1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - 12 pages

[dave]

With all the excitement (well, mine certainly) about Waspy87's recent find of a pretty good styleside, I thought it's high time we added another Wasp brochure to the collection.

This is a Japanese-specific brochure and was one of the early ones, back with Isuzu were seriously trying to prove something with the new Bellett. This brochure shows a Showa date of 38, which is 1963... now THAT'S early!

The front cover is just awesome, showing a chromed example of the Wasp's ultra-cool dog-dish hupcap, with a convex reflection of a Wasp in the cap. Wasps, certainly those in Australia, were renowned amongst Bellett enthusiasts as only coming in Wasp blue, and until now all early-model Wasp brochures have shown only Wasp blue examples, aside from the odd sign-written item. However this is clearly some kind of beige. Typical Bellett mystery!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 01.jpg (55.89 KiB) Viewed 659025 times

When opening to the first inside page of this brochure, the level of quality becomes evident. The brochure has large, bold pictures, some of which take up a whole page like the front does on page 2. The fantastic detail shot of the front of everybody's favourite (well, everybody on THIS site) 1-tonne is excellent and shows that the original bumper, certainly on this 1963-spec model, was colour coded. This is a fact that was probably lost to time!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 02.jpg (63.22 KiB) Viewed 659021 times

Inside several of the pages, there is an insert page that is a bit less than half the size of the normal page. It's very wordy, and being in Japanese it's pretty useless to us! This first page has '64' at the top, and given that this was produced in October 1963, it's safe to assume it's for the 1964-model Wasp.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 02 insert.jpg (52.57 KiB) Viewed 659022 times

Essentially, the insert page is its own, smaller page. Turning the page basically just turns over the insert page, so here is the next one:

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 03 insert.jpg (61.43 KiB) Viewed 659022 times

The next full page is a full-size view of the Wasp interior. It appears that all the Japanese Wasps were column-shift items, while all the Aussie-spec items were floor shift. Man I wish mine was column-shift as column-shift is cool! Evident here is the lack of a cigarette lighter. Certainly the Belletts had them, while my particular Wasp has a hole, however this shows there is definitely a blanking plate for the lighter, at least.

Also obvious is a chrome horn rim. My particular Wasp was fitted with a chrome item identical to a Bellett-issue horn rim when I bought it, however amongst the spare parts came a black example. Waspy87's styleside also seems to have a non-chromed, possibly black horn rim. It would stand to reason that the basic Wasp would have a non-chromed item and mine certainly shows no evidence of ever having been chromed.

However, this one is chrome! It's certainly not hard to either tick an option box or grab a brand new spare from your Isuzu dealer. Well, it certainly wasn't hard in the mid 1960s. And because this brochure is supposed to show how awesome this brand new car is, it's understandable they fitted the bling-spec horn rim!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 03.jpg (66.46 KiB) Viewed 659022 times

Turning over to page 4 shows a full page photo of a beige Wasp, with ubiquitous happy Japanese man driving! This is a good pic for those wanting to find where their Wasp badge is supposed to go!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 04.jpg (88.47 KiB) Viewed 659024 times

Pages 4 and 5 have another insert page; here's the first one:

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 04 insert.jpg (62.86 KiB) Viewed 659018 times

...and turning over, here is the next insert page.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 05 insert.jpg (47.05 KiB) Viewed 659017 times

When opening the brochure, here's what the insert pages look like against the standard pages:

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 05 example.jpg (27.72 KiB) Viewed 659017 times

And here's page 5. This is a great picture, showing the Wasp with its huge tray with one tonne capacity. I wonder if there's a tonne of flowers in there. I dunno.... a tonne of flowers would certainly be lighter than a tonne of bricks.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 05.jpg (94.99 KiB) Viewed 659015 times

Pages 6 and 7 are the centre pages of the brochure and have a great bunch of small shots across the bottom, which a mega-wide-screen shot of the Wasp at high speed in the countryside at the top.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 06-07.jpg (40.02 KiB) Viewed 659013 times

Page 6 shows the usual happy Japanese people going about their business. Water squirters are apparently a great feature.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 06.jpg (60.38 KiB) Viewed 659013 times

Page 7 has a diagram of the dashboard, plus it shows the great turning circle of the Wasp. They fail to mention the amount of effort required to actually turn the steering wheel!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 07.jpg (70.56 KiB) Viewed 659014 times

Moving to page 8 and as usual there is no mention of the 1500cc motor that was standard on Aussie-delivered Wasps. Instead there is the usual 1300cc engine, along with the 1800cc Diesel.

The engine bay diagram also shows the pressed sheet rocker cover that was standard on the early 3-bearing motor. And uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but does that show two batteries!?

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 08.jpg (99.78 KiB) Viewed 659011 times

Page 8 insert:

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 08 insert.jpg (60.7 KiB) Viewed 659008 times

Page 9 insert:

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 09 insert.jpg (44.88 KiB) Viewed 659003 times

Page 9 is a glorious drawing of the Wasp chassis. I think this picture has appears in other brochures, but never as a full page drawing! Unsure how this one got an orange air filter cover; normally they're black on the Wasp and blue on the Belletts (and possible black on early Belletts; I can't remember).

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 09.jpg (68.33 KiB) Viewed 659002 times

Page 10 shows some of the features of the Wasp, including the steering box, alternator, front and rear drums, torsion-beam front end suspension and heavy-duty leaf spring rear suspension.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 10.jpg (57.93 KiB) Viewed 658999 times

This time, the page 10's insert has information that correlates with the numbered diagrams on page 10.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 10 insert.jpg (76.3 KiB) Viewed 658997 times

The final insert shows the standard vehicle diagrams; what Isuzu brochure would be complete without it? I think there is some poetic licence in the ride height...

