Leyland P76 - Australia's Own Car

Below is what information I have amassed on the Force 7 to this point. There once were 56 of them. As Wheels said What A bloody Shame! At least 10 survived!

I must acknowledge the various club websites that can all be found on the links page which have been a source of some of the material. Along with James Mentiplay and others who have been a great help.

There is still more material that I have to add such as the owners manual and I am also missing recent pictures Harry Zaglas's Hairy lime car. Anyone have any ideas? email me

Leyland crushed all the other Force 7's because they thought that by only having a few survive they would get a lot more for the 8 that they would auction.

They were hoping to get between $30-40k each for them which is an enormous amount of money considering a Targa with Factory Air was worth $5200 at the same time.

Leyland management thought that there would be a lot of interest from overseas collectors hence the high expectations on price.

As you would know they got nowhere that kind of money for them. Roger Foy ( Leyland Engineer - Advanced Model Group) told James that he suggested to Management that they sell all of the 56 cars and throw in a few spares with each car such as tailights and trim. The cars would not be sold with a warranty because they were incomplete ( missing some trim in cargo area etc.) and would have no parts back-up from Leyland. He felt Leyland would easily get $6000 for each car and would have raised far more money than what they did from the auction.

I have recently acquired the original Force 7 Auction poster and copies are now available for sale here from $25 each (including postage). email me if you would like one for your collection. I also have some rare Targa material soon to be reproduced for sale.

Wheels Pre- Release Scoop Story August 1974

"Home On The Orange" with Brown this is the car that replaced the Oh fudge car on the auction poster, the owner is Mrs Petty, the widow of Eric Petty who bought the car from the auction in 1975 - Car is now owned by their Daughter

This can be confirmed by reading any number of articles that were printed on the auction in car magazines in 1975 as well as a number of ex-Leyland employees who I have spoken to, including Allan Nicholson who was a senior engineer at Leyland at the time and had the horrible job of having to choose which Force 7's were to survive and which ones were to be crushed.

Probably The Least Used of all the Force 7s

This is the "Nutmeg" with White trim Force Seven In the National Motoring Museum at Birdwood Mill in the South Australian Hills.

"Crystal White" with a Black Trim this car is in Western Australia and belongs to a gentleman named Maurice. Maurice Brockwell died earlier this year his car has been retained by his estate. (He was a top bloke.) The nose copped a bit of a chip on the RH side above the head lights but it's only paint, the nose cone is undamaged.

Warwick Williams Force 7V is one of the four 4 Speed manual vehicles built, all the Forces had the Leyland 4.4 Litre alloy V8 motor. " Bold as Brass" with white trim.
This One is nw owned by Rod Warwick in Western Vic and is often seen at local shows.

"NV Green" Auto with white trim this car was originally purchased by Hans Strik, then the Leyland Dealer in Preston, Now owned by Warwick William's brother Richard. Having been restored it is now seen regularly at events in Sydney

"Home On The Orange" with Black Trim this is the car now owned By Joe Green in Sydney and featured on The Hann Ice TV Commercial

"Home On The Orange" with White Trim this car was residing in Lismore NSW and belonged to Frank Cherry. It is now in Gippsland

David Nelson's " Bold as Brass" with "Imperial Leather" trim

"NV Green" Manual with white trim this car was originally purchased by Harry Z who still owns it and now has the car with him in Greece where he continues to enjoy it including touring events around the country

David Morton's "Omega Navy" with White Trim Force 7 in the UK

The Car has now been sold to a NZ collector and is regularly at events

80's article reminiscing on the Force 7 and how much Wheels liked it.

What's This ?!? Details still being researched.........