First up, I'm fairly literal with my file names, so if anyone has any dramas with the file names as they're shown, let me know and I'll re-name them. I can't rename all of them; that would be impractical, so hopefully most of you are OK.

DAY ONE - Friday 27 September
I didn't take many pics on the first day... in fact, I only took one... this one...

A BIG thanks to Rehanna and Scott who cooked up the BBQ for us. It was a load off my mind that we didn't have to turn the snags over ourselves!

This was the only scrap of food left from the BBQ and nobody told me they went to bed hungry. Bruno and I shared it. Paul didn't show up. Luckily.

DAY TWO - Saturday 28 September

The weather was dodgy on the Saturday morning, but I wasn't too worried. Belletts have always had a poor relationship with the weatherman, despite Channel 9's weatherman, Brenton Ragless, having a Bellett-owning Dad! Some of you guys met him on the Sunday; he did the Bay to Birdwood in his International Fire Truck. He'd entered the Bellett, but was only going to do the B2B in the Bellett if it rained as the Inter is roofless! Glad he took the truck, personally!

Anyway, before we headed off to the Angove winery on the Saturday, Carol took the time to drive a proper Wasp. I hear her arms have just recovered.



It was great just to look around and see Isuzus aplenty; it made me take photos willy-nilly, even though it wasn't really an official photo opportunity. Luckily for us, Marion Holiday Park weren't precious about people parking on their grass or having multiple passes to get in and out of the park. Unlike the Adelaide Shores Holiday Park at West Beach four years ago. Sheesh.



Once we headed off, we went straight into the Hills. I like living in Adelaide, but I can appreciate that to tourists, it's kinda just another city. Our location meant that we just headed south straight down Marion Rd, then Flagstaff Hill Rd/Happy Valley Drive; then turned left onto Chandlers Hill Rd and we were in the country!

Here's that photo George took when we thought we were actually recording footage (BUGGER).



At Angove's, run by Mr Paul "Bellett.boys" Harvey, we set up the cars on the Eastern side of the winery. Some of the cars got a bit bunched up, but we spread 'em out a bit as best we could. Thanks to the Mollers and a couple of others who moved their cars mid-detail (didn't hurt 'em did it!!?!?).





Two styleside Wasps was a treat...



Guest judge was Adam DeRose; he is an acclaimed motor trimmer, having apprenticed on nothing less than Gary Myers' Silver Bullet Mustang! He and his dad and built a few show cars in their time (including a Gemini wagon which Adam recently re-purchased; so the Isuzu love is definitely there, sort of) and he knows paint, panel, trip and presentation like none of us would. The fact he was there to judge ALL cars meant that it would be harder to speculate on inconstancy.

Here he is throwing his hands in the air at the frustration of judging such awesome cars...



One thing he did require was that all bonnets be UP for judging. This caused an issue as Ross's bonnet ended up down, despite the fact he wanted his engine bay judged. I'm sure there were no under-handed shenanigans, but I guess if we get another outside judge in, we need to be mindful of that. We're all mates and all our cars pretty much work exactly the same, so it's force-of-habit to put a bonnet down when we're finished sticky-beaking!

No harm done, but it doesn't look good to our detractors when there are NINE of us parked there...ALL with our bonnets up! What's wrong guys? Rubber bands snapped?



Weather was ominous, but never broke on us again.



Now, I know it's 50 Years of Isuzu Bellett this year, but to get an unprecedented FOUR Florians at the event was totally epic! Bellett Nationals! Celebrating 46 Years of Florian!!!

I know I was chuffed to see them all together.









Although we try to discourage Gemini participation, just because the event started being for Belletts and has been expanded to include more uniquely-Isuzu vehicles, we can't say 'no' to Ant and his Gemini coupe. Being a TX, it's the first model year of the Gemini and therefore a direct replacement for the 1972/73-spec cars of myself and Geoff, plus Ant's, despite the wheelcovers (which were shared with the Isuzu Bellett Gemini Minx, I might add), is running a MONSTER, Delco-injected 1949cc Isuzu G200W DOHC donk!!!



