Hello everyone,

I have what I assume to be one of the few (I count 5+ maybe) Bellels still remaining in the US. I bought her on Ebay in 2009 in Washington State where it had sat since the 1980s. I believe it was originally sold in Portland. When I found it, it was located on an island and it took a few months to transport it to Ohio; but, it actually went smoothly because I have an old friend that lives in Bellingham and he was able to handle the logistics from that end.

The main reason I bought the car was that my friend in Bellingham was willing to hold onto a Studebaker project for me, which never materialized, and the Bellel was the only interesting car in the area. Even though I know of a lot of obscure cars, this was a new one to me and I liked the styling. Since then I've continued to stay interested in it, although worked on it only occasionally. It also helps that I have ample storage.

It came with a chassis manual which covered basic maintenance; however I was able to recently find an old Bellel workshop manual on Ebay. Once that comes in I should be able to go further on the car. Because of the rarity/lack of parts and support/lack of technical resources, I have been taking the work very very slowly. Especially since I'm operating under the assumption that if I break anything I won't be able to go down to NAPA/AutoZone to get a replacement part. Apparently some interchangeability exists with Mercedes, Hillman, and Isuzu forklift engines; but I haven't tested that fully yet.

Also, this is 1/4 of my car collection, so I'm frequently side tracked with more pressing issues (getting my 1919 car to a show this summer is one of them). I would be interested in a Bellett, however I haven't seen one for sale lately in the US, and they are always on the West Coast (not too convenient).

Best,

Trevor

hi there,i love the look of the bellel, and there are a fewof us here that are interested in them! I found your pictures on flicker yesterday! and had to share them on facebook. I would love to find a bellel here but pretty rare here in Australia.

An even earlier Isuzu. She is a beauty, well done Trevor.

Thanks very much! I like the styling of it too, however the local boys think the car is weird...but in this part of Ohio if it's not a Ford or Chevy, most people don't care. I think the view will change when I bring it to local car shows and start driving it around.



These were the first pictures I ever saw of the car when it was on Ebay, but they were all I had on my office computer when I made my post. I keep the pictures updated slightly more updated on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60771196@N07/

Welcome Trevor,

Great to see another variant of the Isuzu banner.

Hey there Trevor

real nice find and save, wish there were a few more here in Aus!!

missed one a while back in Victoria, went to a wreckers yard

keep posting those pics, even like ones of non-isuzu cars as well. corolla sounds real cool too

EDIT the picture gallery is amazing, Trevor.
love the Kurtis sportscar


cheers


OZ

Hi Trevor

Welcome to the forum, great to see one of these cars turn up..love the photos, interesting shots of it in the warehouse on blocks, really cool find, thanks for sharing.

nice to see a Ohioan joining in the Isuzu fun ....

there was a Bellett for sale in Tennessee a few years back, and one in Georgia last year so they do come up from time to time.

look forward to seeing some more photos and your progress.

Cheers Dude!
Mark

Nice work Trevor!

I came really close to purchasing that Bellel with the RUX numberplate a couple of years back and exporting it to Australia, but it didn't happen.

I did end up buying a US-spec, Isuzu-built car; I bought a 1976 Buick Opel by Isuzu! Not quite as cool, but it is recognised here in Australia as it looks like a Holden Gemini... except LHD and with MASSIVE, US-spec 5-mph bumpers!

I would still like a US-spec Bellel; someone emailed me about a JDM item in Japan, but that doesn't interest me so much. Just the thought of a USDM/JDM Isuzu classic!

You have probably Googled the Bellel and found Alan Fasick's site? It's been inactive for years, but has a current email address to him and comes up high on the Google hits as the site has been around for donkey's years.

Alan and his dad (or perhaps Alan is the dad; I don't remember) have about four Bellels in varying condition and I'm lead to believe they have much of the NOS stash of bits, except the container where it is all kept is nowhere near their house (like, states away) so getting parts even thru them is a hassle.

I would love to know what goodies they gots in there!

Anyway, keep it safe!!! It's rarer then eunuch balls!


Cheers,


Dave

Dave, Thanks! I'm not even sure how an international car transport would go; I have some friends that imported cars, but I've had no experience doing it yet. I might try though.



I had to look that one up, we didn't get too many of those here. It looks better than I thought it would, much better than most of the stuff we had back then. My only experience with Buick was my first car, a 1985 Regal which my mom had replaced with a 1991 Oldsmobile (which I drove for a while and still have); the Buick didn't survive a 16 year old for too long...




I'd imagine a JDM item would pretty much be similar with right hand drive?



I've emailed Alan and his dad a few times actually, mostly around right after I bought the car. I'm fairly well read on cars, especially international and pre-WWII domestic, but this was a new one even to me. So I found his webpage either right before I bought it, or right after winning the auction, when I was trying to figure out what it was. His page was one of the few hits on Bellels.

He mentioned his parts stash, but I haven't followed up since my car is 98% complete (I'm missing my rubber front bumper over riders, and one or two side trim pieces which are duplicates of the opposite side). Everything else appears solid so far. They answered a lot of my questions about fluids, fuel, and other aspects. When he saw a picture of my interior (bellow) he did say that this is the first Bellel he's seen with air conditioning...it's a funny quote so I'm repeating it here:





My car also has either the original air cleaner, or what appears to be a JDM market air cleaner. While I won't reuse this, I'm not going to pitch it either...



