I was driving past Wyong Golf Club this morning, and could hardly believe my eyes. Driving towards me was a silver 117 Coupe, on full NSW rego.
I couldn't help myself, so turned around and chased it down. When I caught him at some traffic lights, the fellow was more than happy to pull over and talk about his new purchase. It turns out he had just landed it about a month ago, purchased at auction in Japan. The car looked VERY original, right down to the hub caps, although he said it appears to have been resprayed.
I hop we will hear from Peter soon, as I have given him some contact information and guided him to this site.
Made my day seeing it on the road.

We love a great spotto story

Great Spotting, great to have another 117 around.
Hope to see him on the forum and hopefully some pictures

Josh

Nice work being in the right place at the right time! What are the chances?
Was it a round or rectangular headlight model?
Hopefully he will look us up, maybe we can get him to an outing so we can all check it out.
Thanks mate,
Matt.

It was a round headlight Farmer. My favourite ( sorry Garry, and others ).
I think we may hear from him, he seemed very keen. He has plans to bring another one in to modify for club racing. I did have to burst his bubble a little though. As with the Sydney teardrop being the only one, he thought his was one of only one or two in Aus.
I did mention the Eastern Creek meet coming up in August, and hopefully Gary will bring his red 117 too and we can have a pair of them.
Fingers crossed.
I think he might call in to the shop soon to have a look at the Wasp, which he had never heard of too.

Tell him to look under a Florian.....
That will open his eyes.

Tell him to look under a Florian.....
That will open his eyes.

I believe there is a square headlight 117 for sale in QLD. Silver and Burgundy in colour, very tidy car, may or may not have won a best "Other" trophy at SA Nats

Hey guys,

I reckon I just approved his joining about 5 mins ago.

Peter tried to friend me on Facebook a few months ago and I was thinking "who is this guy??? Dunno!???" so I left it, but when I saw his name crop up on a FB page saying he'd just been chased down by someone who told him about the Forum, I remembered he'd sent me a friend request, so approved it; us Isuzu guys gotta stick together!

Saw the car online rolling on hubcaps; sweet, sweet hubcaps!

Cheers now he's approved for Bellett.net hopefully we'll hear from him soon!

67GT you must have thought you'd lost your mind when you saw it....as if we (as in the Isuzu community) are not across most of the cars that are here!

Cheers,


Dave

And how much would he be wanting for the sweet machine?? More than I have, no doubt!

I personally have no idea how much the asking price is.....

Guys, he did tell me how much he paid for it, but I will leave it up to him to tell if he wants to. But I gotta say he got a VERY good bargain.
I have GT in need of a FULL rebuild that owes me not much less than he paid, and I have spent a LOT more on my Wasp.

Not questioning cost of Peter's early round headlight 117 but a square headlight one that is for sale in QLD atm
What Peter paid for his is his business

Hey Guys

Awesome to have Warren chase me down and give me a heads up on this forum and the club.

All I can say is I am in love with the 117 from the minute I spotted her at auction. I have owned quite a few cars and I was looking to purchase a Datsun 510 SSS Coupe but this popped up and I had to have it.

So I have had the car for around 2 months and recently just started to pull it part and restore it piece by piece. So far I have started on the front round lights, been two weekends now and I think I have the chrome lights and surrounds perfect enough. I have not washed it, polished it, touched anything else, not even cleaned interior (its perfect though:) ) just haven't had the time as of late.

Attached photo of the untouched version, the front flood lights have been removed now though.

I have so many issues with the car I need answered but these would be good to start with

- Tachometer does not work , well maybe for a second or two and all over the place but then dies
- We going around corners / round about and trying to power through the car cuts violently on and off like its getting fuel cut/starved/engine stalls and car bounces in and put of power. G180 SOHC engine.
- Are there any 5 Speed gearboxes I can drop in? 4 speed on freeway is killing me especially with no tachometer I can feel the engine stressing past 105km/h

Regards
Pete

Car looks to be in very good condition. I like the looks of the 117 also but have a Bellett.

Can't help much with the problem but it's potentially just a loose connector somewhere, perhaps.

pic removed.

More pics, will try and get some interior shots when I get to go to the warehouse to work on her, completely black interior all original, no rips in any seats and door trim in plastic still?

nice looking car! Im really digging the hubcaps! Its almost the florians glamorous sibling!

Hey Pete, and welcome. You have a very special car there, in this condition I would say unique in Australia. There are a few other early series ones, I'm not sure how many. I personally know of 3, one is good but was recently damaged I believe, one is under restoration and one is good but not that original.
I like all early Isuzus, and have a Florian. 117s, Florians and Luvs were all part of project 117 in 1967, but Guigario was engaged to pen the coupe, which kept the project code. There are many in-common parts with Florains, but these are not very available. Suspension is identical, and the diff is a 4.11:1 ratio, hence the reviness. 5 speeds were made, but are uncommon.
I would suggest keeping it original, as there would be the highest value. I too love the hubcap look. Please retain the plastic door card covering, so original! Survivors like this are so rare. Have you seen Survivor Car Australia magazine? All about celebrating cars like yours.
Stud pattern is the same as Bellett and the Datto you didnt buy. Pretty common.

Look forward to meeting you and seeing her in the metal, perhaps at Eastern Creek? (See NSW events section.)
Cheers, Matt.

Hi Peter, congrats on the purchase! Can you please post a pic of the engine bay,maybe even one from either side? It will most likely be the sane layout engine wide as a Gemini or late Luv. I'm sure a Gemini 5 speed would fit if the starter is on the drivers side. Only real variable is the shifter I think if your car has a mse 4 speed.

I will try and see if I can get some alone time with her Between 3 kids and business it's hard lol

As for the gearbox would it be smarter to change the diff ratio to reduce RPM? Do we know what sort of diff is in these? Though the rest of the gears might not like it.