I was asked to pass this message on to the Bellett Family........

G-Day all Bellett owners.

Please pass on to all Bellett owner the news that Heather Freegard passed away peacefully at home on 8-4-12

That's all for now ,regards Keith

Condolances to the Freegard family, sad news.

I was saddened to hear this; Heather was a very stoic lady who suffered illness for a long, long time.

She and her husband Keith were old-school Bellett enthusiasts; the sort of people that bought the cars early on as they knew they were good (and cheap, probably) and used them for everything; ferrying around kids, carrying soil... whatever they felt like and their machines just kept going.

Several years ago, she got in touch with AJ and offered him four full wrecks for parts (having said that, she did want to see at least one of them restored, but they were all sedans that were not overly good to restore - you'd consider it if it was a GT, but at that stage there was still the opportunity to simply start with a better car).

As AJ was not able to take more than one, I took the other three. I sold one to a young guy up in Moonta called Josh (he doesn't get on Bellett.net - he's not overly IT savvy despite his tender age) for $50.00, then had to pay a $45 fee to ebay for selling a 'car' (rather than 'parts'). Dammit!

The other two were wrecked for bits; they were all pretty far gone, although Heather did cite that she had parked all of them on their farm under their own power.

How we originally met was quite funny. I was working at PLAIN Central Services, an SA Government office that controlled the ordering and distribution of public library books. Needless to say, I was running late and there were roadworks outside, so I came herbing into the area in my dark blue, column-shift sedan, clutching the gutter rail as hard as possible as the car had no belts while the doorhands scraped the road!

After some deft drifting, I parked it and got to my desk just in time. Then my phone rang; the receptionist said there was someone there asking about the guy with the Bellett - ie; me!! I thought it would have been on of the road workers that I'd just carved up and used as human motorkhana cones (I was like, 19, so cut me some slack), but instead it was Heather, who was there from Tea Tree Gully Library for a meeting and who went on to explain that she had no less than seven Belletts!

Of course, it turned out that four were basket cases, one was a nice 1969 Deluxe that ended up sitting in a carport when she first got ill (and subsequently recovered, even going blind and recovering!!!), however she no longer had the time nor energy, especially as Keith and her ran a full hobby farm while working full time!

This car went to become Ross 2lDOHC's Polynesian Blue Deluxe.

They also have a nice, re-painted by fairly original 1967 Bellett GT and a style-side Wasp. The Wasp had copped a minor but unsympathetic resto before they bought it, with a flat section of ute floor (rather than ribbed), trailer tail-laights and a Mazda 323 steering wheel. But it's a Wasp, and that's a lot better than it being landfill!

I'm unsure if they are still for sale, but I'd imagine that calling in the next few weeks would not be proper etiquette.....

Vale Heather Freegard - as tough as any Bellett before her or since!!!

seems we have lost a couple of the "old guard" owners and enthusiasts in the last few weeks, which whilst 1 loss saddens us, 2 is felt across a wider section of the Bellett family.

as President of the Bellett Car Club of Victoria, and as a bellett.net administrator, i pass the condolences of myself, my family, and the Bellett community to the Freegard family and friends.
R.I.P.