I've been behind in getting it back on the road; One of the issues I've had is that my car only came with the Chassis Workshop Manual, which doesn't tell me a lot on how things are put together. Luckily I found and bought this on Ebay last week, so it should expedite some things this Spring and Summer:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151003772296?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


The only real issue I have is that the idiot the picked up my car in Bellingham (Washington) to bring to me in Ohio was a real idiot. His only job was to back up to the car on a large empty commercial parking lot and winch the car onto his trailer, but he didn't close the driver's door and now I have a dent in the door. However, the door still mostly closes and the window rolls up and down, so it's not a major problem. He didn't charge me shipping on it because I threatened litigation since I had witnesses to his incompetence.



Will have more updates soon, especially when the manual arrives. Best,

Trevor

Mark,

That's actually one method I use to keep cars off the ground and from getting wet. It also gives me enough clearance to work under them. The buildings are usually pretty dry, but water from Spring rains can sometimes get in because the farmer renting our pasture has messed up our drainage. I found in my regular garage, that having the car off the concrete with boards between them and the cinder blocks kept the moisture from getting bad, even on bare sheet metal.

My current time sink is the 1919 Scripps Booth,


which does run and drive. I'm bringing to a national Pontiac Oakland (Scripps Booth were mostly badge engineered Oaklands at that time) show this summer which is 1 mile from my office in Dayton Ohio this year, and want it to run properly. Although I won't drive it from my garage to Dayton, I do plan on driving it into the show on its own power.
http://www.poci.org/POCI_Annual_Convention_Registration.cfm

However it is a 30 year restoration (by my grandfather), then sat for 20 years in the garage of the next owner (who took it to the Carolinas) until I bought it in 2011/2012. My grandfather put 70 (or possibly 7) miles on it in the 15 years he had it (he would drive it around the block and trailer it to shows). So, a lot of issues remain, the steering is not right and the original gas tank was never connected; hence the turpentine can he set as a gravity fed gas tank...


So that's where the bulk of my time is currently going...

Trevor,

Welcome to the forum.
I am always interested to see other US owners of vintage Isuzus. At one point I thought I was the only one (having brought a couple down from Canada with me), but as you see there are a few of us around now.
Maybe we ought to start a States side club

I think we could do something like that. My Rover P5 has similar overall widespread lack of interest among Americans, but there is still a club of sorts. The problem I see is that we are widely dispersed geographically (Ohio, California, Florida). So meets would be nearly impossible.

I'm not sure what I think of US interest in Japanese cars. I was (am?) a subscriber to Japanese Nostalgic Car, but they seemed to have cheated me out of part of my subscription since it's been years since I received an issue. But, some large events do exist and feature Japanese cars; one car show organizer even asked me to bring mine since they never heard of it. So the interest is there.

There is some interest in my area, Pittsburgh seems to have a large car show with a Japanese section. The news lists mostly cars in the 70s and 80s. So a Bellett or Bellel would be pretty unique there. I might try to take mine there, but there is only a small probability I will have it done with all the work I need to do on my Scripps. It's on a weekend, which is nice since I as a rule don't take vacation time for car events which most people seem to schedule entirely in a work week. I figure there are too many other things to see and do, and car events are usually in not good locations (like Pittsburgh).

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/auto-news/revenge-of-the-econobox-early-japanese-imports-find-admirers-214559/?print=1

http://www.pvgp.org/

Hey Trevor yeah the Buick is a Buick in name only; in fact over the 4 year lifespan of the model, it was known as the Opel by Isuzu, Buick Opel by Isuzu, then the Buick/Opel!

It was really just a way to sell Opels...even though they were an Opel in name (and styling; see Opel Kadett C) only.

The USDM Bellel is pretty similar to the Japanese Bellels, except that the Japanese also got a petrol version and a wagon. Just the fact that it is so very Japanesey (like the air filter) yet LHD tickled my funny bone as it would be totally unique here, however the Buick Opel probably gets more looks because it's weirdly recognisable due to it's Gemini connections.

Nice quote from Alan; I've read these cars are REALLY slow but I've driven slow cars before... the trick is to gain momentum and not let it go for anything!

Glad some of you US boys could connect about your random Japanese cars on an Australian-based forum. The internet!!

Cheers

Dave

Dave, the US got a handful of Bellel wagons (like less than 10), couple years ago there was a running/drivable sedan with a wagon parts car in Alaska that I would have been all over given time & money, and the wagon would have been the obvious choice to restore. Just like everything else that pre-1968 US importers brought in, there were a few unusual flukes, like Bellel wagons.

Any Bellel fans know about the wagon/sedan duo in Anchorage, Alaska in 2010?

I would to see even a picture of a wagon! I've only seen drawings of it in my manuals, even my brochures don't show a wagon.

Here's a picture of a wagon. Who wants parts? What should I pull from this car? Someone had taken some care of the car - valve cover and a few other things were nicely repainted under the hood. Light fixtures are all intact...

Scott (In California)

How bad is it/is it scheduled to be crushed?

I'd love to see something like put back together. Not sure if enough spare parts exist though.

Some of it is excellent, interior not so good. It isn't a rust bucket. It's in an area that doesn't get much turnover, I would expect it will be around for a month or so.

I am not receiving notifications of replies so if you want to contact me about this, feel free to send me a message directly.
Scott

With no grille at the front, it looks like a mark 1 Cortina had sex with an AP5 Valiant Safari!

I don't have the bandwidth to try to do something about it, I wish I did. Do you have more pictures? Can you get a pic of the VIN? I wonder how much trip and small parts might be salvageable from it.