That is just fantastic, well done to every one invovled
can I order a station wagon version please.

The bloke doing the engine has a couple of 1800s that really go. I guess this one will go alright as well.

That is sh!t hot!
American Racing wheels? Great looking rims anyway

Now "THAT`S" what im talking about girlfriend,,, Phat as!!!!!!!!!! looks sweet

& yes definately needs a turbo charged alloy V8 FWD under there

HOT!!!,,, Just love it

well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The was a couple of P76 wagons produced from the Aussie factory too & i believe even a ute or 2 were made.

we have an old Kimberly ute,,, same-o-same-o really (ort of) ,,, but dad wants to make it into a duel cab ute with one of my leyland alloy V8 conversions to push the dam big heavy pig along

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Around 1970-1 Leyland Australia built an 1800 ute with a slighlty extended front engine bay. In it they put a P76 4.4 engine, then in it's early stage of development, facing north south with a transaxle gearbox driving the front wheels. Wheels mag had a story and photos of the ute. I think it was only ever intended as an evaluation project, though there was some speculation at the time that Leyland might put it into production (wishful thinking more like it).

I had a Mk2 1800 ute for more than 20 years, with an 1800 MGB spec engine. Great workhorse and very distinctive. Most Mini dealers in the '70s had them too (Manton used one as a tow vehicle, painted in Shell Yellow Racing Team colours)

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

Slide that factory ute was a money pit,,, that`s actually why they canned the project,,, it was reputed to have had $48 thousand dollars spent on it ... back then its a big chunk of money in anyones language

ZF transaxle & porche this & something or other that all fabbed & modded & stuffed with,,, all the while the easy way was staring them right in the face,,, silly munts

The P76 engine should have been shoved into the Marina coupe , but with some suspension that actually worked & with some sterring that didn`t bump & throttle steer like an old billy cart,,, Now "THAT" would have been a fire breathing Aussie muscle car to rival the likes of Toranas & HO`s at Bathurst etc

There was (what was called) a """LLinga" that was a medium sized (almost a cross between an early corina & a torana looking thing) produced,,, i believe a couple actually made it into complete driving cars,,, but they too were canned eventually

Poor Leyland,,, wandering around like heads with their chickens cut off for too long

They had all the goodies but didn`t know what to do with them,,, silly munts

anyways,,, great LandCrab Ute guys,,, can`t wait to see it in the flesh

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I have an old wheels or modern motor here somewhere which show's they went further with that and made a V6 version of the alloy V8 (can't remember if it was 3.5 or 4.4 though) by essentially chopping out cylinders 5 and 6 . I'll dig it up and see what the story was , don't think they were planning on improving the suspension though

Any chance of some photo's of the Kimberly ute Matt , never seen a Ute version .

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Yeah they did play with the V6 idea too,,, they had a finger in all sorts of pies,,, just nothing really came to fruit ,,, sad,,, really sad actually,,, i was hangingfor something factory to race back then

& yeah,,, i`ll see if we have some old pics,,, dad was too dam skungey & stingey to buy a camera but mum might have taken a few pics of it,,, i`ll take some of it as it looks now & you`ll cry i`m sure.... it`s essentially a land crab 1800 ute with kimberly front,, i think they made 2 of those as well,,, they seemed to make at least 2 of everything back then,,, rego-ed back in the day simply as an "Austin utility"



The Metro 6R4 group B rally weapon was spawned from a V6 version of the P76 engine (in a round-a-bout sort of way-ish),,, well ok,,, not quite but there are some very close simalarities
add over head cams & turbos & injection & 4x4 & you have my favourite car

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

matt

they did build one but it was done by special tunig, had all hand made aloy front panels and doors and much better front suspension and brakes, Newbreed Leyland in Canberra imported it and a very special clubman in both built by St for rallycross, only saw them a couple of times before the dealership went broke and it all disappeared, wonder where it went

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

In the Uk they developed the 1800 into the Austin 3 litre, another monumental flop.



They used the rwd 3 litre C series engine, which was basically a heavy dud (did horrible things to the MGC). They should have used the Australian Blue streak six, which was a 6 cylinder B series.

Tim

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1951 Morris Commercial J Type Van
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian

Here`s a (very bad) pic of our Kimberly ute,,, it`s just tucked in behind the Ambulance in the driveway,,, i know it`s a horrible pic & you probably can`t see diddly sqyaut,,, but seems like the only pic i have on computer,,, i`ll dig through my big box of old photos & see if i can find a clear shot of the old girls & i`ll rip down to dads place next week & snap a pic of it as it is now



& here`s one of our mini Ambulance,,, they were made here in Aust as Ambulances, but after a short while they were relegated "Laundry Duty" throughout the hospital grounds, they somehow smashed this one & we bought it, fixed here back up & shoved a 1415 stroker into it it was just perfect for having lunch in the back at race meetings & sit on the roof to watch the races



It was a really good spare parts delivery car,,, big panels & heaps of boxes & ,,, well,,, chuck whatever you wanted in the back

Anyways,,, i`ll see what other pics i can find next week, i`m off surfing at Byron , back saturday & will be racing my kombi at Willowbank Autocross on sunday if anyone is interested in watching me blow up another gearbox

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

The funny thing about the V8 Rover / P76 motor is that is was originally a Buick (Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac) motor.
Leyland Australia was going to make a V6 version (and also rumors of a slant 4 ) of the alloy V8. Buick actually made a V6 version of the same V8, the difference was that Buick made the V6 out of cast iron. When GM sold the V8 project to Rover they sold the V6 project to Willys for Jeeps but they later changed their mind and bought the V6 back. GM rehashed the V6 in the 80s and it eventually became the Holden Commodore motor.
So a Holden V6 is almost a revised version of the stillborn Leyland V6.

yeah,,, sort of,,, in an incestual sort of way the buick is by far the better engine than the GM Dunnydore thing tho...

i`d still take the 6R4 Metro engine with motha turbo anyday tho

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I'd just take the 6R4 altogether , it's my ultimate car (love to turn up to an MG car club motorkhana and wipe the floor with it ....) and has been for many years .

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Not from what I've read and heard. The Rover V8 is based on the Buick motor but the P76 V8 was made from scratch here in Australia , or so I've been told numerous times.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.