My brother had a V8 4 speed P 76 back in the early 80s.
They seriously upset a lot of drivers on the road back then.
A couple of little mods, like most cars and they went even better.
He had extractors and a better air cleaner. Just basic stuff.
We did a track day at Amaroo in 1981.
I was in a mates Datsun 1600 in the same group as my brother and the P 76.
There was also another bloke in a 351 Falcon in the group.
The P didnt give much away to the Ford on the straight. It went around corners better than the Ford, but not as good as the Datto.
They were a lot better car than the media portrayed. All cars had the same little things go wrong with them, like loose screws here and there. I even had those dramas with a new VE SS. The media thought it was fun putting crap on them.
They couldnt fill oreders fast enough, as the big 3 inundated suppliers with parts requests, which were supplied to them as priority over the Leyland requests.
They didnt do their normal order and deliver as needed type thing, they stockpiled a lot at the time.
There were hundreds of P 76s parked up waiting for sometimes small parts for completion.
I actually own one at the moment and I am doing a modern resto on it.
Many who rubbish them have never even sat in one, let alone drive one.
They were very innovative at the time too..
First production car in Australia to have front discs standard.
First car to have side impact intrusion bars.
First Australian car to have the petrol tank mounted further forward to prevent problems in rear end crashes.
First Australian car to have the heat vulcanised type windscreen sealants. They had a few problems there, that were sorted before the other manufacturers used them.
First car to ave the windscreen wipers hidden a bit.
The wedge shape isnt much different to the modern cars either, but the styling wasnt anywhere near as tidy as the modern cars.
There is a good following for the cars, and clubs that actually bought parts back at the end of production, and also re manufacture parts as well.
Not many clubs for other marques do that sort of thing.
The Force 7 is probably close to being the rarest car, only surmounted by the p 76 wagon. Only 1 was built.
Cheers
Rob
