Hey guys,

Was wondering if anybody had one of the above in their collection they were willing to part with.

Needs to be mostly unrestored but tidy.

Needs to be a teardrop sedan.

Needs to be column shift/bench seat.

Bit of a long shot but yeah; would be awesome!

I've got one !
Probably unrestorable unless you are insane, very talented or have really deep pockets.



Cheers
Rob

lol

well maybe Dave fits a couple of those!....heheheheh

heheheheheheheheheheheh

Dave mate, I only know of 4 of those - One is in your shed, one in mine, one in Neil's & one belongs to a non-forum mate who loves it. It is his only Bellett.

So.......do you need a second one?? or are you asking for a mate? I don't imagine you want to sell yours, and Milli has taken a shine to mine (for purely social reasons - she would be able to take 5 friends places! But I'm happy to have her take the interest). It's the "Barn find" & hasn't changed much since the last post. I walk past it & say "soon". Milli sometimes asks "How soon?"
I remind her that she is 10. It's also the same model & configuration as my first one in 1976.

Cheers, Matt.

Hi Matt,

I PMed you the full story, but for the others it's really a matter of preferring original cars to restored cars.

It took me 20 years to work out, but I really dig cars that might show a blemish or two, but have been relatively untouched over the last 40++ years.

Mine has a retrimmed interior and is slightly the wrong colour... nothing massive, but it means the seats don't 100% match the interior (not far off and in good nick seeing as they are brand-new!) and the outside doesn't match the engine bay.... the things we do when we are young.

So yeah, I wasn't on the prowl to collect all the column shifts that still exist, but was hoping for something.... then I would sell mine.

Irritatingly, I had a dark blue column shift years ago; one that donated it's doors and B-pillar to the one I have now. It had some rust and some other issues, but by and large, it was a good car. Of course, I wrecked it in favour of the dented white car, which was in better nick (aside from large t-boning).

I would never begrudge someone for doing a resto; far from it, but the one I've (mostly) done hasn't been to my satisfaction and they are only original once. Truth be known, the things that annoy me on that car probably wouldn't annoy anyone else!

Anyway, if nobody's got on in their collection that they've saved but not using, then I'll sit it out or if i get motivated, get some more work done to mine!

Oh by the way Farmer, there's a guy here in Adelaide called Steve who has a brown teardrop column shift with a white roof. I think his has bucket seats although I'd have to assume someone (perhaps him) has fitted though. Another one is forum member Straw Berry who lives in Adelaide; I don't think she's come back since she first joined. I'm pretty sure hers is a column shift, although hers is also a 1966.5 hex-light model, which must be rare-as because any of the column shifters I've found or heard about have been teardrop models.

Cheers,

Dave

Thanks for letting us know Dave, and yeah, I saw your teardrop when we were over there & reckon it's pretty nice. You probably do notice the few imperfections 'cause it's yours.

Trouble is of course finding good originals now. I was amazed when Gary found his 2-owner '67 & thought "There can't be any others left like this." O.K., she's not as good, but I was surprised to find Doris so original, then we find the first one in the country in Canberra in the hands of it's original owner, Gary gets that brown teardrop all original but the motor, Terry brings his really good '67 to last years nats, then Kerry finds his fantastic example in Bathurst!
Now there are 2 one-family-owners in the 'for sale' section.

And there's yours, my & Mr Flibbles' original Florians
Amazing that so many have survived so well after 45-ish years.
I think in the last few years we have hit a wave of 'gotten to old to drive' and 'deceased estates' examples that were bought new by 40-ish olds that cherished them. You would expect that this will run out soon.

The 66.5 benchy is rare alright, but I've known another - Dennis' new Roman Red one in he bought in '67. He sold it to Mum, she to Dad, & He to Greg. Greg was bringing my first '65 home in 1976 and my Aunty Midge was driving the 66.5. She lost it on a level crosing & hit a rail-line sign & it was written off. I used the seats & other bits in mine.

Good luck with the search,
Cheers, Matt.