000 cars ! In comparison, the HQ Holden sold 485000 from 1971-1974.

Yes, tragically showing my age as I remember all the fanfare when the P76 was released. As stated it was a good car for Australia and would have been good stiff competition for the big three (Holden, Ford, Chrysler) but it was not to be. Thanks as always for sharing Ian. A totally absorbing video. :-)

Smashed it again Ian, I love being pulled along in your enthusiasm and excitement for the car we've all had dreams of driving. Magic.

I have three Leyland engines, one is in a VW...(!) .I fell in love with these back in the 70's when i test drove a customers Leyland P76 V8 and the revability was great compared with the Fords and Holdens .Only Chrysler's 273 and 318;s revved as nicely. A lot of rover parts interchange in the engines despite the leylands longer stroke ,even head gaskets,sump gaskets, oil pump and front housing and so on . . you could get a four speed manual trans which has an overdrive topgear. In Sydney there was a quite popular P76 racing scene where they were slightly modified with bigger carb and extractors. Oil starvation ,as is common with the Rover and BOP engines (buick ,olds,pontiac) which was cured by adding more oil. I think leylands p76 was the victim of a whispering campaign ,as were Valiants. Most Critics had never driven either.

I had a P76 for about 6 months. I rebuilt the engine, replaced the transmission, replaced the brakes, re-welded a pile of broken spots. It was an awesome shitheap... Mine had air-conditioning and power steering. It was shmansy.. Ironically - I lived at Margate and Kingston Beach during the 1990's. You are parked here about 300M from my old home.

I loved that mate, well worth the wait to get your take on what is often called "Australia's Edsel". Poor damn thing never had a chance. It looked prehistoric compared to the HQ Holden and the timing was all wrong. I reckon though that if it was released around twelve months earlier, the styling around the boot was tidied up and it was built properly then things would have been much different.

We definitely had some wiperporn there! Just fabulous...

A nice review; thank you. Back in the day I bought new a V8 Deluxe in Crystal White, with three-on-the-tree manual and the brown interior - called Imperial leather - making it (for the purists) a 2N44 4402 with 11572 paint and 491 trim codes, from the Leyland dealership in Cheltenham, Melbourne. With very good power, economy and handling, rack-and-pinion steering, standard front discs, oodles of interior space - not to mention the huge boot with the spare tucked vertically in the L/H rear corner, outboard of the chassis-rail - and a very comfortable bench seat, it was far in front of the Ford/GMH/Chrysler competitors and was a great touring and tow car. As is usually the case, those who denigrate the P76 have almost invariably never owned or driven one, so they simply parrot ill-informed opinion that they have either heard or read. Yes, of course the car had its faults, but the Mark II version would almost certainly have addressed them, as was evidenced in the Force 7 hardtop. Unfortunately, it was not to be. By the way, in addition to the Force 7 steering wheel that you mentioned, the instrument cluster in the test car was also not the original, being from either the Super or Executive varient, both of which came with a woodgrain vinyl facing. Likewise, the grille badge is from the Executive. The weathershield was a non-standard part, being supplied by Cyplas Industries in Sydney; the standard accessory version did not have the opening flap.

I love the way they look. They were so much better than the other australian cars of the time... so close! If you can get a copy of the book :Leyland P76 anything but average by Gavin Farmer do so, it’s a great read and full of & fantastic pictures.

To get the 44 gallon drum back out, 4 guys, arms over the rear guards and lift it out on fingertips under drum seam. I would pick up a 44 of methanol for the race team on Fridays.That's 158.4KG (200 liters methanol) plus the weight of the drum. First time I picked up a drum the forklift operator said "where's your trailer".

You mentioned my favourite car right at the end. Oh the heartbreak that was the Triumph Stag. I remember seeing it for the first time as a child and thinking it was the most beautiful car since the e-type, and the noise it made was perfect. They were really popular for a short while and then, almost all at once - they disappeared., for known reasons. After that you'd only see them at the side of the road waiting for the AA or the RAC. Yet another of the sad, sad statistics of the British Car Industry.

I had the pleasure of owning a lovely P76 V8 Deluxe in the 80’s. Loved it. Copped a lot of flack for having one but only from people who hadn’t owned one or didn’t know anything about what these cars were like. They had a button at the base of the bench seats between the drivers legs that you could push with the palm of your hand if you hooked your fingers under the bottom edge of the seat and the back of the bench seat would lay flat creating a delightfully large area suitable for various nocturnal activities... Thanks for this review, it took me back to a good place in time. Cheers from Steve in Mount Gambier. 😎

Thanks for the review - it’s given me a new perspective on a car I never really liked previously - in that colour it really is rather attractive. Well done also for giving a shout out to AR Online - I’ve been a regular visitor to that website for what must be almost 10 years - it’s one of the best car websites out there!

