Picked up a pair if 72 gt's from my neighbor earlier this year. I don't have the best of pics yet but they are both in fair-good shape. Some rust on the orange one is pretty nasty but we'll see for sure once it's all blasted.

I do automotive repair and restorations for a living, so all work will be done by myself. I have even been contemplating turning my own polyurethane suspension bushings on the wood lathe at some point. This should be fun.

Both cars are complete. The black one has a g180 sohc with the sidedrafts, while the orange vehicle has the downdrafts. I have a feeling that the orange car is going to be restored to as close to factory as possible. The black car was owned by my neighbors family in japan, and if I decide to keep one for myself it will be this one.

I will update pics as they come and look forward to sharing these builds with everyone here. Especially since no one here knows what these are.

If you believe you have any links or info that would be helpful to me please forward them to
thelateralline@gmail.com

Thanks All, Safe and Happy racing
Joe Perdoni

*the black car has (1) GT-R badge. The owner always said it was a gtr, his father says it was sold to him as a gtr. Its a PR95 vin and it only has 1 cam. So I am assuming it is not. It may end up with a CA18DET in the end. Also I do have the original front bumper and lights for the black car, at the time it was imported the feds required that celica bumper be attatched instead.

Hi Joe,
Welcome to the site, and for the photo's, looks like one left hand drive and one right hand drive, nice find and would be rare in USA. I have one same model, and there only 2 of that model GT in Australia, 1 is Type R, other is SOHC 1800GT, and 1 two door sedan(sport). if the black one has spot lights and 2 bumperetts does point to it being TypeR but should have twin cam motor.
Thanks for the post and look forward to watching your work in progress.

Cheers Geoff

Hey Joe
Good to see more Bellett's in the USA.

Must be some more still laying about in backyards and sheds

Love the photos. Keep posting and keep us in the loop. Please
there is lots of support and help here on the Forum


cheers


OZ

Hi Joe,
Great Find
Looking forward to seeing them in all their glory
Keep the photos coming
Josh

nice finds mate, i like the gold wheels on the black one. be sure to have a look through the sight here and ask any questions as there is lots of knowledge to be had here! they are a great fun car!

This is not an attempt to advertise, but this subject is coming up every couple months, and I would like to point out that the design and engineering work to make exact, molded, polyurethane suspension bushings, with stainless steel center sleeves, has been done and awaits funding for production.

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2157

I'm putting the numbers on another thread.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2205

If complete restoration is the goal for one of the cars, the $1800 NOS Japanese bushings might be realistic for you.

Hello Everyone and thanks for the quick replies.

First off I didnt know there was an available bushing kit for these. $1800 hahaha.

Yes the front bumper for the black car is the dual bumper with the fog lights. I have not picked up the original paperwork from the previous owner from japan however, and I will post any info I find from that.

Both are RHD. Both are 1972. I seem to read that after they went to vin PR95 it gets confusing as to prove GTR or not.
It does have GT1600 badges on the quarters, but definitely has the 1.8 single cam in it.

Black car looks to have extremely minimal rust. Helps being here in California and I've lived next door to the previous owner for 20+ years. So its been away from the salt air since the late 70's.

Orange car is still in storage and I haven't been able to dig thru all the goodies in that one. It appears to have quite a bit of stuff inside. Like I mentioned this one does have some rust but after looking at some of the other bellett "before pics" this one isn't that bad. It was purchased from the local airbase sometime in the 90's.

I have 0% belief that this black one is a real R. Im not shy about sharing date codes or vin numbers if anyone has resources to verify, or rather discredit this claim. I will say that the original purchaser is VERY adamant that it is real. They say that in japan it is/was a big no-no to misrepresent a vehicles model or trim level. Either way theres no dual cam under the hood.

Besides the bushings, the rubber for the windscreen and rear window are my biggest concerns. Mine are ok for now but I havent removed them yet. I've read about the landcruiser seal working for some models but I'll dig around some more before I start posting too many questions.

Thanks again and please feel free to ask any questions or request any pics. These seem pretty complete and clean, I dont expect to really start disassembly for another month.

Took a few more pics of the key spots before it gets dark. The black car is still in my driveway as I wait to move to a new shop next month. The interior has been swapped between the cars for unknown reasons. I believe I have a complete black interior for this one and the orange car gets the red interior.

and a few more. Sorry if these are too big.

last of them. I wish i'd wiped the junk away from the vin.

Hi Joe,
Your car is 229 cars before mine, PR95 4215853, mine has the early type grill, the emblem on the first steering wheel looks to be 117, 2nd horn button is correct one, and I doubt that your car is Type R,as all the mechanics under the bonnet are the same as mine. doesn't matter much as is still a rare car, and is a GT1800. Windscreen rubbers are no problem and are available in Australia, and some parts are available ex Japan. Engine parts are available USA, as is the same motor that is used in early Chev Luv.
Cheers Geoff

Thanks Geoff. All of the pics are of the same car except the one obvious orange car pic.
The steering wheel is the same one in both pics but I was going to ask if anyone was familiar with the gold lion/griffin on the horn button. The orange car has the same image but the steering wheel is different. I have a slightly horrible pic but you can see the wheel.

Also the orange car is PR954215399. I am noticing the giant 71 in the corner of the vin plate, are these in fact 71's and only registered as 72's?

Hey Joe,

Good to see these cars surface!!! I was in negotiations with Larry Hill to acquire these cars earlier in the year, but bailed when I found out that the GTR most likely wasn't genuine. Not that it's a problem, but it's a problem when you're considering spending a few thousand backs transporting them from the USA to Australia!

