Hi guys,

Some of you may have seen the awesome 3-part documentary that was on ABC TV recently; Wide Open Road.

This short series documented the history of the motor car in Australia, from the characters behind the first trans-continental crossings to the first attempts at an Australian car, to the big three wars between Holden, Ford and Chrysler and of course our motor racing heroes Jack Brabham and Peter Brock.

There was some awesome footage of 1960s Australia (including some choice shots of Adelaide's North Terrace) and needless to say, I had my eyes peeled pretty hard during the series for any glimpse of a Bellett....

...and glimpse I did! While there were a few minutes dedicated to the Japanese, they revolved around Toyota and probably rightfully so, given their level of success during the 1960s.

But there was a scene in a busy city street that showed a Bellett cruising past; just microseconds beforehand it was obscured by a Falcon wagon going past, while about a nanosecond later, the scene changed.

I did a LOT of pausing, rewinding and other faffing around and this was about the best screen shot I could get!

Super cool! An original Bellett in its natural environment... the 1960s!!



Cheers,

Dave

Nice work Dave - I watched that series too and I thought I had a look out for a Bellett - you have eagle eyes mate.

It was a great series - thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cheers
Neil

FANTASTIC JOB DONE THERE ...RECKON THE OTHER 2 CARS ARE AN EJ HOLDEN AND A WOLSELEY ....GEEZ AINT THE FASHIONS SO DIFFERENT THE CAN HAND BAGS WERE IN ,ONE GUYS WERING A HAT , LADY HAS GLOVES ON , AND THE YEAR IS ?? IS THAT AN ALUMINIUM GRILLE ON THE BELLETT CHEERS DAVO THANKS FOR GOING TO THE TROUBLE OF PRODUCING THIS

Yeah there was no real indication of year, but as you can see it must be mid 1960s or thereabouts.

It's a 1964-1966 early-type Bellett with the stainless grille and teardrop lights as evidenced by the grille badge. It's a bit hard to see on the still, but when it was cruising past on the actual video, it looked pretty clear!

Cheers,

Dave

WOW, nice work Dave!!

You're a class act Dave, managing not only the glimse (as I did) but to do the rewind-pause to get the still, then get it to your computer. All beyond me, we still got thuh viddy yo tape playa.
Ah, to be young & 'puter teached.......

Great series, loved it.
Cheers, Matt.

was an awesome series! just wish they had put more of our uniquely australian motoring history in there (and triple or quadruple checked all the info coz there were some errors.... ) to make a few more episodes.
anyway, it's out on DVD on in all ABC shops. have a copy myself already, and there's over an hour of extras that didn't make it to the series.... with some REALLY nice stuff included!
cheers.

Can't agree on the 'EJ Holden' - they had a slight bend at the bottom of the A pillar, and the roofline extended slightly past the back of the C pillar, and there was no sculpted line on the lower half of the body. I suspect the black car is a Falcon, probably an XL or XP model from the position and length of the chrome side strip.

I agree with the other car being a Wolseley 1500 - the only other possibility is an Austin Lancer )badge engineered Wolseley, but the round blob just visible over the front wheel is consistent with the chrome/badging arrangement of the Wolseley

Cheers, Vic

i've got the DVD set here, so i'll have a look at what the other cars are and let u know.
cheers.

i reckon your right vic the car has it appears ..to have extended tailights ..not on the ej ...and the chrome strip on the eh was flatter to the body ...what about fairlane ..or a nissan cedric ...now im joking ..come on brett put us out of our misery cheers davo

ok.... have paused and slow-mo'd the DVD....

a blue FE Holden ute goes thru in the right hand lane followed by the white Bellett sedan.
the middle lane sees a black XM Falcon sedan go thru (the car in question).
and my limited pommie car knowledge makes me think the white sedan in the left turn lane is a Singer Gazelle or very, very similar, but i'll stand corrected if someone can positively ID it.

hope this helps!

yep the little car is 100% shure its a 1961 15000cc wolsley its rich cousin was virtually identical called a riley 1.5 havin leather trim and a few other goodies i found this on winepeg definite photo of the same car cheers davo ...

sorry guys not actually the car in that photo..... the one in winepeg is a red one ...it goes faster ....davo

Brett, I did ID it - it's a Wolseley 1500, a small BMC car based on the Morris Minor platform, introduced in 1958.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertsbite/4278478873/

It's too small for a Singer Gazelle, the parking lights are outside the small side grilles (they were integrated in the Gazelle), and the side chrome is wrong - Gazelles never had that blob at the top of the wheel arch.

BMC produced 4 badge engineered versions of the car. The Wolseley 1500, the Riley 1.5 (different grille and park light arrangement), Austin Lancer (similar grilles to the Wolseley, but plain chrome side strip) and Morris Major (Chrome blob at top of wheel arch, but no side grilles).

Cheers, Vic

At least it's not a Morris Marina, bloody close, same family.

thanks Vic. i warned i have only a very limited pommie knowledge....
probably comes from nitemares created by positive earthing and everything being made by Lucas: the prince of darkness!!

and bloody Marina's........................................................................ i'm never going down that path again.

the joy of the internet all you need is a photo and type in what you have and it will give you the answers tells you the model of the car its specs only thing doesnt tell you who owns it now... then again that bellett could be an automatic , or even x bathurst now lives in victoria eh kerry ? cheers davo

It's probably 5 Hyundai bonnetts and three boot lids and 4 back doors for same. Won't be able to sleep tonite worrying about it. :shock

Davo,
I have got a '67 here that would suit you - white ....which of course is pretty close to blue........
KB

thanks so much kerry ...i am living the dream of a blue one ...like i know of a certain teardrop which would look great painted blue ....nudge nudge ....thanks for the offeron the white one you know what i kick myself now for not asking you to have a drive of the little car ...good to see everybody got home safe im looking forward to next year ..i have to get cracking ..i must have a car ...best wishes to you in victoria ...cheers davo