bellett.net

The Japanese LOVE to take photos of their cars in front of Mt Fuji and the Isuzu Times No. 21 corporate magazine is no exception.

Starting with a fantastic photo of an early Bellett 1500 sedan in front of the iconic Japanese mountain. Note the black grille badge of the pre-1965 model.
Showing off Isuzu's 'growing international image' are some excellent shots including a load of Australia-bound Isuzu Belletts; looks like there's also an Isuzu Wasp to the left of the photo. Could this be the load that alleedly contained all 122 Australian-delivered Isuzu Wasps?

Along with a shot of the factory and a photo of some Bellels (mistakenly labelled as Belletts) being delivered in Peru is an excellent photo of several people posing in front of two Bellels and two Belletts, including one with single headlights and a badge above the Bellett badge on the fender. Can anybody identify what specification this car actually is?
A Bellett features in the 9th Mobil Economy Run in Australia with a pair of girls at the wheel! I wonder if DME-181 is still out there, still being frugal?
This page starts a major feature on the Turin Motor Show. There are shots of the pavilion, plus cars (including the Bellett of course) awaiting positioning for the show.

At the bottom of the page is the news that a shipment of 1000 Belletts will land in Finland in January 1965, following a trial run of 50 vehicles.

Bottom right is the start of a series of new promotional Isuzu posters, the first being a pair of nice Bellett 1500s.
Excellent photos of the Turin Motor Show pavilions with a Bellett proudly in the foreground. Further down is a continuation of the poster series with an Isuzu Wasp ("Market-bound with harvest joy!"), Isuzu Bellel and the Isuzu TD truck.
How fantastic is this incredible colour photo of the Turin Motor Show. Fitting that the Bellett was near Rolls Royce and Bentley! The Belletts include a LHD Bellett Deluxe and a Bellett Sport Deluxe 2-door sedan.
Here they are merged together to form one great photo!
Here are some great pictures of Isuzu across the world... Australia (where's PBC-000 now?), Peru....
...Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Somali Republic and Tanzania. The family resemblance, between the Bellett and the Elfin is evident in the styling of the front of the Elfin Truck...
...USA, Aden, Tanzania, a bus in El Salvadore and a Bellel Diesel in Macau.
Back to Mount Fuji where the Bellett Deluxe features in front of the majestic mountain.
The rear cover shows an AWESOME Isuzu Wasp advertisement, featuring traditional Japanese cherry blossoms in full bloom and an Isuzu Wasp in it's regulation 'Wasp Blue'. The text in this advertisement is totally wild...

"Man appreciations beauty... be in the beauty of nature or the beauty of his own creativeness in the form of the Isuzu Wasp... function beauty!" It sounds like the clay model moved the stylists to tears...

"Passenger styling and comfort (not in mine...) designed into a one-ton truck is only the outward part of Wasp's beauty. There are others (good!). Things like a powerful diesel (lies) or gasoline engine that converts cupfuls of fuel into long miles of driving (cupfuls?). Or an exceptionally short turning radius. Or the fact that the small, stylish Wasp is as versatile as larger commercial vehicles. Man appreciates beauty... Sometimes he attains it!"

Well, I'm just glad that now I own an Isuzu Wasp, I have attained true beauty!

Another cool brochure Dave!

Two things to mention... Firstly, you know how we noticed that my radio aerial is on the drivers side of my deluxe? (in a very annoying position for visibility) Well it's on the drivers side of the above 1964 deluxe at the Turin show, so I guess mine did come with a radio from the factory!

Also, that Bellett right at the top next to the Bellel is an original 1964 GT, so I guess the badge is probably an up spec badge on a GT... or did they have GT badges there on all of them?

Cheers,
Ross.

2ldohc wrote:Also, that Bellett right at the top next to the Bellel is an original 1964 GT, so I guess the badge is probably an up spec badge on a GT... or did they have GT badges there on all of them?

I'm not sure which pic you mean...

2ldohc wrote: Two things to mention... Firstly, you know how we noticed that my radio aerial is on the drivers side of my deluxe? (in a very annoying position for visibility) Well it's on the drivers side of the above 1964 deluxe at the Turin show, so I guess mine did come with a radio from the factory!

all deluxe sedans had a radio. they are the same as a GT unit.
the early type dash used a die cast mount to hold the radio on the correct angle, and the late dash had a plastic piece to do the same. i put an early deluxe one in my Wasp for a radio when i built it, and your sedan will have the plastic one.
the aerial was fitted to the RH guard on the sedan, and on the roof on a GT. any Bellett that has the aerial on the LH guard has been done after it was built. i don't know whether they were done as a "dealer fit" unit on standard sedans, but i'd be inclined to think that the dealers would probably have put the aerial on the RH guard if they did, as the deluxes had the same, so they would have known that it was an easy fit. also, the sedans i've seen over the years with LH aerial usually have had aftermarket radios fitted, but these may have replaced original units at same stage anyway.
standard sedans used either a little box type of compartment to fill the hole for the radio on the early dash, and late dash had a proper cover plate for the hole that had a blue background with a chrome "Bellett" script across it. i'll have one of these late covers at corowa on display with the mountain of other Bellett/Isuzu stuff i'm taking along.
BTW, Wasp's never had a factory radio either. they had the early dash "box" thing.

2ldohc wrote:Also, that Bellett right at the top next to the Bellel is an original 1964 GT, so I guess the badge is probably an up spec badge on a GT... or did they have GT badges there on all of them?

i'm guessing you mean the "sth africa" pic??
if so, that's definitly not a GT. 64 GT's were PR80's and 90's, and used a 7" outer headlight with a smaller fog light in the grille. also, the hubcaps are totally wrong, as is the front bumper placement, indicators, roof shape and windscreen, wing mirrors, exhaust placement, and importantly, badge placement and badge type.
all GT's had the "Bellett" script and either "1600GT" or "1500GT" on the quarter panel between the door and the wheelarach. the 1500 coupe had a "1500 Coupe" badge in place of the "1x00GT" badge. the 1600 badge was silver on a black background, and the 1500 badges were both silver on red.
the only GT to have a badge on the front guards was the GT-R, wgich had a "Type R" badge, but it was by itself, as the Bellett and 1600GT were still on the quarter.
that car is an early single headlight 1300 sedan. all the 1300's had that front, and only came as a standard spec (no 1300 deluxe) with a PR10 model code. they were either 2 door or 4 door as well.
as for the mystery badge... i have no idea. the 1300 pics i have here show nothing in that spot on them. only the 1500 sedans had a badge to say what engine size they were, and on early sedans like those, it was on the C pillar. late "flat" tail light sedans had the 1500 badge on the grille.
the only sedans to have a badge on the front guard, above the Bellett badge that i can find are the "deluxe" sheild that all model deluxe's had, but as 1300's weren't built as deluxes, it's not one of them either.

Cheers brett, that clears up a couple of things... Looking back at the pic, I don't know why I thought it was a GT?

Anyway, you've also answered my unasked question as to whether my 1969 model (flat tail lights) should have had 1500 badges on the C pillar and the grill... The answer being no

Thanks.

Hmmm... I remember that there were 1300 deluxes too. I must check that when I go home. Being made only so few, Belletts have had a lots of different models! And we make more by putting "wrong" bumbers, blinkers, seats etc...

Yes, I think you were right. I found 1300 Special but not a deluxe... But when I looked the mark on the front fender, the shape looks like Bellett diesel mark..