I spoke to Larry via Skype a few times but when I asked him to suss out his neighbour, who he said was interested in the cars, just in case he still wanted them, he didn't communicate with me again. I don't think he was being rude; just kinda left it at that when the neighbour accepted the offer of the cars.

And I assume that was you!

Given their condition, I'm really glad I didn't grab them, but mainly because I wasn't really after a project (or two!), but I am SO GLAD they have surfaced in the hands of an enthusiast!

I have to say, Larry must have been a sight in his Bellett back when he was a teenager; this big strapping half-black, half-Japanese guy cruising to college in a RHD, JDM Bellett!!!

His dad apparently exported one of the cars from Japan following an army posting (a familiar story for JDM cars in the USA), then he bought the other one locally from somewhere for parts. Larry's Dad did the engine swap I think, as the first engine was getting a bit rattly.

Wow, so stoked to see these cars surface! I hope you get that thing on the road and start fanging around ASAP!

Cheers mate!


Dave

I think that may be the case with 71, mine is april '72, but doesn't have a plate like yours, the number is stamped into fire wall. Has it still got the original lap type seat belts? If so should be date stamped on them, or if it has a standard rim for the spare, that should also have a date stamp on it also. Another way to tell, is if you check the main wiring harness,near the headlight, just peel back some of the binding and you find that also will have a date on it. Doesn't matter much anyway. Sorry I thought they were different steering wheels, the griffin is a symbol for the 117, the centre of the horn button should have like 2 half circles, the Japanese refer to them as PIG nose. We refer to these models as Short Bonnet, as the earlier models have a longer Bonnet and windscreen wipers work the other way.
Cheers Geoff

My thoughts and i am happy to be corrected but the pr95-xxxxxx is 1800 and pr91-xxxxxxx is 1600 gtr's were 1600 so based on the above i would say you do not have a gtr on your hands The two late gt's imported to aus with the late tail lights have Daves pr91 1600 twin cam and gtr bumpers and probably a genuine gtr and pr95's car is 1800 based on this fact The later ones of yours have some suspension changes from what we have from the early days to these newer cars that Dave,pr95 and Glenn have so you have to be a little carefull taking some advice and part listings the fact that nobody has had to do anywork on them here to date we don't know what is interchangable either just a little advise you need to keep in mind

Hello Dave, I thought that must be you.

Yes I live next door to Larry and was honestly heartbroken when he said that he was looking at sending the bellett away.
I never imagined he would ever part with either one, so I never asked. I have always liked this car and am thoroughly excited to have the opportunity to put it back on the road.

Larry mentioned that "Dave" wanted me to join the boards so we could keep up on the build. Glad I found you. But then the bellett world is very small indeed.

Ok, now i feel like a real member of the board since "The Dave" has acknowledged me. And apparently doesnt harbor any hard feeling over these cars. Hahaha thanks again

GtOrphanage thanks for the info. I was wondering how these models would compare being that these were actually sold in AUS as well. My brother has an 85 AE86 GTS. Having researched that car I am familiar with the difficulties that you folks in AUS have sourcing certain parts. In contrast I have (4) 4AGE's sitting in my garage. However, with the bellett, you have me beat for sure.
I am a little surprised to hear that there are so few of the later model GT's in your area. I will be sure to take proper pics and notes for everyones future benefit.

Hi Joe

Great to see these cars turn up, great story guys .. thanks for putting up the photos, look forward to seeing the progress, there are a lot of great helpful folks on this site ...

Regards
Mark

Hey man no worries!

My acknowledgement is hardly worth the pixels; I'm one of the founders of the forum but I don't get on here as often as I should!

Maybe you've read this elsewhere, but the Bellett was soldin Australia from 1964 to 1970, with only about 5 or so being sold in that year, and all in Tasmania (user Yellow Peril has one of these cars).

Both user PR95 with his 1972 Bellett GT1800 PR95 and myself, with a 1973 Bellett GTR PR91 have cars that were imported into Australia recently, as was Glenn's PR(I forget; fill me in, Glenn!) 2-door sedan Bellett Sport, of which we got none originally.

I was under the impression that the USA got no Belletts originally, although someone on the website Bring A Trailer responded to a recent advert for a US domestic market Isuzu Bellel, which were all sold in San Francisco in a single batch of about 120 Diesels back in the mid-1960s, and they said they saw Bellels in the dealership alongside some RHD Belletts! So maybe a handful made it there from new... although I dunno why the Bellel importer didn't just import some in LHD, seeing they built them!

It's great to see some people passionate about these in places they never even sold them; there are two guys in the UK who have got cool Belletts (Pombellett's car is off the dial!), while over in Florida BELLETTPR10 is doing up a 1300 2-door sedan!

Stay in touch and keep us informed!

Cheers,

Dave

I'll have to peek at pom's car when I get a sec.

I had heard about some bellel's and bellett's being sold at a Portland, Oregon dealership I believe, but I hadnt heard about San Francisco. Being a local I'll have to dig around and see if I can find any old dealership pics.

Dave, I assume yours is the green GTR ive seen pics of online? Beautiful car. I was a little bummed that both these had the newer style grill as I LOVE the early quad headlight chrome grill. But after seeing yours Ive changed my mind.

Im really surprised at how few of these cars there apparently are left. Glad these 2 didnt go to the scrap yard.