Hi guys,

The time has come to move on my Bellett PR90.

It's not pretty, but it has low rust levels and would make a great project if you have a donor car.

As you will see from the pics, the entire front cross member is out and has been replaced by a solid metal bar and some stray wheelbarrow wheels...

The car was disassembled before I ever got it and has not been reassembled by me ever, so I cannot guarantee every single part is there. This is why it would be handy for the buyer to have a rusty Bellett GT handy.

Also, before ANYBODY asks, it has no grille.

Not pictured are the buckets of parts that came with the car; many have been refreshed with a powdercoating. Whatevever powdercoated parts I find at home will go with the car.

The car also comes with seats and the all-important PR90 hooded dials.

It does not come with doors or bumpers... or bonnet. Or engine. But YES to a PR90 gearbox with remove shifter!

BUT IT IS A PR90.

I'm after $2500 for it. It's probably not worth that money as a PR91, but as a PR90 I think it's a fair ask; they're pretty thin on the ground.

OUTSIDE














FRONT



INSIDE





ENGINE BAY



CHASSIS NUMBER:




I have a spare front screen that can go with it, but no rear screen, side screens or lights.


PM me if you're interested. I know it's kind of a long shot as it's a fair sized project BUT IT'S A PR90!


Also, please note that if you also had a Bellett sedan donor car, you COULD put together a PR80 replica... the PR80 was a PR90 with sedan bits.... Pretty rare!



Cheers,


Dave

does it go much faster with the microwave as a power source???

you sure have some interesting stuff tucked away, Dave.

You may get a few calls on this one!

and where are the PR80 photos???


OZ

If only those wheelbarrow wheels were whitewalls...

Not super clear because of resolution (I have a higher resolution copy on PC) but the rear row is of a PR90, a PR80 and a PR80GT.


Info from the brochure (condensed):
______________________PR90__________PR80GT______PR80_______
Top speed______________160____________150________ 145 _______
Engine________________G160___________G150_______G150_______
PS (power) @ RPM_________88_____________77_________68________

Interestingly, PR80GTs have a red 1500GT badge on the side, while the PR80 has a red badge with the word "Coupe" on it... The PR80 is, by Isuzu's standards, not a GT at all despite sharing the GT body.

Here's another pic of a PR80 Coupe....

cheers. thanks Dave

being a G150, did they run alloy head and twin carbi?

and were interior standard sedan with no extra instruments?

OZ

I have to say, those early brochures don't tell me!

I'm certain the PR80 Coupe ran standard PR20 running gear; I think they even had the front drum brakes.

The PR80 GT would have run a twin-carb set up on the standard G150 engine, I'm sure.

For anybody contemplating Dave's GT, I may have some spare GT doors when my Sports arrive. Comes with 5 extra doors of which at least one, maybe two, are GT doors with the lower window frames.

Thanks for putting that up, Glenn.

May be a sweetener!

Hi Dave,

GT doors are hard to come by so i thought that might help anybody who shows interest.

I can't be certain but from the picture, appears at least one door is a GT one. The others are Sport with the higher frames but i would think the actaul door is interchangable.
Some may have door trims too.

I will have a fair bit of "extra" stuff i won't need that comes with the Sport. I simply don't have space to keep it all, long term.

glenn

i love the stylish front and rear bumpers! so classy!

big job big price big problems getting it done ......

Yes it is top dollar for a incomplete car but remember it is a pr90 It also looks as if it reasonably solid body with not a lot of rust I did communicate with Dave on this car with the thoughts of also owning a pr90 as i have enough parts here to get it back to it's former glory or close to. But i have a few belletts already and to be honest i am at the stage i can look in my shed and all but 1 car is being restored and i dont know if i am ready for another (and the freight factor also)I could sell 1 but what are they worth this seems to be the question
Every car that pops up the comments are it's too expensive most people sat in shock when the lyons car changed hands i myself thought it was a bargain 1 sold in qld for more a couple of years later for less than it cost to build it more recently we see Duane's purchase one would think that it moved owners for a fair price then the 4 imports that are now in our country the 2 new gt's that now reside in aus i know for a fact have costings well over the lyons car and i can only assume what Glenns put up front for his
The gt that sold in victoria on ebay was shot down on the forum in value as soon as it was listed, Why do i get the impression that we the people that love these cars think they are not worth money Jason commented on the prince the other day that they have value and the owners are proud of there prince's i admire the prince myself but i think our little cars are of the same quality and deserve the same respect This is happening as we see the ebay car sell for what i believe is what it is worth, if you are a true bellett enthusiasts it's about time you show them some respect and talk them up instead of claiming they are worth no value otherwise these little cars will disapear 1 by 1 as no one will want them or restore them as they are second rate
The days of bying a minta for $500 are gone get with the times. If you dont want to buy the pr90 listed here go find another 1 there are heaps to choose from
B.t.W i am not trying to push the market up as none of my pride and joys are for sale so i dont care what they are worth money wise they are worth the world to me. original or non original who cares it does not bother me as long as they are out there in what ever condition.

got to agree Orph..

the latest 3K body and parts was a fair price for what was offered.

getting something special out of Japan like the GTR or the Sports Sedan's was also worth it.

but a NZ sedan for 1k plus shipping has to be questioned as a good AU sedan can be had for 1.5 to 2K

i think the PR90 would be a great project even if it would be difficult to complete due to the amount of missing parts.

