This little chestnut was put out by Canadian Motor Industries, who I think actually assembled LHD Belletts from CKD kits (Brett can confirm this).
However, it looks like the 1500S is more a bunch of dealer-fit items than an actual production line model.
Big spotlights (probably very handy for foggy Canadian roads), racing stripes and a 1500 badge with an 'S' after it are the major visual differences. I wonder if all Canadian-assembled Belletts had the 1500 badge on the quarter panel instead of the c-pillar.
Crackle finish would have been a good idea on the rear quarter if 1960s Canadian roads were anything like 1960s Australian roads - garbage!
As for optional extras, it would be interesting to see what front brakes they used; if they imported GT brake discs and calipers or if they organised something locally.
The actual paper this is printed on is quite rough, so this was as good as I could get it to look! Plus the other side is completely blank; dodgy!
1965 Isuzu Bellett 1500S LHD brochure - Canadian - single sheet, single side.jpg (207.41 KiB) Viewed 61918 times
I've just updated this post to show that the car is a 1967 as this is what it has on the numberplate, although in most markets the steel-grille/teardop tail lights model had been replaced in mid 1966 by the aluminium-grille/hexagonal tail light sedan. Perhaps the Canadians were still building old CKD kits they had laying around.
Apologies that the file name is still incorrect, but changing that reeks of effort.
Last edited by dave on Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Incorrect model year noted.
I am pretty sure I was told by a person once (You know those people who see you driving a Bellett and tell you they once owned one) that when they bought their Bellett that front discs and twin carb was an option for the sedan. Can any body shed any light on whether Australian dealers did similar "Special Dealer Fit" things or was there a list of "Factory" options available when you ordered your car?
...when they bought their Bellett that front discs and twin carb was an option for the sedan. Can any body shed any light on whether Australian dealers did similar "Special Dealer Fit" things or was there a list of "Factory" options available when you ordered your car?
The flame throwers might be descriptive of really bright driving lights.
Dave's post of the Wheels magazine Bellett Project says that John Malcolm Motors offered upgrade parts like widened wheels and sintered iron lining brake drums in 1965. It says the project car had been updated with the next model year seats. When the GTs arrived, it would be surprising if this company did not offer to install GT brakes and engine pieces on the Sedans as dealer options.
you could order a sedan here in australia, for special build, that had the GT disc brakes, and/or the twin hitachi carbs off the 1500 sport, and a few other little options if you wanted them.
i know of 1 set of the sport twin carbs in melbourne, but as to whether a sedan that now has GT discs is very hard to tell, as they could have been fitted it the following 40 years by someone...
obviously the sport and the GT used a different inlet manifold (sport was a sedan head with round inlet ports, while the GT had square inlets. the sedan and GT heads have a different bolt pattern for the manifold studs too), but the sport carbs are actually different to the GT units, as the both GT carbs have the fuel bowl at the front (or left when looked at on the car), and the sport had the carb for cylinders 1 & 2 with the bowl on the right, while the carb for cylinder 3 & 4 had it's bowl on the left, like a GT.
so basicly, the GT had 2 "left" carbs, and the sport had a "right" and a "left", which put the 2 bowls on a sports in between the carbs.
as for why they did this... yet another Bellett ????????????????????????????????? mystery.
When these cars came out of the factory with these options was there any change to their body number to signify that they came out of the factory with such options. Is there an elusive PR 20-W out there some where
i'm getting off topic here, and i'll create a new thread somewhere else with a more complete version of the following so it easier to find, but for this exercise, here goes...
different numbers... nope.
they just added what was needed to each car as it was built, so there's no way of tell what's what, as the body numbers were just one after the next.
the sedan body's (i've only seen PR20's, so i don't know if the PR10's were thrown in the sedan numbering, or whether they had their own number range) started at 4000001, the GT's started at 4200001, and the Wasp/Express started at 8000001.
the factory documentation i've seen called the different spec cars:
PR10 for a standard 1300 sedan,
PR10B for bench seat,
PR10R for 2 door,
PR20 for a standard 1500 sedan,
PR20B for bench seat,
PR20D for deluxe,
PR20J for disc brakes without the rest of the PR20S sports stuff,
PR20R for 2 door,
PR20S for sports,
PR20T for auto trans,
PR20Y for reclining front bucket seats.
different again was the PRD10, which was the diesel, and only came in standard form.
and then there was combinations of these, like a 2 door, sports, deluxe was a PR20RSD, a 2 door, auto, deluxe was a PR20RTD, a 4 door with disc brakes, reclining seats, deluxe was a PR20JYD, etc., but all this was only to tell them apart when they were ordered and built (from what i'm told), and they were all just stamped "PR10" for a 1300 or "PR20" for a 1500. I've never seen a diesel, so i don't know if they were "PR10" or PRD10" though, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were "PRD10", as Isuzu seemed to change the other model prefixes to suit what engine the car had.
for instance:
PR30 for 1300 "B" type sedan,
PR40 for 1500 "B" type sedan,
PR50 for 1600 OHC sedan,
PR60 for 1800 sedan,
PR80 for 1500GT and 1500 Coupe,
PR90 for an early 1600GT,
PR91 for a late 1600GT,
PR95 for 1800GT.
different to this again was the GT-R.
that was stamped PR91W, but i assume this was because while it was still a 1600GT, it now had a twin cam, so they stamped the "W" as it was along the "different engine, different number" thought.
the Wasp and Express was:
KR10 for 1300 Wasp,
KR20 for 1500 Wasp,
KR10V for 1300 Express,
KR20V for 1500 Express.
to confuse it more, the Wasp and Express never had "KR" anything on them anywhere... they just had a chassis number stamped into them, and the body itself had no stamped numbers at all...
they did have a little ID tag screwed into the engine bay, but they seem to be missing from most Wasp's i've seen. all i can think of here is that they were taken off if the car had been in an accident, for repair and repaint, but were never refitted.
my Wasp is the only one with an ID tag that i've seen (no doubt that there's more), and i know that my car had never been in an accident, so that's all i can make of this.
this stuff would have made the dealers job of ordering fun, as 1 letter wrong meant a car that was waaaaaaaaay off what the customer wanted!!
and a PR20W... maybe you should build one!!
but then it'd have to be a 1500 twin cam...
so by Isuzu's way of thinking, a 1600 twin cam would be a PR50W, or an 1800 twin cam would be a PR60W, but go the whole hog and do a 2000 twin cam... but then you'll have to make up a new body prefix...
PR70 wasn't used, so a PR70W would be the one!!
OK, again this thread is a little old, but thought I would follow up still.
To answer one of the original questions posted, most of the Belletts I've seen over the years in Canada were the PR20 model and the 1500 was on the pillar, not on the quarter panel.
I never new a 1500S ever existed before I saw this brochure yesterday in the "Canadian History" article.
was that a DOHC engine ever, or only the SOHC, twin carb engine?
the debate about W appearing in the body number...... Jap auction houses with GTR's never show that W in the body number that I have seen. Although fake GTR's they could be.