Don't know about all the inn's, and outs, but Australian built and styled vehicles are unique and fabulous range of cars that can match the rest of the world with their own uniquely presented style. Absolutely top notch Mr Nut 👍 Tam.

A wonderful tribute to a lovely car. It looked very futuristic compared to the boxy HJ Holdens and the XB Falcon that was released in 1973. If Leyland had its act together and quality control was, well, under control, the future of the "P38" would have been a lot rosier than it was. And that is a damned shame things turned out the way they did. The 44-gallon drum in the boot isn't the only comparison like that used in Australia. For the long-wheelbase Ford Fairlane, the claim was you could put a couple of sheep in the back seat and a bale of hay in the boot. The Fairlane, as opposed to the more swish LTD, sold quite well to rural farmers. With the optional 36-gallon long-range fuel tank, the old 302 and 351 V8's could cruise all day at speed in the outback.

Thanks for the vid, Ian. P76 is always an occasion and immense to see it shot in Hobart. Enjoyed my drive there a few years back, hope you did too.

I LOVE the way you walk through the gauges/controls/dash. That is how you relive a car and not many do it - well done. 😃

Dad went from a HQ Holden to one of these, I remember a few drives as a 16 year old. Handling and steering were streets ahead of the HQ, so much more comfortable. Really impressed me how it went around the Riccarton Rd roundabout on the way to NZMC for a service. Sadly the fuel consumption around town lead him to sell it. Had the quality issues but design and performance was way ahead of the rest of the OZ cars.

I remember when these cars came out, with huge interest from everyone. Aussies ended up calling it the P38 because it was only half the car it should have been!

Brilliant ! Thanks, Ian. Peak Antipodes Tour ! Been reading about this motor for years, loved it from just that - & your drive has confirmed the impressions I had. Shakes head at BL. Again! Cheers!

What an awesome, gorgeous car! Seems like your whole trip was geared up for this one epic test, fantastic!

That colour is amazing, and I find the P76 very attractive. The executive with twin headlights spoils the looks in my view. A P76 Deluxe would often drive about Brighton, but I would love to get my hands on the coupe 'Force 7'. Great review, and keep safe.

Car of the Year when that award actually meant something. A P76 is currently winning more international rally's than any car ever built in world right now.

Fabulous steering wheel, gorgeous engine sound and ove interior/exterior colour combo. Love the view from your headcam.

The ultimate British Leyland product? Quite possibly, definitely sounds gorgeous, nice interior, good design, good handling and comfortable. Leyland Australia were doing good things. Great that some survived, especially Force 7s. The front door are very like those of the Peugeot 504.

I’ve had 3 in my time, One 6 auto, and 2 V8 4 speeds. I loved em.

It had higher Australian content than any other car and it many ways was more advanced than the Kingswoods, Falcons and Valiants at the time. Unfortunately Leyland Australia suffered a disproportionate amount of union unrest which didn't help it's production numbers. The 2.6 litre six was only meant as an interim solution as a V6 version of the 4.4 litre was in an advanced stage of development. This engine was also scheduled to feature in the P82 which was intended as a Marina replacement. Sadly the V6 and the P82 never happened.

Literally been binge watching all of your Aussie videos. Having a great time

I'm pleased to see the correction to the production numbers above, 18007 instead of 8007, because I remember them as being everywhere (I was 12 in '73), so 8007 didn't compute. They weren't hugely popular, not just because of build quality so much as that the styling was so agricultural. They looked like a work experience kid designed them, particularly the grill, and the massive boot just looked silly. Strangely though, it's quite exciting to see one on the roads now and I look back at them with fondness.

It's like a messed up Ford Taunus/Zodiac in terms of styling but has that awesome v8 woffle... It's so ugly I want one! Did like the dash tho.... That's interesting design for a Leyland. Incidentally my mate had a marina coupe in the same shade of green and tan - Applejack it was called... He'd love this car as a daily.... Seems to be a pretty sorted old lump of metal, but as you say Leyland just didn't have the nuts to keep these developed and missed a trick (reckon they'd have shifted a few here with the standard v8 engine but of course that would have mullered sd1 sales maybe?) Keep these odd motors coming Ian! 😋

I remember these when they came out (as a young person) and couldn't work out why they stopped them. Shame as they were ahead of their time.

Excellent content, I really enjoyed seeing this Leyland gem in the flesh having only read about it as if a mythical beast. Hope there is more unusual content in the pipeline from you Ian. Cheers.

