Rare P76 Targa Florio up for grabs

The car is one of a limited run of 900 Targa Florio P76s, built in 1974 to mark driver Evan Green's win in that year's World Cup Rally stage of the same name in Sicily, at the wheel of a near-street spec P76 V8.

Part of a deceased estate, this specimen is in original condition, kept since new by an owner who worked for BMC-Leyland for more than 30 years. Shannons lists it as being in excellent condition, garaged all its life and running up just 71,450km. The lot includes much of the car's original documentation, including full workshop and owners manuals.

Shannons has put a price guide of $8000 to $12,000 on the car.

There's a bonus in the paint job, too: of the 900, only 100 Targa Florios came in the Aspen Green duco of this example. All came in upper 'Super' spec, with a 4.4-litre all-alloy V8, three-speed T-bar automatic transmission, power steering and a limited-slip differential.

Designed and built in Australia to tackle the Holden-Ford-Valiant triumvirate dominating the market at the time, the P76 emerged from the design studios of Giovanni Michelotti, the man behind most of the striking Triumphs of the era (GT6, 2000/2.5PI, Dolomite and Stag), as well as a number of 1950s Maseratis and the stunning Reliant Scimitar.

Leyland offered the choice of a 2.6-litre six (from the Austin Kimberley and Tasman models the P76 effectively superseded) or a modified Rover V8 engine, itself a derivative of a Buick unit. With its aluminium block, it was an advanced mill for its time. An important part of the sell for the car was the weight advantage – said to be about 230kg – Leyland claimed over the cast-iron blocks used by the Big Three. Going on the market just in time for the 1970s oil crisis, it allowed Leyland to claim the fuel economy advantage of a smaller displacement engine.

The car debuted to considerable acclaim, picking up the Wheels COTY award in 1973 for its mix of advanced technology up front and, among other things, its enormous boot. Looking at cars like today's Honda City, Michelotti proved prescient in his use of a wedge silhouette with an oversized rear end. The company proved the P76's class-leading cargo space with a proliferation of pictures of a 44-gallon drum in its boot.

The package wasn't enough to defeat the oil crisis, however. By 1975, after a total production run of just 18,000, Leyland killed it off, though not before trying to rekindle consumer interest with talk of a wagon and pics of a striking coupe hatch version, the Force 7.

The company built more than 50 of the latter, most of which it's said to have wrecked at the factory to bump up the auction price of the eight they kept. All eight are still alive and driving. Don't expect one at auction any time soon.

The P76 is one of 11 vehicles on sale without a reserve price. Others include a rare 1969  RHD Ford Torino GT Convertible ($16,000-$22,000), a 'project' 1977 LX  Torana SL/R 253 V8 auto and a 1924 Dodge Tourer with just two owners from new. Shannons predicts the latter two will realised $8000-$12,000 apiece.

Oh, and there's a classic '73 Datto 1200 coupe in 'nice original specification' - $4000-7000

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