The greatest advantage of the Land Rover V8 engine, behind its compact size, competitive power-to-weight ratio and astonishingly light weight for a stock V8 block, is just how much scope there was to tune, adjust and adapt the engine for a wide range of purposes.

It was refined and smooth enough for use in executive Rover saloon cars for decades, but also powerful enough to be used in British supercars and the astonishing Land Rover-derived Bowler Wildcat.

However, one of the most fascinating and tragically rare versions of the Rover V8 engine was a 4.4-litre variant designed for the unique Australian market.

The engine, badged as a Leyland due to the brand recognition of Leyland cars in Australia at the time, was designed for a car exclusively intended to be sold down under.

This was the Leyland P76, an Australian large car built by the British and intended to compete with the all-conquering Ford Falcon in the country.

Nicknamed the wedge due to its remarkably prescient design, designed to fit a 44-gallon barrel in the boot, the P76 was the first true attempt to build an Australian car following the niche success of the Austin Tasman (a slightly modified Austin 1800).

The initial demand was remarkably strong, and the 4.4-litre engine was promising given its power-to-weight advantage over the cast-iron Ford and Holden engines, but it came at the absolute worst time.

The 1973 oil crisis decimated the market for large cars, which doomed the P76 before it had even launched, but what made this worse was rapid inflation, increasing prices, industrial action at the Zetland plant where the car was to be manufactured, and financial issues for British Leyland, which ultimately led to nationalisation.

All of these problems caused build quality and reliability issues, turning a car that had received awards into an infamous lemon with not enough time to turn around its reputation.

In total, just 18,000 P76s were sold over 18 months, a disaster that saw Leyland of Australia shut its doors.