What a stunning car, pure 70's colour combination, fantastic lines, nice noise and a cool interior. Great to see a completely fresh car too, that apart from the BL roundel and the V8 doesn't seem to be a Leyland parts bin. Your made no attempt to cover up your sheer delight at finally having a P76 in your grip and your total honest enthusiasm for such things makes your channel what it is, very enjoyable. Can't say the same for the head camera though, the driving view is properly nausea inducing and reminds me of some bad camera choices on the driving simulators I used to play on Xbox.

Great test drive Mr. Hubnut. Beautiful example of the marque. I think it turned you into a Hoon! I remember seeing pics.of the last of these sitting in a paddock in Sydney with no buyers. They went for auction from memory but the problem was they had no Aust. Compliance plates. It was a case of caveat emptor, but no doubt people got around it and got them compliant. How boring are our modern car colours by comparison and all with mandatory charcoal upholstery. Boring boring.....

I had A super deluxe back in 1983 , Had 3 on the tree and the V8 . Went like a rocket. Could be idling down the main street in second gear and plant your foot and the back wheels would smoke up without having to touch the clutch , Could put it flat out around a curved bit of the road with the rear end going sideways but would go exactly where you pointed it. Not so good about putting weight in it, Dont know how it would have gone with a full 44 gallon drum in the boot because as soon as you had passengers in the back seat the tailshaft would hit the transmision tunnel on every bump. I still remember the noise. We had to jack it up and fit blocks under the rear springs to try and make it better, The clutch used a mechanical linkage with a bracket welded to the main subframe that the clutch lever piveted off. It broke off the frame and I had to bodgey it with wire and clamps . It was either that or pull the motor and gearbox out to get in there to weld it back on again. I thought it was a fantastic car, Most comfortable seats I have ever sat in and the back seat was big enough to sleep in. Wish i still had it .

beautiful car Ian. Glad you managed to track one down. Nice footage as always.

Our careers teacher at HS, Mr Hogarth, swore blind by his P76 V8. Told us all to buy one when we left school, but you were either Holden or Ford back then, nothing else! Fantastic review, been looking forward to this one.

Wow, definitely a bit of Dodge Charger in the styling. If you had shown me that car without a badge and said "guess the manufacturer" Leyland would have been a very long way down the list (I might have hazarded a guess of Lada before Leyland). Frankly I'm retrospectively annoyed that we were presented with so many dull looking motors in the UK while the Aussies were getting that! Of course badly screwed together being Leyland, but you might have forgiven it with those looks and performance (like you would an Italian car of the era). Bah, I'd like to get in a time machine and go back to the seventies, get hold of Leyland management and union representatives, then knock their heads together until they started to talk sense!

Through your entire experience in NZ and Oz, many of your road tests and even your personal experience with Betty showed that parts of the world outside of Europe and the UK often place different requirements on cars sold there. That being the case, perhaps folks will be less reflexively critical of the size of U.S. cars. Or not.

Made my day did this video :) Been waiting for it for ages. Love your description of the Leyland badge: The plughole of despair lol.

Love the beautiful brown seating as well with the sound of that V8 is truly magic to the ears and a very nice 70's styling on top too. Would love this any day over my boring Vauxhall Mokka X back here in the UK and still I miss the Mercedes 190E I owned 20 years ago. Love your videos as they keep me sane in this crazy lock down... Keep them flowing.

A face only a mother could love.

0:41 . I would dispute that V8s ever dominated the Australian market. They were always a niche segment never getting much above 20% V8 80% 6 cylinder. Only when the Falcon and Commodore announced production would be ceasing did they get to 30% when people realised they may be missing out on what they wished for. I have figures as low as 5% of vehicles with the V8 options compared to the dominant sixes. Also explains six cylinder preference in Toranas, Cortinas, Marinas and Centuras. Kimberley/Tasman, Austin Freeway and Wolseley other indicators for Australian preference for a six cylinder car back then. Sales of Kingswood/Belmont Holdens, Falcon/Fairmont and Valiants were dominated by sales to Government and Taxi fleets as well as the transport from A to B spacious simple family car market. Even recently buyers with a bit more money would often go for the local luxury six versions than the cheaper poverty pack V8. Definitely more interest in the Australian Classic car movement in the V8 performance versions that many could not afford when they were younger. As your car show visits show, the cars displayed are not often the volume sales cooking versions.

Your drive brought back childhood memories for me. Thanks.

That sounded gorgeous, do love the big bench seats, my dads old A55 Cambridge that had the auto on the column was virtually a bench and both me and my sister used to sit up front.

