Here are a few picks of the Bundaberg car I bought on Ebay last month.
It has some major rust issues but if the motor is what I am led to believe then it was money very well spent.
If this car is to get a rebuild it will be a very slow process as it has significant rust issues (repairable but major job)
Sills and towers are totally shot, lower rear guards are stuffed but it's only the very bottoms, front guards aren't real flash but fairly basic repair, the bonnet however is almost totally buggered with the whole front hinge edge gone (held on with steel roof brace strap) I could salvage the bonnets skin but frame is
All the doors are pretty clean and straight though which is a bonus and it has the early early curved door handles. they have some pitting but that's an easy fix.

It does have some significant differences to my other cars.... in particular that it was originally a bench seat model with column shift and side mounted handbrake. Hence my shout out in the wanted section for a bench seat if there happens to be one out there somewhere.
In the short term though the car will donate it's engine to Donkey (until his gets rebuilt) and the column shift gear will go into Jenny. If I can't find a Bellett front bench I just modify one from something else instead.










The front seats are not Bellett but they are the right size and are very comfy and reclinable.
The way they have been mounted however is somewhat dodgy with bits of ply wood screwed together then bolted to the floor.... I think I'll retain them for possible use in one of the cars if I can adapt to proper mounts.

Let your thoughts an opinions flow (good, bad and the ugly)

looks to be a nice fixer, suppose there is no rust?
Nice driveway how many Belletts do you have?

This one needs a lot of work. Rust is bad, much worse then the pictures show.

I have 4 and a half Belletts (3x 65, 1x 69, 1x 66 parts car/shell)

I would love to see you fix this! you will surely pass easily! welding is fun
Why is that you fell for Isuzus?

real nice find, Sticky. all worth saving no matter what the condition.
you know Dave in SA will go nuts as its a column shift!!!

pretty rare car all in all.

Well done. engine bay photos?


OZ

Original Early Column shift, Dave will go nuts!
Definitely worth saving if possible!!

Josh

Nice, Sticky mate!
Rare as column shift, this makes 3 that I know of, all teardrop. ( There were later column benchys, Dennis had a new 66 1/2 one.)

I do have one spare bench seat, currently resting in a Wasp, which I planned to fit it to as I have no original Wasp seats. So I will gladly swap you for a Wasp seat!
Fix it if you can mate,
Cheers, Matt.

My ears are on the ground Matty and the feelers are out of the pockets and on the pulse, will holla out loud should I find one

its all about Donkey Love, isnt it Sticky?

OZ

Yep you're all right.... COLUMN SHIFT!!!!

I too have seen a 66.5 in column shift; Bellett.net user Straw Berry from SA has it, but I think it's missing a back window last I heard; I'm not sure if that's the ONLY problem either.

Either way, that's two 66.5s and three teardrops we've seen...actually four if you include the early dark blue one I wrecked (the one doing a burnout in a photo that's getting around...not sure who the young, long-haired lout is who was doing it!!!).

Great find; if you end up wrecking it up for bits, fling the column shift bits my way as I'm not entirely sure mine has all the correct pieces; the parts are from the blue car, as the white one had a floor shift conversion when I bought it.

Unfortunately it's not on the radar anyway; too many other projects; Bellett GTR has become a major project, Buick Opel by Isuzu will get rego soon, Gemini van will get some attention, then I might throw some dollars at the underside of the Wasp, the running gear of the Florian and the EVERY SINGLE BIT of the Unicab!

Too much fun! Not enough FUNDS!


Great score; Cheers for taking the time to share!


Dave

At this stage Dave the car is 4th in line to be restoed, but..... it may possibly become a parts donor car for "Donkey" and "Jenny" yet. In saying that, the column shift gear will be transferred into Jenny and a benchy (either orig or grafted other) will replace the buckets in front.
If I was ever to part off the column gear though, you will be first to know. It all works and shifts perfectly too (salt rubbing not intended)
But for now it stays at the mule farm and will play it's roll in the teardrop breading program I have underway.

I don't know why I fell for Isuzu Belletts but all I can say is, that it was love at first sight.
I owned 3 Belletts (1x 64, 1x 66.5, 1x 69) before I ever met anyone else who owned one and sadly due to my lack of mechanical knowledge at the time they all ended up being wrecked as I could not find parts and no mechanics where I lived would work on them. They are now long gone and crushed
But when I bought Donkey from Davo (BULLITT) he told me about the forum and a whole new beautiful world of Isuzu love was opened up to me
Many members here have become like family to me now.

I LOVE my cars (especially Donkey)

hi mate thanks for your mention of me...you know you stole my first love ,,,and turned her into an icon ....and now I rarely get too see her she has plenty of admirers now and rightly so glad you did join the forum you have allways put your bits in and it helps keeps this great site alive ....im sorry I sold donkey ..but...but ...im glad you were the one who made her famous . I have lovely pictures of her above my bed ...next to blue ......cheers davo ...love the new column change ..berrett also .....rare as ....

Great find Stickman, hope you can get them to breed,you know Bob Bailey's Tear Drop was a column shift,I think he changed to floor shift with bucket seats,just may have the bench seat,we need to see more Tear Drops out an about, Gerry

I never realized Bob's teardrop was previously a column shift. His little grey turtle dove is one of my favorite Belletts (that and Dennis Smiths gorgeous gold sedan) & I love the period mags Bob runs on it too.