It's nice to see the vic car club with a large turnout. Well done.

What a cool weekend, great turn out by the BCCV and all those who travelled. Looks like a mini Nats, wish i as there.

Dave, does this mean you have tested the route for the 2014 Nats? Don't think i can get trailered, so will have to go hardcore and Bellett it. Oh, and who said their photos didn't turn out great?? BUNKIM....

Wolverine, uhh "Wolverlean" appears again

Gav and the Rocketship look in fine form, 'cause STOCK IS COCK. Don't know what it is, journos NEED to let people assume their natural stance.

Much enjoyed,

B.

slight correction Dave, The Sport is an 1800 not 1600.

Interesting to see nearly all varieties of Bellett engines in one place......

1500 OHV, 1600 OHV, 1600 DOHC, 1800 SOHC

glenn


glenn

and 2000 dohc even tho they weren't Bellett original.
yep Greg... there's alot more around here that most don't know about too.

Getting them out is the challenge.

some people think that getting them out of the dusty shed and to a show or a Bellett Club run is somehow going to diminish the value and the rarity of the vehicle or the motor?
or that they will have to beat people off with a stick and a doberman to keep their pride and joy intact.

just get it out and enjoy it !!!

doesnt matter if its 1/3, 1/2 or 3/4 finished. if it drives and stops, just bring it out and have a good time !!

we all love our cars in what ever state they happen to be in, and getting them out and on the road is the best fun you can have.

ride the wheels off them, every opportunity you can get


OZ

OK guys I promised more photos.

Out of the Toyotas, I forgot to put up on of my favourites; this S50 Crown COUPE! Apparently it came in via New Guinea when it was 1-2 years old. PNG got all the good stuff back then!





I've never seen one of these in the metal before... I've never seen a Hino Contessa, but I CAN say I've seen a Daihatsu Campagno! I would roll one of these in a heartbeat. How they didn't sell a billion of these cheery little things, I'll never know. The styling is so versatile; it can be a convertible, a sedan or a ute, all with the same front sheetmetal!



This one was in great condition too.



This Datsun 240C coupe was awesome. The owner later parked it next to the Crown coupe for a comparison shot! Yeah sorry I got the file name wrong (sorry also to Glenn; I couldn't remember if yours was a 1600 Sport or an 1800 Sport... Should have just looked at your signature, really!).



Speaking of Datsun 260Cs, I've always loved the wagons, if only because the rear-side window winds down! Also, they have a rear jump seat... this is now an important thing to remember, in case my next child is quintuplets.





When I was a kid, I used to like the look of the early Civic hatch, so whenever I saw the wagon, I would scowl; they were all odd-looking and high. Then one day, I never saw one again and forgot they existed... until THIS one! Owner was a cool dude too; just wants to preserve the car when there would be a thousand people who would be content to sell it for scrap.



I remember seeing these around when I was a kid; my father-in-law said that when they detonated, they usually went with a big BANG and were too pricey to fix. I guess if your rotary went bang, you could literally drop a piston motor in it with no changes, but when your FWD, air-cooled, motorcycle-engined Honda 1300 Coupe 9 went bang... it was recycled.





The Honda Life is a pretty cool car; kinda looks like a Civic, but SMALLER (if that's possible). This one was impeccable.



I've always been partial to a Honda S600/S800. The convertible would be the one to have, but I do like the coupes for being so strange looking... and kinda unnecessary. At least they're small enough you could have both!



Although I'd prefer an S600 for the chain-drive rear end, this S800 had rad phats!



I loved this Honda Scamp. There were about a dozen of these at the Japanese show we went to in California in 2010; at least the Vics pulled two out! I'm liking the ratty roof-rack collection!



Honda Zs are super cool... that is all.



I didn't take many pics of the Belletts there; I'd seen most of them before and really wanted to absorb the other JDM stuff that I had never seen before. But I did take a pic of Barrie's restored 1600GT. I love that he's retained the factory front ride height. It's ridiculous, but that's just how God made 'em. Having said that, I took about a foot out of the height of the Ratter... it was just necessary!



I did take a couple of pics though. Here's one.



One of the highlights for me was the FWD rotary-powered Mazda Luce RX87 coupe. My God... just look at it.



These were the only rotary FWD Mazda made. I'm not sure why they didn't just use the basic structure of the Mazda 1500/1800 sedans, as the styling kinda matches. They don't LOOK FWD either, which is nice. Interestingly, I looked up a few websites a while back and couldn't get much info on their driveline; I couldn't even confirm if they were definitely FWD or if that was just misinformation. But yeah, I stuck my head under the front and saw the CVs. Wal stuck his head under the back to see the diff and saw a beam axle. Yeah, they're DEFINITELY FWD!

But beautiful! And one to tick off the bucket list.



I don't normally get that interested in RX3s as every JDM show has a dozen of them running monster port motors and hand-grenade levels of horsepower, but this one was fully restored back to original in every way. So, it was actually very, very cool.



This was another awesome car and although it's copped a few mods, it wasn't beyond redemption. Check it out! Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO!





I loved this Nissan President; so big and boaty and serious...



...with a dictaphone in the back!!! Apparently it has an 8-track for the front though. The owner only has one cartridge; Eric Clapton Live in Japan (it was in the car when it arrived!).



Also, bizarrely there is a portal in the front-passenger seat that folds down, so the rear passenger seat can recline with their legs out!

I've always been partial to the SVD Nissan Skyline Silhouette GTS. SVD was set up as a competitor to HSV, but that didn't pan out that well, because you can still buy a HSV (for the time being). I thought these Series II items looked a bit like Darth Vader at the front. The late 1980s were the time for blanked-off radiator grilles, let me tell you.



