1988 Bi-centennial Minute - Leyland P76 (Australia) HD

Peter Luck discusses the Leyland P76 - an all Australian car. A contraversial segment screened on national TV during the bi-centennial year, particularly amongst the many Australians who were justifiably proud to own the innovative P76.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• p76
• leyland
• australian
• car
• bicentenary
• 1988

[odakueffect]

We had one. Fantastic car very ahead of it's time. Economical, great to drive, spacey and nice interior.

I never understud why people hated them specially campered to cars of the time like Kingswoods which were so primitive.

[MonkeyInAHumanSuit]

@pugsley2005

You're bang on mate.My Dad was the Product Manager for the P76 back when it was released.If there was one bloke that knew that car it was him.He drove it home to our house when it was still hush hush ( before the release ).Got pulled over by a cop, just so the cop could check out the car! Dad told him to shut his trap in a very nice way and he drove it home to our place.Govt plotting led to the downfall of the P76.No other reason.Bigger players did not want Leyalnd in the market

[Abreen11]

The failure of the P76 was more than just the fact it was a misunderstood car. Due to poor financial management, Leyland UK was nearing bankruptcy at the time the car was launched which the P76 was supposed to be the golden egg which would save Leyland from going under. Also many bad decisions made in the development of previous models lead to a reputation that Leyland cars were unreliable, so the public started to go to to other manufacturers for their cars like the Japanese.

[JBofBrisbane]

@nuddywizz - Sorry to burst your bubble, but have you heard how the ACT Police referred to their P76s as "P38s" - implying that they were half the car they should have been? Maybe yours was screwed together properly, but by all accounts, a good many of them weren't. But it was mostly Leyland's inability to keep up with the early demand, and the resulting poor sales figures despite copious orders, that brought the model undone.

[Seattlecarnut]

Nice looking car. It's too bad its quality was so dodgy, it probably would've made a great competitor for the Holden or Ford of similar size.

[Mechknight73]

@gav240z Mostly just underpowered and underpainted. What is disturbing about them is that the "crumple zone" incorporates the whole cabin! I used to work in a wrecking yard in the 80s, and we had two side by side. One rolled, one rear ended. The rear ender had folded past the rear windscreen, yet the windscreen itself was intact in what was left of its frame. The rollover looked like it had been stepped on by King Kong, but was a slo-mo rollover down a bank

[Mechknight73]

@mandrellian There were two things that made the perception about P76s being lemons; build quality and rust. British Leyland at the time had union members intent on destroying the company, which was why english built Leylands were really crap. If Leyland Australia had done something about the dodgy paint and sold its design features more, they might have survived.Still you couldn't do any worse than Chrysler for build quality back in the day

[mandrellian]

Love the P76. Dad had a V8 which once pulled a Nissan Navara 4WD out of a bog; his dad had a navy blue Executive. Those things were bulletproof! I think it's a big myth that they were lemons; the real problem lay at the other end - UK management of Leyland were halfwits.

[gav240z]

Kind of like the Datsun 120Y it had a bad reputation, but for what it was and what it did it was an excellent little car. Certainly a much better attempt at an economy car than Holden's Camira now that was a POS.

[pugsley2005]

I know what you mean - I owned a Targa Florio V8 - greatest car to drive, so comfortable to drive especially on the open highway and very sporty. Sadly, the Leyland was a most misunderstood Australian car, far superior to anything of GMH or Ford at the time and years ahead in many respects.