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 11 insert.jpg (66.78 KiB) Viewed 658996 times

The penultimate page shows a specs table, although the choice of a yellow background is slightly bizarre given that every other Bellett or Wasp brochure has this info in black and white.

Again, info is given for the KR10 1300 and the KR10D 1800 Diesel only.

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 11.jpg (71.41 KiB) Viewed 658995 times

The back page shows the regular Isuzu copywright info and the Showa date of 38.10, which is October 1963, meaning this is one of the earliest Bellett (or Wasp) brochures I've ever seen!

1963 Isuzu Wasp brochure - Japanese - pages - 12.jpg (20.09 KiB) Viewed 658993 times

Cheers,

Dave

[BELLQLD]

great stuff again dave your a ledgend makes you wanna go out and look in every paddock for the deserted wasp cheers davo

[RobSA]

awesome Dave.

Two batteries, I think that maybe the diesel engine.
There is suspiciously something which looks like the fuel cannister between the rocker cover and extra battery.
24V system or some derivative of to start the diesel?

Cheers
Rob

[KJB]

Diesel fuel filters,gigantic starter motor and and an alternator- has to be diesel.
KB

[waspy87]

awesome work dave! didnt realise how much of a fuss i would make finding that rig. if you look at the interior shot of my wasp you can see that the air filter canister is blue? bellett one maybe?

[RobSA]

That's what makes this forum so much fun

Cheers
Rob

[PR91]

dave, both of my Wasp's had a chrome horn ring too, so i'd say they were original like that, as most of them have this.
also, 3 bearing Bellett engines had a black air cleaner, and the 5 bearing had a blue one.
waspy, your Wasp will have a blue one as someone has fitted a later 5 bearing 1600 from a Florian to your car.
cheers.

[waspy87]

aahh i c i c. shows how much i know about isuzu's! by the way, finally got a few spare minutes and started cleaning out the wasp.....and.....ahh... few things i am going to need. seems the weather wasnt too kind to the drivers side seat belt. it has literally been 'aged' in half. i will take some pics when i get a chance and put them up.

[PR91]

aahh i c i c. shows how much i know about isuzu's! by the way, finally got a few spare minutes and started cleaning out the wasp.....and.....ahh... few things i am going to need. seems the weather wasnt too kind to the drivers side seat belt. it has literally been 'aged' in half. i will take some pics when i get a chance and put them up.

the seat belts will be aftermarket jobbies dude. again, never had them standard.
i had to fit mounts and god knows what else to mine when i built it!

[dave]

Mine rolls with no belts! Safe? No! Original? Yeah man!

[Leadfoot_Liz]

That was amazing. Loved looking at the original stuff and realizing by chance that the things i have done are similar. I am lead to believe that if you fit seat belts to a car that never came out with them you require an engineers report. someone may be able to help. After driving around in my wasp i feel seat belts are over rated as the steering wheel is that close they wouldn't help .I really enjoy the history behind these cars and to track down particular info on your own car really makes it special. with the help of friends i have been able to follow "the life of a wasp",for a car that has been unregistered for 28 years it has a history.

[bellett65]

That was amazing. Loved looking at the original stuff and realizing by chance that the things i have done are similar. I am lead to believe that if you fit seat belts to a car that never came out with them you require an engineers report. someone may be able to help. After driving around in my wasp i feel seat belts are over rated as the steering wheel is that close they wouldn't help .I really enjoy the history behind these cars and to track down particular info on your own car really makes it special. with the help of friends i have been able to follow "the life of a wasp",for a car that has been unregistered for 28 years it has a history.

No engineers report to fit seat belts. You just buy them new and follow the instructions. I would however suggest that in a Wasp inertia reel are the way to go. Unless you get the approved harness.

Peter

[Farmer]

Firstly, love your work Dave. Thank you for another great brochure. You have a fantastic brochure.
Yeah mate, the twin batteries for 24 volts to wind over against all that compression. Diesel Belletts were the same.
Interesting about the orange air cleaner, but the overhead shot shows black! Artist playing perhaps?
As for horn ring, I seem to remember Gary's new one in '67 being silver painted. Black Betty came with a silver painted one, perhaps from Liz's Wasp? (But that's O.K., cause my Wasp's is missing.) Maybe this early brochure shows the PLANNED equipment, but then they speced it down to vary from Bellett.
Liz, in NSW you just register it with no belts, then put in what YOU think is safe. Because they had none new, there is no specific requirement. And yes, that steering wheel is close (even to the Japanese driver!), and look where the other end is! - just behind the bumper. DO NOT run into anything, even if it has nice soft crumple zones! This is what inspired George to swap the column in 'V6 Wasp'
Cheers all, Matt.

[PR91]

i think the orange air cleaner was for the diesel engined units.
the engine in the pic certainly looks like a diesel anyway.

therorising i know, but would make sense i guess!

[GTtoo]

Orange, Smorange Just another ace reason to come back to B'net for !! That's magic Dave. And so much to get excited about. Hiragana always fascinates me. Also the chassis pic says, "You can have a monocock sedan, but, when it comes to pulling 1 tonne of flowers (or eggs, or was it spuds ??) you need an independant chassis." So many similarities disquised into something so different. Again, very clever Isuzu.

B.