bellett.net

Here are a few more pics - some maybe a little fuzzy as they were all taken with a cheap Kodak Instamatic camera (high tech. in its day but nothing like the digital cameras of today) Colour was a lot more expensive so I made do with black and white - I needed the extra money for motorsport!
To answer a couple of questions ,I am 61 and have have actively competed in Club motorsport every year for about 42 years.The yellow '65 Bellett was built for Off Road Events and also for Club AUto X and Motorkhanas.Cost was as little as possible (from memory the car cost $120 - it had been rolled but still drivable)I had just bought a new 4WD Massey Ferguson front end loader and I got the Dealer to throw in a gallon of yellow paint for "touch up " purposes - it went straight on to the Bellett that night! The wheels were 6 x 13 ' off my Datsun 1600 at the time - I had a couple of sets.The tyres were truck Cold Caps - Mud Pattern - on car tyres - a mate in the recap industry made them at my request.It had a half cage and f/glass seats. From memory I was on the Start line at the 1974 BP Desert Rally for an outlay of about $180 incl. twin SU's off an MGB with appropriate needles.The Bellett ran well in that Rally but I had problems with the accelerator pivot shaft jumping out of the firewall pivot bracket on landing after being airborne over jumps.After seeing the performance of VW based cars in these events I built a buggy for the following years.

thanks so much forsharing your excellent photos they were the good old days love the caravans also the second last photo looks like awhite gt just behind you? thanks again regards dave

Hi KJB, Another bunch of excellent photos. I am going to hassle my Dad this afternoon to get a few of his slides out from when he competed in Motorsport in his 65 Bellett in 1970's.

Were you a member of the first Bellett Car Club of Victoria the one that was formed before the one we know today that was founded by Ben Barker? If you weren't it seems you and your Bellett driving mates were a keen bunch of fellows. Do you still dabble in a bit of Club Motorsport?

Those are some awesome photos, Kerry. Photos from Back In The Day are almost as important as the original factory literature coz it shows the cars as they were out on the street; fairly new, neat and tidy and being used as regular vehicles!

These days of course, they are viewed as some weird classic car nobody's heard of! Parts are hard to chase and daily driving them in most regular situations in peak hour traffic would probably kill them; if your local weather doesn't kill then (eg 42 degree Adelaide summer sun!), then some turkey who is half asleep will probably stack into you and then tell you not to worry as it's only 'an old car'! ARGH! The humanity...

Anyway, those photos are a great historical item! (sorry if that means you too are a historical item...!)

Cheers,

Dave

From memory I think that the white car in the second last photo was a Lancia.
65 Bellett - I am looking forward to seeing your Dads photos.
I don't remember the name Ben Barker but I remember the Club meetings ( around '67 - '69 ) in a room above a shop in Elizabeth St. Melbourne just North of where Ryans Tools were.I still have the Club badge - interestingly the name Bellett is spelt with only one "t".The Club had 2 or 3 Motorkhana's at my property at Burrumbeet.Yes I do still compete but not as much as work has infringed on my spare time during the last 2 or 3 years.I ran a Porsche 911 RS Clone ,which I built ,for most of the last 10 years.I sold it and now have a 1990 Porsche 964 (3.6, 2WD, manual, coupe)which has been set up for Club track days.
Our kids reckon that I am Collectible because of my age , but too good to wreck for parts!

Wow KJB that is amazing. On thrursday I was chatting with a couple of guys from the BCCV about the history of the club as it is 30th anniversary this year and they mentioned that the BCCV as we know it was not the first Bellett Car Club in Melbourne . These two guys had seen references made about another club in magazines and things but had never come across any actual members. Now thanks to Bellett.net an original Bellet Club member has been found with photographic evidence.

Now all we need to do is track down the guy who ordered the club badges and stir him up about the spelling.

Yes, "65 there was a strange omission. But also thanks KJB for sharing your amazing historic pedegree. Dave , there's a brochure in that !

B.