Great to see so many Belletts together... from near (uh, mine, Ross's, Bruno's and mine again) and far (Dave Watts' 1969-spec).



I didn't think Stickman could rat his Donkey any further, but the skull takes the cake. Personally I would have loved to see a full over-rider grille. I had the same idea for my own Ratter, but mine would have been (more appropriately) made of 1966.5-onwards over-riders. I still haven't done it, mainly because my grille is rusted on from being parked in a Port Noarlunga back yard for 10 years!



And this is what everyone was competing for: a cool trophy. Bloody Luke Smith (Retroasted) set the bar pretty high with his mad air-brushing skills last year! But I liked the idea of the numberplates and Bruno was able to organise to get them mounted on 100-year-old wood they felled in the forest about a decade ago. The top screws are set exactly the right distance apart to enable you to put the plate on your car for display purposes, should you feel like it!

Unfortunately, we priced them ex-USA at about $1.04 to the US$... by the time I ordered them, we'd hit $0.79!!! FUDGE McDUCK!

But they look SICK! Just to clarify; the reason we had an OTHER and a WASP category was solely because WASP looked boss on a numberplate! OTHER didn't cut it, so several of the plates say ISUZU; we were limited to 5 characters max.



Big thanks to Craig Laws (Claws) for his donation of three BEAUTIFUL canvasses. I asked him nicely for one... and suggested I would REALLY appreciate two.... and sent him three scans from my brochures. To his credit, Craig just couldn't decide between the scans, so he made three! I'm sure you'll agree, they're awesome!



More to come...

DAY THREE - Sunday 29 September - The Bay to Birdwood Classic

No disrespect to the Nationals, but for me, this is the event I was waiting for!

We were lucky (cheeky??) enough to get Featured Marque status again and those of you that kept your entry books will notice a phat article on the Bellett in there! WooT! I still haven't had a look at the book, come to think of it.

It's always an early start, but great to get the Belletts together at the start of the event. Ant ran up separately as his fiancee had entered her '1977' (actually 1985) Datsun 1200 ute in the event. Even though they weren't near us, it didn't stop us running into them!



But really, how awesome was it to see all those Isuzu's lined up? So many people came over for a look too!







One of the highlights of the events is being waved off my the irrepressible Glen Dix; he must be 80+++ but his flag-waving abilities, which first came to worldwide attention as flag-waver of the Adelaide Australian Grand Prix 1985-1995, are certainly not diminished!

Think about it; we're just a bunch of numpties in obscure cars; that guy has waved his flag at; Keke Rosberg, Alain Prost (twice), Gerhard Berger (twice), Thierry Boutsen, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and twice to the late, great Ayrton Senna. And each time, he was wearing that exact jacket he wore for us on Sunday 29 September. He's a legend!



LEGEND


Once we hit the road, the route started out familiar; south along Tapleys Hill Road to Glenelg (aka The Bay) which the event outgrew around 20 years ago...







I'm not sure if this look meant "No photos".




We then turned East onto Anzac Highway, distinctive because of it's WIDE centre road island, utilised on events like this as a place for a family picnic! Not that you can see that here... the lights took a while to change though, so I jumped out and took a pic before we headed down Greenhill Rd.



By the time we hit Greenhill Road, we were mixed up a bit and we came across a beautiful example of Australia's most unloved car. I love Leyland P76s!!!





Further up Greenhill, Josh was still behind me. When was the last time you spied two Isuzu Wasp stylesides in formation? We certainly thought it was worthy of celebration.



Unlike previous years, the organisers decided to run the route up the South Eastern Freeway; the old route just wasn't do-able with the amount of cars and the lower level of police involvement. Having said that, apparently there was a pretty big traffic jam as the day wore on.

Either way though, we got up the freeway just fine! I was SO FAR AHEAD in my Wasp, because I was going, like, THIS FAST:



... that I pulled over to take some photos of the Flurry of Florians heading up the big hill!



