Hello everyone,
I'm the one who found that late model 1800GT in Colorado. It was in sorry shape when I first saw it years ago, but it seemed to be salvageable. At the time, I had little money, right now I'm a bit better off, but not by enough to consider buying it too seriously. I am, however, planning on driving down to look at it again and give it a full once-over, which may end in an offer. One of the key points would be if I can get it legally on the road. When I go look, I can try to take some pictures if anyone is interested.

The aluminum frame comment was something I remember the seller mentioning, but since he referred to the car as the mini Jaguar Asian car, I should not have listened to him. The car is at a salvage yard, and the owner is in his 80s and in poor health (he's holding the door in the trunk picture), so it's possible that it may not stay around much longer. From what little I've read on the Bellett line, it would fit right in with my style of cars. I may end up being a regular here, checkbook be-damned.

David,

Good to see you on here. I didn't think you would mind me posting the non specific bits out of that message. I hope I was correct in that assumption

Please do post some photos.

I've somehow managed to turn up another person looking for Belletts, this time in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada).

It's starting to look like it may be worth while looking into the cost and logistics of importing several Belletts into North America. I don't have the time right now, but I will do some rudimentary research in the next few days. Some of the first things I'd look at is how many can you get in a container for instance. Also, how likely / costly would it be to round up several Belletts at a time.

I seem to recall a shop or two that had dozens in stock.

If this is the case, it might be as simple as negotiating a deal for x cars and have them do the exporting leg work. You would probably want to do that arrangement through a business and not as an individual.. all depends.

At any rate, without doing the math, my gut tells me you can get 4 belletts in a standard size container.. and if you dealt with one company that did all the exportation work at once, etc, etc.. you'd could get the shipping down to 3k or less per car at a western seaboard port..

Hello, Andrew. I found this last year while web wandering. It's old, but maybe it will lead you someplace. Looks like a nice G.T.
Regards, Matt.

Matt,

I remember seeing that ad. I didn't have the scratch at the time, and RHD belletts can be had for roughly that much all day anyday (imported)... or certainly not considerbaly more expensive.

I've come across a LHD Early 4 Door in the States if anyone happens to be looking. I would snap it up, but it's a ways away and I've got 2 NSU 1000s now and looks like I might add a Simca 1000 into the fold... so no money or space!

Hey Hudson, where's that early 4-door? As in what state?

Also is it running and driveable and rego'ed?

Cheers,

Dave

Tenessee.. no idea on state.. doesn't look too rusty, definitely not registered.

You know someone hunting belletts in North America?

Ah, I half thought of perhaps buying it myself, but this would mean that my wife would attach mains power to my nipples and repeatedly electrocute me until I was almost dead, let me recover then do it again.

And remember, Australia is 240v not 110v. That shit doesn't tickle!

I came exceptionally close to buying a LHD Isuzu Bellel a while back, but it fell through. But that was before I bought the Florian...

Well, the price of this one is right. He want's scrap plus a bit.

If you want protection from your wife... buy it and ship it to me.

I will give you weekly updates on how it's doing

Hello all,

I hate to make my first post a revival of a five-month-old thread but I just found this website and couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. I do apologize for the bad form but I though it would be better than starting a new thread and trying to explain everything again.

In short, I'm on the hunt for any remaining LHD bellets and I'd love to to be kept in the loop. Also, if there is serious talk about about importing a few together I'd be interested in being part of that co-op.

I live in BC, Canada. There used to be a smattering of Bellets here, some imported whole and others assembled in the East Coast. I haven't seen one now in over a decade. [Edited] If anyone knows of any for sale in North America I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance for any help, and to everyone who put together this awesome website!

Hey sorry for the late response; welcome to Bellett.net!

Don't worry about reviving and old thread; due to the nature of the beast (the beasts being Belletts) it's not the world's most populous forum, so sometimes old threads get found by members and bumped back up. Not a worry as far as I'm concerned!

There are a couple of guys over there in North America with Belletts; one guy I remember speaking to (can't remember if he's on this forum) brought a couple of Canadian-spec items with him when he moved to the USA, while another guy has a Jap-spec item down in Florida.

Good grief it sounds like your Mum's Bellett had some stories to tell!

Welcome to the Forum; be sure to check back often!

Cheers,

Dave

I have managed to find a few more details on this in the article I am transcribing.

Isuzu takes it's name from the Isuzu River which flows past Ise Jingu, the most sacred shrine in Japan. The word Isuzu, relating to the river, is written with the symbols that mean "50 Bells". The number 50 is symbolic of perfection. [From outside the article: The Bell is a reference to the religious use of bells in purification, probably a direct reference to the many bells used on the dresses of Shinto dancers. To enter the Ise Jingu shrine, you walk across a grand gated bridge over the Isuzu River, so the river is the border of the shrine. And you wash your feet and face in the river, to purify yourself, along the path between the bridge and the main shrine building. So references to perfection and purification seem logical for the name of the river.]