This Prince Gloria was amazing, especially because all Prince Glorias are amazing.



I didn't take too many pics of the Prince Skylines, mainly because most of them had rocked up to the Bay to Birdwood Classic in Adelaide a couple of months ago.

This one was cool though.



Last and also probably least, there was a mighty crew of Mighty Boys! What a cool car, even if they serve instant death to all who crash them.



Finally, here's what the show looked like from above, courtesy of Ross's Go-Pro drone that wasn't working when the Adelaide Nationals were on. The Belletts were on the upper oval, but still got plenty of attention.

Those of us who where there until the end of the show went to the Old England Hotel in Heidelburg for a late lunch.

I took a few more pics of the cars...including this one, which I merged (badly) out of two pics.



How's this shot... five Belletts... (if you include the Wasp)... five different FRONTS!

1 - Wal's black 1966.5 Bellett 1500
2 - Gav's 1965 Bellett 1500 rally car
3 - Brett's 1965 Wasp
4 - Dave's 1973 Bellett GT-R
5 - Brett's 1968 Bellett 1600GT

Five for five! Not bad!

...then, on the way home, we found this.

Dave . Did you know I have got a diahtsu campagno . My brother inlay has two . Gricey

cool pics Dave. proves the Vic scene is alive and well and that our CJD has become the envy of the others.
btw... found myself and junior in the drone pic.

Looks like he was restoring it, then thought better of it, so dumped it !

There was a very nice one on the Inspector Lyndley Mysteries the other night on TV. (How a Cop could afford one of them is a mystery in itself.,)

Yeah our thoughts were that he had trailer trouble, as it was gone about 6 hours later when Ross and Gav went to check it out again.

Gav was about 15 seconds away from hiring a trailer and rescuing it... what's the saying? Possession is 9/10ths of the law?

He was genuinely concerned that this car; that a hand-fettled, Chrysler big-block-powered, bespoke luxury grand tourer, one of only 6,408-built, might end up in the hands of Sims metal, via an uncaring local council, seriously worried him. Truth be known, he was right, but I was tired and willing to assume the owner would be back for it!

There had been some serious rust repairs around the steering box, while other areas had been cut out, ready for bits to be sectioned in.

Trailer trouble or otherwise, it certainly wasn't what we were expecting to see on the sight of the highway! We went past, stopped at the next service station, agreed to go back, then drove about 20kms out of our way to do a legal u-turn and go back and look!


Cheers,


Dave

Ok guys here's the last lot.

As you may have read, we returned to Adelaide via Kerry's house. Gav came with us as far as Ballarat for a squiz at Kerry's impressive collection of JDM and German stuff!

First up, Ross found this awesome Datsun sign! He took a photo for our mate Andrew in Adelaide who has a square one. Kerry said he had a square one, but he sold it to the boss of Pedders suspension... Andrew told us he bought his from the boss of Pedders suspension! Ha! Small world!



Kerry's three Belletts are all beautiful cars; his Roman Red is a replica of his original race and trials car; the phat stockies are awesome! The white 1965 sedan is just a really nice, clean car. You can see his Wasp in the background.



His white 1966.5 Deluxe is a good looking thing too; but I still love the 'teardrop' the best.



Ross got his Go-Pro drone out again. Anne Marie was impressed and took a photo... I wonder if she knew it was taking a photo of her back!



It's always taking photos... especially when you're about to switch it off.



As much as I love Belletts, Kerry's good Prince Super Miler is literally one of the best things in the world. Seriously, it's the greatest looking truck of all time! I was honoured to be given a sit in it!



Look at the front of this thing! LOOK AT IT!



My car kinda looked cool next to the shed, so I took a photo.



After a VERY nice coffee with Kerry, we took off. After a few hours, we hit Bordertown and fuelled up.

There, a pair of ethnic boys were undertaking a crazy trip of their own; one had bought a 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera (ie: the lightened, faster version of the Gallardo) in Melbourne and had a permit to drive it back to Adelaide. Rhonda, the lady at the road house, told us they'd been pulled over 7 times since leaving Melbourne! They also gave it full beanage pulling out of the servo!







Surprisingly though for a pair of young bucks in an Italian sports car, they were once bitten and twice shy; about an hour later, we over took them near Murray Bridge; they were sitting on 95km/h and we were on 110... so we bid them farewell and returned home via many, many more roadworks.

Ross won't be able to make it, but I'm keen to double it in 2014 for the CARnevale!


Cheers,

Dave

Sensational pics and story Dave

Now that's the sort of road trippin' any QLD road tripper would be proud of

would have liked to make use trip over to Kerry's for the day too, but some of us have to work...

GREAT STUFF MATE AND GREAT STOREYS CHEERS DAVO

You would look really good in one Gricey, but you would have to wear a hair net to stop blowing your taupe off

Glad you guys enjoyed your visit (and coffee ....). We certainly enjoyed having you here. The social side of cars and car clubs is what makes the whole thing tick and Bellett enthusiasts , though small in number , are right up there with the best . We have had the pleasure of being able to visit ( and in some cases, stay with ) Bellett owners in many parts of Aust. and also USA and these times have always been interesting and memorable.
KB

Thanks for the brilliant writeup again Dave, to what looked like a top weekend. You have the knack of weeding out the odd, sublime and the rediculous. And always massively informative. Much enjoyed Man !!

Quote; "in case my next child is Quintupletts"..........Hey, are you trying to tell us something here, Dude.......Duuuuude ???

Nice Go Pro work there Ross, great to see the technology working for ya

B.