bellett.net

Now that my Florian has passed it's roadworthiness test, I thought I'd post some pics. I've had it since april 2009 (I think I'm the fourth or fifth owner of probably one of the last Isuzus sold in Holland, they stopped in 1972) but only picked it up from the garage 10 days ago, I had to find brake parts to get it back on the road and thankfully found a very helpful Australian through this place! Next on the list are a t-cut session, general cleaning and tidying, painting and fitting of 'new' front wings, a bit of welding in the boot, fixing the choke cable etc etc...

Here's a pic of when I first saw it in November 2007:



I bought it and then left it there for a while, returning several times to fit new headlights, mess with the brakes (no luck, I'm no mechanic myself...), admire the styling and take some shots until I drove it to a garage in the same town (without brakes, no fun at all).
At the local Isuzu van/truck dealership:







Under bonnet sticker looks like it's new!



Plastic still on doors:











It's now parked fairly close to home, I hope to do some work every week now (or go for a drive...). So far I've treated it to a powerwash:





After:





This is what the paint looks like now, not the best of shots (phone cam):



Took some quick pics at the Olympic Stadium:







Last friday I went for an 80km drive with my girlfriend and her brother, it pulls really well upto 120 km/h, wind noise seems to indicate that the door rubbers don't work as well as they should (plus the front doors aren't hanging straight) and the gearbox/driveshaft/diff whine like a typical old Japanese car but it drives very nicely and I love it! Lots of 'what the .... is that' faces in other cars make me grin... excellent stuff!

looks great mate! love it... reminds me of one i had!

Those photos are a treat. Ozzie Dave and friends would be creaming over that one. And could you imagine the possibilities !! Mod paint job, lowered, 14 inch, great wheels...etc. Crazy interior, looks minta on the door trims. You can see what Isuzu stole from the sedan to create a deluxe. How about mounting some stylized mirrors, 2/3rds up the front guard to siut the style.
And then there will be even more "what the....is that?" trust me, it happens !!
Great to see,

And she drives well, apparently

B

Cheers - lowering would be nice, if anyone knows how to or what springs and lowering blocks fit... when I fit the spare wings I'll have a think about wing mirrors, they do look nice. The current door mirror is pretty useless!

anymore updates mate? I am going to try to work out what sort of lowering blocks and coils fit a florian, but i might be taking a while as i have to pull the example i have apart when there is not much work to do.

Well, updates... not really. I drive it every 14 days or so but the weather is bad over here this time of year, and I have found out I really don't like driving biggish saloon cars, I'm more of a small hatch-type driver (had a Starlet, replaced by a Sirion and a Simca 1100 before). If all goes well (for me that is) the Florian will go to a Dutch collector soon who already has one as well as several Belletts. I'd ask him to join this forum but he is a bit of a non-internetting recluse...
Think I'll try a Honda N600 next... sorry!

Your Florian looks like it has a Florian TS Grille, bonnett and front guards, looking at your paint work it is possible for it to have had the TS front end fitted as the paint on the front of those panels looks fresher as if it has been resprayed at some time.
The TS had that grille, I do no know if the later Florian had adopted that grille.
I owned a Florian in 1969, however it was the first model released in Australia and it had very flat headlight and grille with smaller tailights than you have on yours, more like the earlier Bellell but longer.
Great car very comfortable, BUT did not handle very well, suffered badly from understeer!

Hey Dave (1968gt),

That front is definitely the Chev LUV front, which I think was standard on the Florian from the early 1970s until God-knows-when.

I've been trying to get a Florian TS brochure, but I'm pretty sure they had the quad headlights and the standard Florian bonnet (same as your flat-headlight model and my pointy-headlight model).

The LUV bonnet protrudes where the grille is.

I wasn't 100% sure until I found this picture:
Cheers,


Dave

Bet you don't see this very often! The Flo yesterday:





Inside, a little icy...

Poor Florian!!

The exact same Isuzu Florian as seen at Michiel's post, but now renovated (this February 2013).

Besides this Florian I have several more Isuzu cars and many more Isuzu parts. If you are interested in Isuzu parts or just curious, you can reach me by e-mail: [email protected].

Regards,

Fred ter Haar
Schagen, Netherlands.

very nice! looks like it has been repainted, and the wheels look great!
i was wondering what happened to this florian just a few days ago!

Very nice work Fred and a big congratulations or the restoration of this car. It looks sensational!
Thank you for posting it here for us to see and enjoy. I love the colour and the wheel choice.
It looks beautiful.

Hi . Ihave 4 inch blocks under my flow probably a bit to low. Gricey

Hi. With all that snow I don't think surf boards are the go . Gricey

Some body send him a photo of my flow . Gricey

looks like a lot of work to get her back to the restored state she is now.

well done! thanks so much for sharing the photos.

love following the stories of Isuzu cars...



OZ

gricey wrote:Some body send him a photo of my flow . Gricey

Here you go - Gricey's Flo! I love your work too, Fred. It's great to see her back on the road. The model is one we didn't get in Australia, but we did get the utility version with that grille, badged as a 'Chev Luv'.

Very cool, thanks for showing.
Cheers, Matt.

I was hoping Michiel's car was saved!

I remember reading that he wasn't overly happy with it and wanted to move it on.

That car comes up quite often online if you Google Image search "Isuzu Florian", so it's great you've got it and done so much good stuff with it, Fred!!!!

Cheers,


Dave

Fred. If you want it to look like Griceys "flo" try snowskies or a toboggan. Thule are a worldwide manufacturer of roof racks. You may get a set to suit your car. Over here we call them Gutter type or roof driprail clamp type racks.

Dave.