Dave Watts' little '69 go the better of that ugly ol' P76 too!



Once we were off the freeway and heading into Birdwood, we were properly in the country. Just in case you don't believe me, here's a cow....



...and this absolutely amazing old rail bridge. This is off the main road; we were directed to go the back way into the National Motor Museum grounds and I'd never been up this road before.



More pics to come....

Of course, the Bay to Birdwood Classic is an amazing event because we ALL drive there together, not just rock up. But rocking up is also cool!

As Featured Marque, celebrating 50 years of the Bellett, we got our own spot and it was a way better spot than in 2009; right in the thick of it!!!

Check it out, yo!





That Volvo was super-cool... I love those 1800ES wagonoids!





That path was where about half the cars were directed down and a lot of punters; plenty of people stopped for a look!



Believe it or not, the Florian lovers (Paul, Paul (in my Florian), Gricey and Matt) managed to get their cars together... again!



I was chuffed to see two 1969-spec sedans together. Pity Rodney's 1969 Bellett GT was down the row a bit.



The old GTR is quite camouflaged...



So many different colours... and these days, shapes!



Bruno brought along his original, hand-made Hiragana Isuzu wood-cutting to put on display. He'd hand-made a copy to give away as a raffle prize (muchas gracias), but Carol took such a shining to this one, she did him a deal and traded him two genuine Isuzu flags! Bruno couldn't let it go until it had done its official display duties... plus he'll need something else to hang on the wall, because he kept this hung up in the hallway when not in use!



With others driving my cars, they were kinda all over the place. Peter and Josette Bradshaw drove my Ratter (it wasn't really their style...). I'd originally given them the Florian, but then it was evident that Paul Harvey's GT was still going to be off the road, so I kinda double booked the Florian...

So I decided it would work like this:

Davo Dave Mitchell (BULLITT) - owns a Bellett sedan... so he can drive the GTR
Paul Harvey (Bellett.boys) - grew up in a Florian, but the oldies sold it before he learned to drive, so he can drive the Florian
The Bradshaws (Goldy) - Peter was daily driving a GT for about a billion years, so I felt he should drive the sedan!
Me (Dave) - I drove the Wasp because it has character in spades... and that's about all it's got going for it! Besides, with no seat belts, I wasn't ready to have a lawsuit on my hands if it got biffed!

So I was glad to notice two of my four cars kinda were close to each other at the Nats.





Bullitt, George and Bruno were among the last men standing; the crowd had thinned out by 3:30 or so, but the die-hards were still there and still BELLETTIN HARD!




There were plenty of non-Belletts to see. I'm attracted to the oddballs; in my line of work, I get so BORED with those cars that are common... HR Holdens, HK Monaros, XY Falcon GTs... seriously, if I hear an owner of those cars go "Mate, you can't get these any more" or "Parts, mate, are impossible to get, mate" I'll scream; they have NO IDEA when you stack up those cars against Belletts for Unobtainium!

So I focussed my photos on the WEIRD stuff! Like this BMW 2000 sedan!



Speaking of weird; the Borgward Isabella is definitely a weird one. I've seen sedans and the completely-different-looking coupe, but can't remember seeing a wagon. This one drove all the way from Victoria... OK not that far by Queensland-Bellett-enthusiast distance, but bearing in mind it wasn't the Borgward Nationals for them; just the Bay to Birdwood. Having said that, with a Combi wagon and a 2-door sedan next to each other, it pretty much WAS the Borgward Nationals right there!





This big Cadillac has a personal attachment; it's an ex-California Black Plate car we imported via Garage of Awesome. The Cadillac Coupe DeVille owner and the BMW 2002 owner are mates and were happy to convoy together in a haze of beige!



I used to be really allergic to Citroens... now I know it's just the new ones are boring!



... the DS is positively amazing. I remember when you used to see these around; now they're pretty few and far between.



This little Datsun 1200 coupe is showing some attitude with the little period Globe alloys.



