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1964 Isuzu Bellett 1500 - UK promo shot - Suzuka 1965

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:22 pm
by dave
Featured here is a promo shot, seemingly from the UK judging by the comments on the back, however the picture is described as being taken at Suzuka in Japan.

As for the car, it's a pre-1965 model if the all-black grille badge is anything to go by.

Back in the good old days when production cars raced with their numberplates still attached!

From the lack of other cars, spectators and the comments on the back, this could have been taken at a private test day.
1965 Isuzu Bellett 1500 sedan - Japanese racing promo photo - 01.jpg
1965 Isuzu Bellett 1500 sedan - Japanese racing promo photo - 01.jpg (104.64 KiB) Viewed 12749 times
1965 Isuzu Bellett 1500 sedan - Japanese racing promo photo - 02.jpg
1965 Isuzu Bellett 1500 sedan - Japanese racing promo photo - 02.jpg (50.46 KiB) Viewed 12746 times

Re: 1964 Isuzu Bellett 1500 - UK promo shot - Suzuka 1965

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:49 am
by JT191
Always more questions than answers.

The plates on the car are Japanese, with the Kanji prefecture name and tax classification above, the identification letter, and then the four digits for the Arabic plate numbers, so it is Japan.

Suzuka currently has a canopy only over the seats directly in front of the start/finish line, and older pictures from the late 60's show no canopies at all. The postcard shows a canopy over what would be the seats at the east end of the main grand stand.

The mechanic is very tan, appears noticeably taller than the others standing in the background, has legs that are proportionately longer than the his upper body while the others in the screen have shorter legs, and his facial features do not appear to be Japanese. He appears to be African-American (? would African-Japanese be the politically correct term if it were to exist?).

Re: 1964 Isuzu Bellett 1500 - UK promo shot - Suzuka 1965

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:24 am
by dave
Yeah to be honest with you I thought he was African-American as well... or African Japanese... but that seems more unlikely than an African American mechanic working on a Japanese car at a Japanese race track in Japan in 1965.

All I can say is; WTF :/