PR91
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:54 am Posts: 2542
|
![Reply with quote Reply with quote](./styles/avalongreen/imageset/en/icon_post_quote.gif)
hi all. well, after god-alone-knows how many hours of studying and cross referencing, i've come up with the following details about the Bellett's life in Australia.
enjoy!
Bellett's were sold Australia wide between mid 1964 and late 1970. Tasmania is believed to have seen a few sedans imported as late as mid 1971 tho.
sales commenced in Sydney NSW on the 21/8/1964. as a point here, the first Bellett sold is still alive and well, and is proudly owned by a forum member.
approx 16,000 PR20 sedans were imported, along with 290 GT's (consisting of 55 PR90's and 235 PR91's), and 122 KR20 Wasp's (consisting of 119 "normal" wheelbase cars and 3 "long" wheelbase cars). the only exact Bellett import numbers from specific years i've found so far are: 1965 - 3,580 cars. 1966 - 2,129 cars. *EDIT 13/2/12. 1968 - 1,091 cars. it is estimated that the ratio of tray back to styleside ute back Wasp's imported is 2 tray to 1 ute. a customer could get his/her Wasp in either basic cab-chassis form, or fitted with a 6'6'X5'4" "factory" tray, or with the mentioned proper styleside ute tub. i write "factory" in relation to the tray, as it was actually a locally made piece that came from a few coach builders around the country and was fitted before delivery to the customer. all Australian delivered Wasp's were imported in one shipment in 1965, with the last of these cars taking the best part of 3 years to sell....
Bellett's were distributed around Australia by a series of individual state based distributors. There was never a nation wide dealer network for them, as is common place in the car world today. the distributors were as follows: NSW had 2.... early on it was "RJ Gardner Motors" at 232 Parramatta Rd, Auburn. later this changed to "Griffon Motors" at 85 William St, Kings Cross. Victoria had 2.... early on it was "Canopus Motors", at the cnr of Chambers and McArthur Rds, Altona Nth. later this changed to "Willys Motors" at 594 Elizabeth St, Melbourne. QLD had 1.... "Willys Motors" at 339 Wickam St, Fortitude Valley. SA had 1.... "Martins Distributors" at 949-955 South Rd, Edwardstown. WA had 2.... early on it was "Maison Motors" at 210 Adelaide Terr, Perth. later this changed to ""Parkside Motors", 145 Welshpool Rd, Welshpool. and Tasmania had 1.... "Davies Car Centre" at the cnr of Wellington and Frederick Sts, Launceston.
one of the things i'd dearly love to know is what is now located at each of these sites today, including get a photo or 2. i know the 2 Victorian site now have a commercial printing works at the early "Canopus" site, and the "Willys" site became the AMI-Toyota dealer after Bellett sales ended for many years, and is now the site of "Melbourne City Lexus". if anyone can help with the other sites, please PM me with any details so they can be added here. thanks!
also, i'm building a list of individual dealers and site locations as we speak, especially the Melbourne dealers, so any info frm other states is appreciated too.
|