The company name Isuzu is always written out in the phonetic characters, and never in the symbols used in the name of the river.

The word Bellel is a play on words. "Bell" refers to the purification bell. "El" is a reference to the number 50. So Bellel is a play on words that works out to "Bell 50", or Isuzu backwards.

Bellett is again is explained to mean "Little Bellel".

SO, I'm enjoying driving my 'Fifty Bells Small Bell' (?)
And I can think of it as pure perfection.
Pretty nice, Thanks JT.
Matt.

Four page article about "Bellett Development".
1 3/4 pages in.
So far this guy has named everyone he went to school with and started talking about his work on the Bellel.
If I have to wade through one more sentence about Bellel tail lights, I will probably have to be committed.
Maybe I have to find the Gemini article to read something about Belletts.

Hi all,

I just joined the forum. Nice to read some of this info.

To follow up on the original post, I too am very interested in any information about NA Belletts or Bellels.

I was going to follow up in the History thread, which had the nice article about the history of Isuzus in Canada.

Here is some of what I know off the top of my head.
I grew up in the Edmonton area and came across a few Belletts in my time and took to collecting them. They were sold through a dealer in Calgary in the mid to late 60s. I've seen model years 65 through 69, my understanding was after 1970 there were no more sold, and parts and service were handled through Toyota dealers for a while in Canada.

As far as I have been able to gather the Belletts were never sold in the US. Any reference to Isuzus down here are the post 90 models, and most people have no clue anything existed before that (and are not very interested themselves).

In terms of cars on the road, I currently have a 65 that was in running condition about 2 years ago and I have not got around to getting it back on the road (need to bleed the brakes and really should replace some brake cylinders). I also have a 66 as a parts car and pieces (engine, transmission and a couple boxes of interior trim bits) out of a 67 that I parted out before I moved down to CA. Mine was a sweet deal, bought it of an elderly lady in Victoria (i.e. no snowy/salty Canadian roads) and she had only driven it once a week to church and back, still had (and has) the original plastic protection over the inside door panels. The 67 that I parted out was my first car and I drove it across the prairies and back when I went to Waterloo to study back in the mid 80s. The 66 I have, I spotted while driving around Regina one summer and eventually was able to convince the owner to sell. I drove that for a number of years but the Alberta roads took their toll on the body and it became the parts mobile after I picked up the 65. Also before all that, what started my interest, was my Dad was basically given a 65 back when I was about 12 (he bought it for $1.00) and when the cooling system went on it (I think the water pump just broke internally, but we never knew that) my brother and I would drive it around our little 3 acre lot just for fun, even before we were old enough to have a license.

I have a brother-in-law who also has one (I forget what year, but I think it was a 67) that is sitting on the a farm near Edmonton (it had spent most of it's live in Vancouver and then on a storage lot on the island). I think it still needs some serious work to become road worthy.

About 10 years ago I exchanged emails with someone else here in CA who had imported 3 Bellels, I am not sure of the condition of those any more.

About 6 years ago I had an email from someone in Texas who was needing to part with a GT I think it was, due to changing priorities (parenting has a way of doing that to us, and rightly so). Also I had heard from one of the other users here who lives in Florida.

In addition to that I had heard or seen of a Bellett in Michigan I think it was that presumable had come over the border some time back.

So that's a brief synopsis of my passion for these little cuties. I'ld be happy to be a curator for the NA history if those over here want to post or email me their tidbits.

Cheers,

Hi Doug,

Thanks for posting your information.

I receive regular emails from http://www.bringatrailer.com , a website that features classifieds for rare and interesting cars from the USA and across the globe.

Recently, they featured three diffferent Belletts for sale (one in Finland, one in Japan and one in Georgia, USA) as well as a USDM Bellel (unsure where; probably San Francisco as I think this is the only place they were sold).

The adverts generated several responses from readers who shared their personal experiences with Belletts and Bellels. The info they have offered isn't exactly verifiable, but as first-hand information, I'm more than happy to re-post it here for interest's sake.

From:
http://bringatrailer.com/2012/01/05/1965-isuzu-bellett-historic-rally-car/


Darrel H.
January 5, 2012 at 9:50 pm

An Isuzu Bellett like this one was raced in the middle 1960s here in northern California with importer or factory support. It ran one of the Georgetown Hillclimbs along with a BMW TISA that I attended.

