Tasmanian P76 Owners

As stated last month part of my Longford trip was to catch up with club members Andy and Judy Frith near
: Launceston. After saying goodbye to Bob and my other car Friends at Longford, I travelled to Andy’s house
: and went straight to the shed where he was working on an air box for a customers modified Renault, (after
: making from scratch twin inlet manifolds for its webber carbs and extractors) Andy has been busy on his P76
: projects so I will summarise what he has been up to.
: He has all the parts for his Peel Me a Grape which is currently on the rotisserie that he built (clever man).
: He is working on the car from back to front and has just completed the boot floor.
: This car will be a street machine and has a Subaru Liberty steering column with adjustable height and stalk controls. The car also will have TE to TL magna power electric mirrors requiring rework of the doors to mount them in the
: correct position. It has extensive work to the firewall and will have the Subaru HVAC system which will fit under the dash area
: The Subaru steering wheel has been used with a Force 7 Leyland badge in the centre.
: Andy has the short motor back from the Engine Reconditioners, chrome plated the harmonic balancer, and many suspension parts and brackets and has a set of new VD0 instruments.
: The car has a rebuilt and completed disc brake lsd diff ready to go into the car, a completed interior, and a 5 speed supra gearbox conversion for which I donated the Dellows bellhousing for the cause.
: Andy also has the wheels and rims for this car which are 15x8 and 16x10 Bathurst Globes with black centres.
: There is a lot of work going into this restoration.
: In early 2011 Andy was fortunate to purchase the Force 7 that was assembled outside of the factory after it closed (number 11).
: Andy also bought the entire parts collection that came with the car, which is spread between his vast garage and a shipping container on his property. This includes gearboxes, engines, trim, 3 Force 7 rear seat set ups, steering racks
: etc; he has enough parts to keep all the Tassie P76s currently on the road for another 40 years.
: We wheeled the S2 out into the open and it is so interesting just to look at the inner roof and interior panels that are so different to sedan parts and you can see where the $3 million dollars of tooling and development costs went to.
: Luckily the coupe has the correct lower apron panels, the noryl (plastic composite) nose cone assembly, the rear bumper bar, spare tailgate hatches and other unique Force 7 panels including Left -Andy with his Force 7/11 the fuel tank and rear boot spare wheel covers to make this car more authentic than one might think.
: Plans for the restoration of this car are detailed and for now a secret but it will emerge a very unique car when done.
: Andy also has plans to fully restore a Bitter Apricot 6 cylinder 4 speed "luxury pack" that I found for him and was with him when he bought it.
: Andrew also owns a black P76 Executive formerly owned by the Tasmanian Government and was used in the Queens visit to Tasmania in 1976.
: It was built as a crystal white/Imperial leather interior and at the factory was repainted black with Berger stickers still attached.
: It was also fitted with chrome strips in the middle of the bonnet and "spears" on the top of the guards.
: The bonnet possibly had an attachment for the Governor's flag or crest.
: The car also has a beige vinyl roof for which I have helped to source some new material for its replacement.
: As these restorations progress we will cover the work in detail in future articles Andrew has other cars including; 2 Subaru Vortex's (both 4x4 turbo) and a Bug Eye Sprite.
: The Subaru Vortex are for sale (know any buyer's), as the funds will help in P76/F7 restoration. The Sprite is at the end of his restoration list and might occur after he has retired.
: I'm sure that this collection of cars will be very impressive and eye catching when completed and as Andy is a welder/fabricator by trade, most work he does himself up to and including primer stage.
: He has the contacts within the panel beating industry for those extra tricky bits and for final painting.
: I am sure the final work will be of the best standard and that it will help inspire us to get our own projects sorted out.

Friday, December 9, 2011 1:39 PM
: Hi Adrian
: Attached is my membership application and other vehicle specs plus a scan of compliance plates I removed from some old wrecked P's down here.
: The Executive was factory black special job for the Premiers department in Tassie, with vinyl roof. Poor old girl needs TLC badly which will happen in the future
: Bitter Apricot 6 has some minor rust to cut out and then a respray. Both cars go but I have let the rego run out till both are restored.
: Peel me a grape car is on the rotisserie undergoing restoration at the moment. Is going to be my custom street machine.
: I also am the owner of the Force 7 that was assembled off the production line. There are a lot of rumours around this car so I will give you some info.
: The only non-Force 7 parts of the car are the floor pan from the front of the rear seat forward and the firewall and inner front guards and chassis rail.
: As these items are shared with the sedan
: It really makes no difference that sedan ones were used to complete the car. It has no side glass or interior side panel/door trim. Another project!!!
: I also have some motors kicking around, here are the following numbers
: 4400/4889 currently in the force 7 kms unknown
: 4400/3571 kms unknown
: 4400/2611 reco done 40,000 km
: 4404/3033 reco has not been started since. Has internal mods done
: 4417/1619 believed to be out of a terrier truck. Has red rocker covers.
: Hope this info is useful.
: Cheers
: Andrew Frith

Tasmanian P76 Owner

FORCE 7/11 and others

The Andy Frith Collection - Nick Kounelis