PR91 wrote:
except... they are 69 models, not 68's.
I have a question and would like to ask it making sure to point out that I do not have as much expertise on this subject as you do, and am really more interested in your thoughts on this, because it's a theory, not a statement of fact. The question is: "Can you look at the exterior equipment and features on a Bellett and say with 100% certainty what model year it is?".
Model year cosmetic changes were supposedly started by Detroit to get people who already owned a perfectly nice car to buy a new one just because that person didn't want to look like they couldn't afford the latest model car. So they made tail fins that inched up and down and different grilles, bumpers, chrome trim, etc. But Japanese people just never seemed to be a group that would embrace the idea of a boss walking in and saying "As of Monday, we change over to the new model year. We use the parts we have been using on everything through the end of Friday, and on Monday we start using different parts.".
Even on newer Isuzu cars, whenever ordering a part from the dealership, you have to know the production date, because changes were made at any point during the year, and the parts catalog had long lists of the same part for the same model year car, that were different depending on the month the car was built. This was particularly difficult for me with my first car, because the production date was printed on the B pillar, which had been replaced on my car, and they don't issue new vehicle ID stickers, so I had to have my VIN number decoded.
And the Belletts do not have the same, long VIN numbers like modern cars, with model year, country of origin, destination market, engine size, etc. encoded into the number. With Belletts you get "model number dash production sequence". and there isn't a ID sticker or plaque with all the options that is pop riveted to the fire wall. There seems to be a total denial of the idea of a model year built into the sequential VIN number.
Also, is there a confusion of terms between "model year" and "production date". We get the next model year of cars beginning in August or September. So, right now, it is September of 2008, and they are selling 2009 model cars. My understanding is that the changeover date moved up a little each year, and it was much closer to December 31 in the past, but when would that have been in 1968 or 1969?
These cars would have actually been produced before the time that they sold. It takes time to transport the vehicle from the manufacturing plant to the sales lot. It's not a short time either, because they have to build a boat load of cars, move them from the plant to the boat, move the boat across the ocean, unload them, sort out which cars get shipped to which dealerships, put them on trucks, drive them across the country, unload them... Three or four months lead time right now, and things probably took longer in 1968 or 1969. As an example, I have two 1991 model year cars in the driveway, and the production dates are October 1990 and August 1990. If they changed over to the new model year in September or October, I would expect that they were making 1991 model cars beginning in June or July of 1990. Another example, the often argued beginning of production of the Piazza: Rumor-pedia says "late 1981", but the parts catalog begins with September of 1980, with sales in Japan beginning at about Christmas of 1980.
How much of the Bellett features were custom or less consistent? The 117 Coupes were built in the same time period as the Belletts, and while the round headlight 117's were still considered hand built, some of the technique and manufacturing methodology would have been shared. 117 owners proudly prop their hoods open whenever at a car show to show off the jagged metal edges around the hood latches, so that they can explain to the uninitiated that their cars were hand built and the notch for the hood latches were cut with tin snips, by hand. Some of that has to have bled over into the Bellett.
Some of the equipment seems to have been mixed intermittently. I had always seen the 1969 GTs pictured with the rear quarter panel vents, short hood, and the sort of triangular front turn signals. Someone also pointed out an engine change at that point too. But I have seen cars without the rear quarter panel vents, with the long hood, and with the tiny round turn signals, and the G161 engine, and the production dates work out to September of 1969. I always got the impression that the exact equipment was a little less set in stone depending on what parts they ran out of on the assembly line, or if a box of misplaced parts was found in storage.
Brochures and magazine articles are good sources of information, but they have some limitations. Now, we can make color photocopies and have color printers for our computers. Around 1982, schools were still using mimeograph machines to print those purple ink copies that smelled so terrible even after they dried, because there weren't even black and white photocopy machines. Around 1968, glossy, color brochures would have to have been made by a printing company, which would have taken weeks or months after the artwork was submitted. And there were no computers to create the layout and put the images in. Photos would take weeks to print, then to compose the layout by hand would have been an ordeal of x-acto cutouts and type setting. A brochure would have taken three months or longer from the time they started to the time they had boxes to hand out to customers. And the cars photographed would have to have been either the very first models off the line, or pre-production mock-ups. If some trim piece changed after the photo shoot or type setting of the text, it would be too late to correct the brochure.
Magazines have similar issues. Right now, the photos and text are due three months prior to the date on the magazine, and they start delivering subscriptions by mail the month before the date on the magazine. The result is that the information in the magazines is always five months after the time that the information was "news". So you see the story about the 4th of July car show in the December/Christmas issue. I don't know how much longer it took in the 1960s, but as an example, the June 1965 issue of Modern Motor has an article titled "Isuzu Bellett GT", and it would have had to have been written in December of 1964 or January of 1965, which predates production by about 21 months.
Also, magazine writers are not infallible. One good example, a review of the 1987 Piazza/Impulse claims the car is front wheel drive.
These things sort of lead me to the conclusion that model year and equipment are a little less certain with Belletts than with other cars, and we aren't going to see things like two Ford Mustang fanatics standing next to a car with an argument like "That's a 1965.", "No, that's a 1966, and I'll bet when you open the hood it will have a six barrel carburetor instead of a four barrel..."
Maybe I'm way off, but I would like to ask the experts to comment.
