Hi All,
This is a second attempt at a hello from my Suzie Belle, recently pulled from storage after a year of warming up, drying out and settling down after years of outdoor sleeping under bramble bushes and car parts at a local wrecker's. The owner is intending to close and crush as is the fate of so many good yards in recent times - sadly while trying to repair my mum's '79 SE chrysler sigma wagon he crushed 4 of the same model... ouch. So I decided to jump on the idea of saving this little Bellett from the hydraulic nightmare. $200 changed hands, a signature here and thereabouts and the little lady was mine! With intention of being gifted to my girlfriend if we're still together at the time of unveiling... Her condition is poor inside and out but she's straight and rust-free although the interior looks jolly rotten. A coat of Wasp Blue all over, the original ivory colour left on the roof and a brown velvet kitout inside will help her along.
Her bonnet is at work being repaired as we speak and the driver's guard soon to follow. This will be an intermittent and drawn out topic as time for cars outside work is hard to come by...
Hopefully pics will be attached soon!

Nice save Led,

Even though time is hard to find at the moment - spending it on getting a Bellett back on the road is worth it mate.

Can't wait to follow the build.

Cheers

I just LOVE the 11th hour survival story! $200 for a restorable teardrop? Baaaaaaargain!

Please show us when you can.
And welcome, to 'Ledmeter' and Suzie Belle.

Cheers, Matt.

Suzie being collected from storage.

The generous tow ride. Personally I'd delete the racks but it's entirely utilitarian.

Just look at her quivering with fear and excitement!

Note unfortunate bonnet injury. This would have hurt and severely stressed support frame and spot welds.

Bonnet off and taken to work for repairs. Whilst it's off I work on her little motor. A carburettor rebuild kit and some cleaning, love, tightening and TLC to each bit will have her idling and revving just like she used to. Note shoes are taken off so she won't run away while being operated on.

Bonnet repairs in progress. Done the old fashioned way using rough heavy-duty plenishing hammer action and plenty of heatshrinks. I hate her bonnet being treated roughly but as they say, she's good old steel and need to be treated mean to be kept keen.

Getting there, in this shot. At present the bonnet is metal-finished and almost ready for a skim of good old Metal Mend.

A clean coat of two-pack satin black for her feet and new two-tone shoes!

Chrome dress rings added for some fancy stepping. Her hubcaps are in the boot, cleaned and sprayed with wd-40 and will go on last, they're just too scarce.

Hmm. I still need to find a decent fuel filler cap and a 1500 badge. But she looks nice already. Well, to me anyway. I keep a nice cover over her as not too many people enjoy unfinished cars being on display.

she looks nice, amazing what a difference painting the wheels makes to the car, loving the white wall stripe on there too! she looks good enough to cruise in now! look forward to more updates as you go!

Great Little Find, great work, looking forward to the story continuing!!

LED,
Where did you get those tyres?
Are you in Australia?

Hi Dave,
If you want a set of white wall tyres for you Bellett, go on ebay and type in white wall tyres 13"
they are available at $380 per set, same as I had on Red Bellett at Coona, and I think Lindsay has them on his GT
Geoff

I've had mine ordered in for my Sigma at beaurepaires, bridgestone, bob jane - They're readily available but just require asking for. Well worth the enquiry, as they don't cost much if at all more than normal black ones. These ones I took off my Sigma, cleaned and shined, then put them on Suzie.

Thanks Guys!!

hope to see you and Susie Belle in Merimbula for our BELLETT NATIONALS in October