Really enjoyed that, thanks. I was 6 years old when it was released and remember it quite clearly. Unfortunately it was treated as a bit of a joke at the time, as the quality control issues were so well known. The writing may have already been on the wall, but Leyland did themselves no favours churning out such a poorly assembled vehicle that had very bold and, to the ultra-conservative Australian tastes, ‘out there’ styling. The ridiculous 44 gallon drum bullshit - just a lame attempt to Aussify it - ended up making the P76 be viewed as a one-trick pony. Industrial relations issues at the Sydney factory didn’t help either. Leyland put all its effort into designing a great car, but the rest was very poorly executed. Unfortunately it was doomed to failure as soon as the styling was approved, the rest just made the hole deeper. Such a shame.

What a shame that Leyland Australia had so many issues internally, union problems and just a lack of support. By the way yellow was called "Bold as Brass". Best review I have seen on one. Good job Ian!

Another great video Ian thanks.We had one as a family car back in 1980.Great big roomy family tank.Only let down was it was only the six cylinder 2.6 automatic so was a bit gutless apparently.

As a fellow Rover P6 owner for over 30 years I must say I really love this astoundingly rare model, the design is actually pretty good and sounding so much the business. Yes it would have been very popular in Britain if they had built it but possibly not in that colour. It reminds me of a friend's Ford Mustang 350 ci small block as the shape quite similar. Thank you so much for the video Ian

I'm in love ! Wish we had the P76 in Britain.

I remember my mum telling me the real estate agent that her and dad used to buy the family home in the 70s ferried them in a P76 Executive V8. Such luxury!

Ian you really are producing some unique content at the moment. Hopefully when this awful COVID stuff is over we can get you on the road again to show us the world of Hubnut cars from across the globe. All the best to you and the Mrs (old and new) and George!

Wonderful car and a truly amazing colour, which I suspect could be described as a safety feature. Top work mr hubnut!

Must also make mention of 'Leyland P76 : anything but average : a history of a uniquely Australian motor car' by Gavin Farmer, ISBN 9780980522907. A great read covering the history of this car.

It's a tragedy that BL's general ineptitude at home led to the demise of that fantastic might-have-been. I could really live with that noise.

Really enjoyed watching this video of a great looking and sounding Leyland ! Thank you for uploading 👍

Again, a cracking video that evokes memories. My friend at schools dad bought one as it simply ticked all the boxes in terms of comfort, design, boot space (yes! The 44 gallon drum was distinctly mentioned at the time) and performance. It was Bitter Apricot in colour. Sadly, in the 2 years of ownership it had that many warranty issues it was traded in on a chrysler sigma…

These were actually a really well designed car back in the day. Most of the up spec models were also equipped with power steering and air-conditioning. Unfortunately they were let down by terrible quality issues and received a bad reputation as a lemon at the time.

Funny you mentioned the Triumph Stag! I remember in the early ‘80’s the P76 V8 engine was a desirable transplant to solve the Stag mechanical issues here in OZ.

Big fan of the P76. Had quite a few of them in the day. Definitely the best Aussie car of that era. The other Aussie cars of the day were lead tipped arrows,huge cast iron V8 engines and all the massive sub structure needed to support them. The Leyland was a joy to drive,powerful ,light and nimble for a big car and would shit on any,and l mean any,Ford,Holden or Valiant of that era,even in standard form. Put a big carby and extractors with a twin system on it and you had yourself a rocket with the most beautiful soundtrack..Possibly the most radical styling of any saloon car ever,which people seem to love or hate. I of course love it,with the mark 2 Jag,my favourite car of all time.

Thanks for making me feel homesick! Was great to see Augusta Road and the other parts of Hobart again, and beautiful Kingston Beach. Grew up in the area, but now living overseas. I'm pretty sure I've seen this actual car years ago. P76's were never really that thick on the ground locally. You are right - just a lot of unfortunate things prevented this model from being a success. We were viewed as oddballs owning Chrysler Valiants back then - the fellas driving P76's were even more left-of-centre. That lovely V8 though... Thanks for the video

This is the one we've all been waiting for, well this and the Kimberley. Amazing car, amazing sound. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but as you say, its tragic the amount of Leyland might have been's. Also, why even call it a Leyland? I know this was before the time of the 'brand' as it is now but no one knew what this name meant. Better off with Austin or Morris is my very humble opinion. Great video Ian.

Hubnut you legend, that car has polarized Australian public opinion more than Tony Abbot! The styling has hints of a 1970s Toyota Cressida aa well as large Chryslers, but I think it is pleasing. With proper execution, what could have been... where did you film this btw?