Freegards Gt was pretty tidy even if it needs some time and money spent on it. The Wasp was also fairly good condition but it still believe that top dollar was being asked for both in this current market.

when you see common 67 corona's and mid 70's gemini sedans in pretty fair condition not even getting a start bid at 1500, you know people are not spending money on collectable cars like they were 5 years ago.

gone are the days of the complete GT's selling for 5K or a tidy sedan for 1K.

all our cars are worth more to us than "market" value and any sale is dependant on what a buyer will pay for that car.

but they are becoming more rare and more valued. which is great for all of us. but it only really matters if we are planning to sell them.
i, for one, are not going to part with any of mine in the near future.

love seeing the work being done by you and others with their cars and degruch enjoying his new GT, in spite of the hard flat tyres and lack of being driven for quite a few years.
everyone values different things with their cars and its so good to have a range of original, restored original and modified cars in the group! just get them on the road and enjoy the white line fever....

cheers

OZ

Yeah guys it became clear to me a while back that this PR90 won't be hitting the road under my ownership any time soon... and really, it would be better going to someone who can make that happen.

The dollars are pretty high... but if it was a PR91 I'd probably have put $1000-1500 on it, MAX.

But, despite lacking a grille, it IS a PR90 and how many of them are left? Like, about six I think we counted... that us regular users know about. I'm not sure how often Tom Amos gets on here; he doesn't post if he does check it out, but he could have 46 of them for all I know.

I originally bought it as 'the ultimate spare part' in case my own GT went belly up for any reason. My PR91 has since been sold to Gav and replaced with a PR91W (let's not start anything about that here) and if that car ever got written off, well starting with a PR90 shell wouldn't be the correct basis to rebuild it with.

And now that the W owes me actual money, it's insured for actual money, so I guess if it had to be replaced, Shannons could hook me up! Or get me a Fastback! But lets hope the GTR doesn't get bent anytime soon... it's a rare bird.

But not as rare as a PR90.

Cheers,

Dave

Tom had 2x 90s and a 91 last year

I bought the Sports because I wanted to get back into a Bellett and having had GT's and sedans in the past, something 'different' was desired. Right now i have not tallied up the cost. Not yet paid shipping and local costs anyway.
But as Dave will know, buying a car in japan is the cheapest part....... getting it here costs potentially even more than the car ! In my case it will.

I suspect the end total will be more than most people are willing to pay if I put it on the local market. Is it worth that? I don't know what a Sport is worth in Australia. Are there any other buyers? Again I don't know. But in the end, only the buyer can decide if the price is "worth" it, as we all know. i could have gone out and bought a brand new car perhaps for similar money. New with a 3 year warranty, Vs very old with no wanrranty, no spares and not a daily driver ! Yes I/we must be mad but that's why most of us are on this forum.

We love them ! Can you put a price on that? It's an emotional thing, buying a Bellett or any other car really, old or new.

glenn

i was lucky buying mine cheap for under 4 k just like money in bank

i could have gone out and bought a brand new car perhaps for similar money. New with a 3 year warranty, Vs very old with no wanrranty, no spares and not a daily driver ! Yes I/we must be mad but that's why most of us are on this forum.

We love them ! Can you put a price on that? It's an emotional thing, buying a Bellett or any other car really, old or new.

glenn[/quote]

The point is that the new car will be worth nothing in 5 years the bellett will have collector value. Oz bought up the fact of geminis not being worth a lot of money? if you think back 20 years ago cars held value so the younger folk drove 20 year cars that was all they could afford these days a 10 year old car has very little value even though people pay a years wage for a new 1. We tow a lot of cars i.e that breakdown,hoon tows, and even for the real estates that get left in our hands to dispose of for example i have a 2002 commodore here that the realestate asked us to dump its a nice car but it must have some issue now worthless. So the gemini that oz speaks of that no one wants is only valuble to people that want them not a form of daily transport.

Hi Guys,
I thought I should put my thoughts on to this thread since I own a rare PR90. Yes I may even change my Avatar to a PR90 grille he..he..

I acquired my PR90 after a Bellett Nationals at Corowa in 1991. That was before intenet connections and searching... there was word around at the weekend that an ex-Vic club member Frank ??? at Bacchus Marsh wanted to sell his PR90. Quick trip over there and a test drive later convinced me that it was worth buying as it was an excellent base car to work with. Its rarity was also a drawcard for me. No local Bellett enthusiast would pay more than $2k for the car so we settled on just under $4k and my dreams of owning what was a GT version of a Tear drop bellett were fullfilled.

After deciding that I had sourced enough genuine parts for its restoration and return to original I started the project whilst I was working in Mittagong. About 10 months later and big $ later I finished it in readiness for the Corowa Nationals in 1992.

Its now 20 years on and I still get a good feeling driving Rufus. Last year Rufus received an updated paint job and just this month he has had a full engine rebuild. Now, don't forget that over time outsourced specialist work that most of us can't do for time reasons or for fear of not doing it properly (ie body and paintwork, mechanical, metal plating, exhausts etc) cost considerably more than 20 years ago. So the initial purchase price of a car in my case almost pales into the background

So Dave is right and he should know about the rarity of PR90's in Australia. (The Shannon's connection) There is only 5 or 6 in existence here and not all of them are running!

A final thought sums up us enthusiasts....
No matter what flavoured belletts you acquire, the longer we have these cars the more we love em'

Oh, by the way. Daves PR90 chassis number is 90 earlier than mine, Probably built about July 1966.

Lewis, Early GT

i remember you GT at Corowa, Lewis and i was shocked to find out the round figure of 25K was spent in the rebuild.
but i was also quite a bit younger in those days and now see clearly the why and the thinking and the ultimate purist reasoning in re building a car to original specs. the doors were still very hard to close with those new rubbers!

would be nearly inpossible to do a rebuild of that type these days, due to so many parts no longer available and also the cost of said parts if they can be found. would be upwards of 50K in todays money.

it truly was a lovely car and i still have quite a few photos in my "Corowa" album with your car included.

looking forward to Bay to Birdwood next year. What a hoot it will be


OZ