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Light Car in Limbo

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Published on 12 May 2019

This was the heading for a story I wrote which appeared in the March 1983 edition of WHEELS. The car in question was the proposed smaller sibling for the Leyland P76, named P82 and scheduled for a 1977 launch. I believe this was the first time a story on the P82 was published. I interviewed a gentleman called Barry Anderson in his Sydney home. Anderson was the man responsible for the project and was still disappointed that it never made it into production reality. The P82 would have had similar interior space to the P76, while being significantly smaller and lighter. It was styled by Michelotti and was to use a new 3.3-litre V6 with the wonderful 4.4-litre V8 for the top shelf models. The sedan would be launche first, followed some months later by a wagon and coupe. Barry Anderson didn't know where the moniker came from but he did deconstruct 'P76'. 'Lord Stokes said, "what are we going to call this thing? His army service number started with P76."' Had the P76 succeeded in the market and been followed up by this Corona-rival, who could possibly say that Leyland Australia wouldn't have had a great future?