And speaking of Datsuns... it pains me to say this, but this Datsun 120Y was awesome! An early model too, with the 'cake-tin' hubcaps!



Now I know I said I only like the weird and rare... but think about this... this HQ Monaro LS has NOT been GTS-ified! So few of these Monaro LS's seem to remain. They were essentially a Premier coupe and were very upmarket; quad headlights (familiar... where I have I seen quad headlights before?), chrome boot strip and a vinyl roof. Well, that was all upmarket stuff back in 1972!!! This one has a sneaky 350 decal on the front guard. If this is a factory 350 (and I'm not sure if that was an option on the LS), it would be a VERY rare car and one that's very lucky not to have been ruined during the 1980s or 1990s!



I spotted this MINT Torana G-Pak returning from the concourse area!



I love the J-tin! Honda S600 was an original-looking car!



Another surprise was this Lamborghini Urraco. DeTomaso owners aren't shy about getting out to shows like this; their Ford 351s mean they're just muscle cars with Italian bodies and not prone to breaking down en route, but I don't recall ever seeing a Lamborghini slumming it on the Bay to Birdwood before! I love the wheels on these things.



I found another Leyland P76, this time in brown. Irony, given the numberplate is PEE!



Craig Fordham had two of his Colts there; his Colt 1000 sedan...



...and the Colt 1100F hatch he recently gave to his dad.



Going back to wobbly British cars for a second; this Morris Marina TC was recently taken off daily driver duties!!!



Now hold onto your hats; I fully intend to do a Garage of Awesome article on this in the near future.... but I found a 'Twini Mini'!

I didn't know any existed and could/still be registered. This was a recent build and the lady there said it was the only one built that actually worked. I beg to differ; there are a few old articles on these things, but trick is you need the front engine and the rear engine to be perfectly in tune. If the front one is lagging behind it bit, its a recipe to swap ends as the rear pushes harder than the front!

I thought the only way to do it right was with modern EFI systems and computer wizardry, but apparently I'm wrong! Behold! The TWINI MINI!









The Prince Skyline boys always put on a good display. Again, they drive here all the way from Vic just for the B2B! And they do it every 2 years!











This Riley Kestrel did my head in; the digits and dodgy style of the rego plate says to me it's been here since day one, but I didn't think they sold the ADO16 body here in Australia outside of a Morris 1100/1300/1500. Perhaps it was imported ex-UK or ex-NZ really early on.





I surprised someone the other day when I mentioned my flagrant disregard for Saabs. The guy was really surprised, but they've never really inspired me, despite being taken for a terror-ride in a 900 Turbo when I was a kid.

BUT THIS ONE IS AWESOME! We never got the Sonnett III here; pity coz it's off the DIAL.







Matt (Farmer) said to me, "Some car, that Simca". After I asked him if he was having a stroke, he mentioned that's how the adverts went back in the day. I beg to differ; it's certainly some car... but probably not in the way they'd hoped.

The big cheesy grille is pretty underground....



But what gets me is the clearly-sedan doors! I guess Holden did it like that too for the FB-EK... but still!



I've always been partial to a Steyr-Puch Haflinger. I almost made a prospective Shannons customer cry with joy one time when I immediately knew what his Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer was (it's like a big version of the Haflinger, I said!). This one is rolling on some serious mud-plugging tyres!



Yes, it has NSW rego. No, he didn't drive it all the way here; I confirmed that much with him!



Let's finish off with some Toyotas.

This RT73 Mark II Coupe has been here since day one; I've been seeing it around for years and it's copped a respray which is good, and a wheel upgrade. Never seen another one here, although I wish he'd get some retro plates; you can get plates without "The Festival State" on them like what's on my Florian, GTR and Wasp. He should do that.



This little Celica was very pretty.



Lastly, the CMV Group had a big load of vehicles, large and small, at the Bay to Birdwood Classic. For those that don't know, CMV Group are CMI Toyota, Adelaide's largest Toyota dealers, despite their annoying jingle.