From:
http://bringatrailer.com/2011/09/06/1973-isuzu-bellett-gt-r/

metic
September 7, 2011 at 3:57 am

I remember Bellets being sold by a dealer in Portland Oregon, alongside Bellel Diesel (complete with blue-tinted glass) sedans and station wagons. The Bellets were available only in right-hand drive, possibly an inspiration for Ford, who offered LHD Tauruses for sale in Japan and couldn’t understand why sales were slow. The sales of RHD Bellets may have been slow in Oregon, but a niche market did develop. A few people discovered that the little cars went like stink, and Bellets appeared in some numbers, and with good results, at venues such as Portland International Raceway competing with other small sedans.


TysonR
September 7, 2011 at 3:28 pm

@metic
Those original Belletts and Bellels (1961-1965?) were privately imported and distributed in the US much like the original Subarus were imported and sold by Malcolm Bricklin, which could explain why they were right hand drive.

@DaveTea
Prince, the original builder of the Skyline, had a licence to produce Mercedes engines in the early 60′s. The Japanese government forced a merger between Prince and Nissan in ’66 with Prince bringing it’s inline motors over but by this time they were changed just enough to not need a licence.

About the Lotus look of the engine-
After deciding to develop a DOHC engine, Isuzu sent a G161(OHV) engine to Conrero in Italy in 1965 as a base for Conrero to work on. Conrero were well known at the time for tuning Alfa Romeo engines. Conrero worked on and tuned the engine and sent it back to Isuzu. The power output for this engine was 100PS per litre and Isuzu were very pleased with the result. Isuzu continued to development the DOHC engine using the Conrero tuned engine as a guide. Conrero also provided advice and guidance to Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi in the ’60′s.

What’s ironic is that Lotus used Isuzu engines for their fwd Elan.


DougD
September 8, 2011 at 5:47 am

I knew a Bellett would show up on BAT eventually! My Aunt had one, although it was a base 4 door. I think it was sold by the Toyota dealership in Brantford Ontario. Hers was the only one I’ve ever seen, so there must have been only a tiny number sold in Canada. It was done in by an electrical fire in 1974.


From:
http://bringatrailer.com/2011/12/31/diesel-rarity-black-plate-1964-isuzu-bellel/


Lagunatich
December 31, 2011 at 4:37 pm

I actually did a full restoration on one of these 20 years ago while working for Isuzu in LA. By chance we found the entire stock of parts for US Bellels in an airplane hanger in Chino owned by a guy who lived in the hanger with several disassembled Piper Cubs, and thousands of Bellels parts. NOS everything including all the stainless moldings, dash pad, door trim, lens, etc, etc, etc. One of the easiest restorations I’ve ever done!
I believe Isuzu only imported 200 cars before realizing it wasn’t ready for prime time in the US market.
The car drove like a dog with an underpowered diesel, but it was bullet proof tough. The car went to the Isuzu stand for the ’93 Tokyo Motor Show. I wonder where it is now?

Darrell Wilhelm
December 31, 2011 at 11:47 pm

The Bellel and Bellett were briefly imported to the US through a distributor on the West Coast (can’t remember where tho), only a diesel LHD Bellel and RHD Bellett were available… Belletts were known to race at Portland International Raceway at one time and were not a bad car. In the late 60s, Isuzus were going to be built in Canada by a would-be Studebaker buyer and badge-engineered as Studeys, but that fell through. I’d have liked to see a Bellett GTR badged as a Lark Daytona myself…

This looks like a great project, and vastly more viable than the light blue and white Bellel I saw near the Oregon State Hospital campus in Salem, Oregon in 2007-08 before it was hauled away (I wasn’t a patient, but visited a friend of the family there regularly and was her advocate). That Bellel had been sideswiped with a lot of rust, broken glass and missing trim… and if you missed out on the Prince from a few weeks ago and/or find Toyopets and Datsun Bluebirds too pedestrian, this is your chance at a real LHD JDM car as someone else said.

BTW, about the name, the Bellel was a reference to the name Isuzu’s meaning in Japanese (fifty bells, it was created by sounding out the Roman numeral for 50 and adding the English word “bell”), and Bellett was coined as “a small Bellel”. Pronunciation is straightforward, say “Bell-L” for this and “Bellet” (rhymes with “pellet”) for a Bellett.

Dave,

Thanks for the pointers and info. A lot of that is new news to me, I was under the assumption that they (belletts and bellels) were never sold here in the US, but looks like maybe there was a dealer on the west coast for a while.

Would you have any contact info for the guy who left the comment about finding a hanger of parts in the LA area? It would be nice to at least go look through the stash if I could.

Doug! Cool to know you have a couple Belletts in NA. LHD to boot!

Got any pictures?

Cheers,

Andrew

hi mate i emailed the chino airport which i beleieve is only a small craft airport in la re the piper parts and a hanger in which a caretaker was looking after the hangar and there was supposedly bellel parts i have had no answer possibly from your end it would be easier the posting by mr lagunatich dated 31/12 2011 is a good starter good luck it may be your lucky finds cheers davo