I had an aunt who had a white six cylinder one, from memory I think it was the two headlamp Deluxe. Even in the late 80s she doggedly refused to be talked into trading it for a smaller/more modern car, she just preferred the way the P76 drove. I suppose with rack and pinion steering and McPherson strut suspension, it wouldn't have felt so dated compared to many 80s cars.

Very photogenic colours at the start with the blue sky. Lovely sounding v8. Nice find.

Most P76’s met an early end as donor vehicles for Triumph Stags and Land Rover and Range Rover engine swaps.

I've always said that these were the best 'ordinary' British Leyland car built at the time, although the quad headlamp version has the nicer face. A real tragedy these were canned after two years, because they could have been developed so much more. There's some scuttlebutt around that the Aussie guv'ment gave Leyland lots of money to close up shop and leave - not sure just how true that is, esp as the parent company was in so much strife at the time. Awesome video and one I've been looking forward to!

Love at first sight! 🥰🥰🥰 Fantastic concealed wiper-action, no discernible triangle of doom (which is when they clearly DON'T overlap.)

Oh that was splendid, I've really been looking forward to the test of this (to us in the UK) mysterious beast. Full marks to the custodian of this magnificent vehicle too. What a shame it was another tale of what might have been, the rear is especially well achieved, but I have to say the front end treatment could have been better, especially those sunken headlights. Great stuff Mr H, many thanks.

Some of the names of the Leyland Australia colours, Home on the 'O' range Peal me a grape Plum loco Am I blue Envy green Bold as brass Oh fudge Hairy lime Bitter apricot They where very underrated cars. Ahead of their time.

Love the grille badge,A Hexagonal plug'ole of despair!

Yes I remember these as a rare sight in NZ. But I also remember seeing, in the late 1970's, the local NZ British Leyland spare parts sales and car dealership in Christchurch NZ, had a 4.4 litre engine sitting on a stand in the parts department for individual sale, so apparently some engines at least were released into the wild, for folks to use as replacements or put in home built hotrods or jetboats etc. I remember at the time the "schoolyard rumour" going around was "that the Leyland P76 was such an amazing car, and could so easily beat the pants off Holdens and Fords of the day, that those rival car companies paid bribes to British/Australian Leyland to stop making it". (Whether or not that was really true back then, it's a great rumour to keep alive !) A friend almost bought a P76 in Australia once, but it was the economy model with the straight 6 cylinder engine (2.6 litre I think). Note that at a Western Australian country fair including a mini auto show section about 1995, I was speaking to some P76 owners club folks who had a display of several cars. There was then a modification upgrade popularly made by many owners. They used a certain model of auto trans from an early-ish Holden Commodore which gave them 4 speed being an overdrive 4th ratio, to make the P76 longer legged and give it better speed and economy on highway driving. In order to install that more modern auto transmission, an "adaptor plate" was being "semi-mass produced" by an engineering machine shop in one of the Eastern States (NSW?, VIC?), and they had it as a standard item that could be ordered in. (I don't know the name of the place but it should be known in P76 club circles). I do remember the P76 owner telling me that the auto trans they used was a model which was fully mechanical and did NOT have any electronics (whereas more modern 4 speed autos often do). A Leyland P76 is one of my Lotto-win Dream Cars. And I absolutely LOVE that green colour.

Yeah. When I got my first one in nz. I was 21. My mates and I, there was 8 of us in the car.. and a full boot of drinking material. We went to a 3 day concert ( sweet waters) . That was about a 4 hour drive away from my home town ( wanganui). Anyway I lost the old girl , ended up going side ways down the grass verge next to the high way. I know it’s sounds B/S it wasn’t my driving ability that got us back on the road.. it was the handling and control of the p76 and some luck I guess. Thou later in the journey the rearend sunk. Had to put some air shocks on her, when I got her home. Thanks hubnut for showing the p76. The legend lives on.

Brilliant video Ian! Perhaps my favourite! :) Not sure if I heard you correctly, but it sounded like you said there were 8007 P76 built? There were a few more than that with 18007 built in OZ and I think 800ish in NZ

I like the headcam, actually puts the viewer in the driving seat, should do it more often. Love the car, always wanted to know what the P76 was like, such a shame that they didn't make more

its amazing what you learn from Hubnut, I have owned Rover vehicles with every version of the V8 from 3.5 to 4.6 litres and never heard of a Rover 4.4. wow!

I think you are a great bloke Hub nut .And I’m enjoying your videos immensely. Please keep up the good work. Pete. UK