They must have dealt some eclectic machines over the years; their collection included Mack Trucks, Volvo Trucks, a lot of classic Toyotas and some Rootes Group products like Hillmans, Sunbeams and a Commer truck! A workmate used to work for CMI Toyota as a mechanic and said they had a beaten-up Sunbeam convertible as a parts-getter before they took it off the road to restore it! WHAT THE?!??!



Their Landcruisers are actually beautiful. And worth HEAPS. That 'Cruiser on the right would fetch around $80k in the USA, I reckon.



Well, that's all the pics I can share tonite.

I'll share some more tomorrow night if I get the chance; we finished off the Nationals with a leisurely cruise to the Goolwa Motor Museum and a squadron formation send off through the Heysen Tunnels!


Cheers guys!


Dave

Thanks Dave, for taking the time (lots of it too by the look of all the captions), to post these for the people who could not make it.

Some great photos and comments mate - cheers.


Awesome!!!

Neil

great pics dave

Awesome read for those of us that did'nt make the Great Event,
Thanks for spending the time to post Gerry

Gerry it was the best assortment cars I have ever seen in my life and bloody great people to experience this with top job Adelaide ....davo

Great photo's Dave.
I had a good chat with the 120Y fastback owner (Mike) for about half hour as I had one myself a few years ago. Not as neat as his but I loved it, except for the lack of HP. I also got his details to send him some of my postable parts I still have floating around for it plus gave him contacts I know for re manufactured parts for them too. Really nice bloke who loves his Datto's (he has a couple more that he and his daughter are rebuilding together)
I also had a 63 Cruiser the same as the ute on the left. Mine was pretty rusty however and I sold it to a local enthusiast for $1200 (I paid $600) who wet his pants when he sore it and it's ultra low chassis number. The one in your pic was FJ45-014940 (I think from memory) and mine was FJ45-002476 but that wagon was pure horn! First time I'd seen one in the metal.

Interesting you had one of the early cruisers Sticko !! When i first started working for then called "Woods and Forests" 25 years ago, we still drove "cruisers" like that in the Govie fleet We had tray top single cabs for the work and the boss had a short wheel base troopie, which I nearly rolled one day

I think i put it on the wrong thread, but yeah, great camio of the weekend, Dave. You are always gravitated to the good stuff while some of us where awed like stunned mullets in the B2B paddock. So much cool tin and not enough time.

B.B.B.

Yes Dave, very cool selection and captions mate!
Thanks for the walk around the rare tin too. Like Bruno says, so much but for not long enough.

We had the best weekend, Mitch is angling to book for Tassie!
Super-awesome!!

Cheers, Matt.

Hell no. Just noticed one of the number plates, think it is oz toffas white sedan. RE0 641. my gt i had 20 years ago was REO 642

Hell no. Just noticed one of the number plates, think it is oz toffas white sedan. RE0 641. my gt i had 20 years ago was REO 642

RBS946 is my Sedan Rego.

reckon your talking about the Riverland car!



OZ

Yeah boys that is Laurie's car; he hails from 'near Mannum'.

He's not on the forum, but he has just bought a computer, so hopefully he works it out!


Cheers,


Dave

Here's some more pics!

Terry and Janet had to jet early in the morning. Their set up was pretty cool; caravan, PR90 and Isuzu truck with colour-coded front bumper!



Like I said in an earlier post; it was cool just to look around and see cool cars laying about!



While some guys elected to go, all the guys from Queensland and a lot from NSW agreed to stick around so we could go on another, casual cruise. We organised to go hit up the Goolwa Motor Museum; just a short but beautiful drive south. The weather was a bit crumby, but we didn't mind. We're HARDCORE!

We did have a bit of trouble from a wayward kangaroo.... what's that, Skip? Smugglers are in the forest capturing our native flora and fauna for their own, nefarious ends? Not today Skip, we're on an Isuzu cruise!

I actually had to stop the cruise in the middle of the road while the poor bugger bounced from one side of the road to the other. They seem to be blind to fences, as this guy kept crashing into them. Eventually he found a fork in the road and took the road less travelled and we were able to continue.



