Return to Lingus' garage

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Published on 10 January 2014

Unicorn asked about the Leyland Force 7V ... there are ten survivor cars, eight that went to auction in September 1975 straight after being placed on public display at the Sydney Motor Show, with the other two cars being one promised to the National Motor Museum (Birdwood) and the other having been shipped off to parent company in the UK and for a time the personal mode of transport for Lord Stokes, Chairman and MD of British Leyland. Although barely more than a handful of cars survive, it's not correct to refer to the Force 7 as a concept car because in actual fact around about 60 cars were completed in production (or virtually complete) when the decision was made to end local production of both the P76 sedan and the Force 7 coupe/hatchback. Leyland's management decided to destroy all of the Force 7 cars bar the few designated for auction, believing they would make better money at auction on a few cars than to try offloading a large number of cars in one hit. The Leyland Force 7V is the survivor of a range of other versions, mooted to include a 'Force 7' six cylinder coupe and 'Tour de Force' V8 luxury coupe ... there was apparently also some talk of a 'Force 7R' V8 coupe for touring car racing, with the basis of the running gear formed around the Formula 5000 racing car that John McCormack had developed featuring a high-output alloy Leyland V8 engine. Pictured below is the sole surviving 'Hairy Lime' Force 7V that has competed overseas in historic rally events and I've also included an image taken at Zetland of the primitive crushing process inflicted on the Force 7Vs that didn't make auction ...