Wheels Magazine August 1964 - full road test Bellett Deluxe

[dave]

Wheels Magazine August 1964

Full road test on the 1964 Isuzu Bellett 1500 Deluxe.



This is an important article that introduces the Bellett to Australia, alongside it's 'stablemate' and Japanese brother-in-arms, the Mitsubishi Colt. This article is especially fantastic as it also features this great cover shot:

1964 - 08 - Wheels Magazine - Colt & Bellett - 01 - cover.jpg (192.88 KiB) Viewed 8429 times

The Firey Bellett 1500

This would be one of the first, if not THE first article on a Bellett in Australia. The 1964-spec (black nose badge) Bellett sedan was compared favorably to the Cortina GT and the Humber Vogue Sports.

It was commended as being unusually fast and could cover the standing quarter mile in only 19 seconds. That is, indeed, mind-alteringly fast.

Interestingly, the author states that Australian-spec cars will have more sound proofing than this early import; I wonder how many of that first batch are still out there? This car was apparently fitted with a km/h speedo, which was actually a problem in those pre-metric days in Australia.

1964 - 08 - Wheels Magazine - Colt & Bellett - 02 - page 01.jpg (201.05 KiB) Viewed 8364 times

The writer mentions the obvious Italian influences in the Bellett's shape, as well as citing Lancia specifically, although he does criticize the Bellett's huge steering wheel.

1964 - 08 - Wheels Magazine - Colt & Bellett - 03 - page 02.jpg (208.96 KiB) Viewed 8360 times

The third parge is taken up with some nice pics plus the remainder of a fairly large specs table.

1964 - 08 - Wheels Magazine - Colt & Bellett - 04 - page 03.jpg (175.45 KiB) Viewed 8355 times

The final page shows an awesome shot of the Bellett in action, with wild rear camber and all.

All up the writer gives the Bellett a thumbs up! Cool!

1964 - 08 - Wheels Magazine - Colt & Bellett - 05 - page 04.jpg (214.67 KiB) Viewed 8353 times