We took over the road outside the Museum! He knew of Belletts and Florians, but the 117s either side of the gate had him stumped!





The Lightburn Zeta is rare at the best of times... not good, but certainly rare. Look closely; this one is actually a ute! Apparently one of six made! Also, g'day Ross, Ant, Stickman and Liz! You've been tagged!



Stickman is everywhere; here he is with Bruno, a Citroen 2CV and everyone's favourite deathtrap, the Polish-built FSM Niki 650!!



We left the museum and headed to the Heritage Pies and Pastries Bakery around the corner. The lady running the show was very nice to us!

Nice pies, but at my table at least, anyone NOT called Dave need not apply!




That's all the pics from the Monday.


Cheers!


Dave





Proprietor Michael Finniss used to be a classic car dealer and has hoarded a few choice items for himself. The concept of the museum is probably to be able to write his private collection off on tax, but also so his wife knows where he is. His collection had some cool stuff, like this

Parting is always such sweet sorrow, but I still managed to take a few pics.

This was only with my phone and the sky looked really awesome, but that doesn't really show in the pic.

Still, Ray and Ruby's 117 and Gricey's Florian are both always super cool.



We left with the Queenslanders and did the peak-hour grind down Cross Road to the Freeway. It's a pig of a road; everyone else is trying to go North-South while we head East across town. I stopped at the base of the Freeway to allow us to bunch up and when we did, we headed up the road to give our Queensland mates a send off.

I really wanted to hear a couple of GTs race uphill through the Heysen Tunnel in third gear, exhausts blaring, intakes sucking and thought I might be disappointed...

I was briefly near Greg & Liz, and Bruno...



...but I was sitting on 100km/h and had left everyone behind, despite it being a 100-zone. Where were they? Hanging back to keep their procession together? It was looking bleak.

Then....

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Greg and Liz burst out of nowhere next to me; we kept the right-foot floored all the way through the tunnel, exhausts reverberating off the walls, revs climbing, third gear being held firmly in place.

We blasted either side of some Honda CRV in the centre lane, probably only doing about 120, but enough to look totally awesome like we'd just sliced and diced this chump who probably now suffers permanent hearing loss.

Liz was clapping and has as big a grin as I've ever seen;



...suddenly the grind down Cross Road was worth it; it was probably only 20 seconds, maybe ten, but worth every penny of petrol and every life-wasting second at the traffic lights. Those Belletts in the tunnel brought tears to my eyes.

Bruno, Gav and I peeled off at the next exit and returned to the caravan park to check out. The back way.

I, too, had as big a grin as I've ever worn.


Cheers to all the people who attended, from near and from afar. A big shout-out goes to Rod from Tasmania, but an especially big shout-out goes to the Queenslanders; their kind made up the second-largest state at the Nationals after SA, they are always inclusive, they choose not to debate about the validity of one club over another, nor about the validity of one car over another, and they never, ever complain about driving their cars thousands of miles, only to drive their cars around some more at the Nats, then do the whole trip home again.

It was great to see you all again and see all our cars out there on the road; Belletts are a special vehicle; they bring us together by the virtue that they are so very different, not just to other cars, but to each other. I'm unsure there are two the same out there and they always keep us guessing.

Roll on 2014!!

Cheers,


Dave

That last fang took the sadness out of the completion of a great weekend I saw your smile and laughing I did not think a smile could be a inch wider than your head.
Ol Yella had a vacuum leak on his front carb I did tighten it at Adelaide but he now has a new gasket and ready or another adventure.

Looking at these pics, I've got to get the SLR camera out the window more often; so much cooler fanging along than sitting on the grass like a herd of cows! Nah those pics are cool too, but those last two are my favourites (except for Darren Gerlach's pics of three of my four cars together at West Beach!)

I love how low Greg and Liz's GT is.............

and the big smile!!

Hey Dave, Thanks for the great photos. And you even captured a Morris Marina coupe.......
YP