1967 Isuzu Bellett 1500

[Twitch6284]

Hey RR folk!

I went digging around the foliage of the -end of Kent last weekend, and after wading through a sea of stinging nettles I found this... 





And after digging out about 15 other vehicles to get to it, a 1967 Isuzu Bellett emerged from it's long slumber in the shrubberies. 





Thankfully I had multiple Datsun owning helpers to assist dragging it out and getting it onto the trailer, so many thanks to all involved there. 





I've always longed for a Bellett, never thought I'd ever actually own one. So this is a super exciting find for me, and I'll have a few other things from the fleet for sale soon to help fund it's recommissioning.
Thankfully, it seems pretty much complete, and needs a surprisingly small amount of welding given it's circumstances. 



It's got a pretty amazing backstory, but I'll go into that in more detail later. Hopefully will get it running this week, but after doing 1000 miles in an LDV collecting it, with most of the return trip being in biblical weather, I need to do the van brakes and see a chiropractor first! 



So, anyone know anything about these? Anyone owned one or got any Bellett stories? Would like to hear about it if so! 

[igor]

I was not aware that those things ever made it to the UK. My dad bought one new in 1970 to replace a rusted out Standard Ten. We had that car until 1980, right through my primary school and early high school years.

[DarrenW]

That's an outstanding find, looking forward to reading future updates!

[Twitch6284]

So on closer inspection, it seems the car is complete, bar the centre console and a screenwash reservoir, which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty epic result. It is needing a windscreen though, which I'm sure will become a massive pain in my backside at some point..



It's a lovely place to sit and ponder my life choices. Interiors a little 'worn', but it's all there. Obviously a critter of some sort decided it was the perfect spot for some winter nut storage, so looking forward to finding the rust hole used for entry. Really hoping it stuck to it's nut fetish and didn't branch out into a taste for wiring...





Currently just relentlessly trawling some Bellett forums, looking at front disc conversions, as I have to do the brakes anyway. And thankfully, unlike the Compagno they already exist for this. Big bonus. Will update again soon.

[skinnylew]

Wow what a find! Right hand drive but a Dutch number plate 🤔 must be an interesting story indeed and a very rare if not unique car!

Also you say the rs end of Kent that's very much opinion, I consider my part of Kent to be the rs end being both Kent and Greater London it is these days the worst of both worlds sadly. But in this co text I'm guessing the isle of Thanet somewhere

[Twitch6284]

Actually got it from Herne Bay 😂 but coming from Devon in a LDV any part of Kent is a mission! So, story time. This is its history as far as I'm aware.



This car was built in Japan in 1965, shipped to Mozambique where it was sold. The owner then travelled the length of Africa with it in 1974 to escape the decolonisation troubles, ending up in Portugal. Hence the plates.



It was used up to 1988 in Portugal, then sat in a barn and was seen by a friend of a friend. Who collected it and bought it over to good old blighty for my mate in Kent. Sadly I don't know when it got to the UK. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get the famously competent DVLA to give me any UK plates for it, given I have no paperwork for the car and it's still registered in Portugal, but that's going to be a whole saga of its own I'm sure...

[stealthstylz]

I reckon you should have the other 3 steelies banded to match the width of the split rim but keep just the one split rim, then bung a 1.5TD in it and keep the rest as is.

[Twitch6284]

It has got a pair of split rims on the front (ratchet straps hold better when the air stays in the tyres 😂) and it will end up hopefully with the matching pair on the back. But the positive camber provided by the transverse leaf spring arrangement, coupled with the flat rear arch and the tyre size on the Equips at the time sadly said no to the full set. Exhibit A:



Fitment Yo! All the stancey kids would be lovin it.. 🤙
A bit of research into the suspension setup, coupled with some tyre size R&D and I reckon I'll be able to make it work. It's a staggered set of Works, and the wider pair will have to remain on the front, but I can live with that.
One thing I can absolutely confirm however is it will NOT be getting a diesel in it.. 😂

[Twitch6284]

Been playing again today. Fumbled through the massive piles of keys I've accumulated over the years today and found one that fits the barrels, and actually locks and unlocks the doors, which is a cheeky bonus. Fits the ign barrel but doesn't turn it, but I have a friend thats going to take the barrel apart and make it fit said key, so the lack of key issue appears to be solved far easier than expected. Big win.



Also been playing under the bonnet today. I've got it turning over, but not firing sadly. It also appears to be missing a fuel pump. The original mechanical pump seems to have been removed and blanked off, so I imagine it was replaced with an electronic one at some stage which has since been repossessed by a previous owner. So will need to source one of them and a pressure reg at some point later.




Sadly I'm outside and battling with the weather at present which makes progress a little slower but we are persevering nonetheless.

The HT leads seem a little ropey so they'll be replaced, strangely enough it looks like it has brand new points in it. It seems like perhaps the wiring between the ign switch and the fusebox seems to not be in place, so I'm wondering if it's not getting power to the coil(?).





I'm going to replace all the earth's, the battery leads/terminals, HT leads and probably chuck another coil at it and see if it's getting a spark then and go from there.

I've seen car builder solutions sell some universal brake masters, and was looking on advice regarding bore size. Should I strip this one down and get a replacement with exactly the same bore size in it? Or doesn't it matter that much?

[igor]

Wow this thing brings back some memories. Just noticed that yours has no radio, just the factory blanking plate. Ours was just the same.
As an aside you may be interested to know that early Bellets had differently shaped taillights. Not sure when the changeover happened though. Suspect yours may be from the first production run with the revised lights.

[kevins]

never heard of one of these before looking forward to wherever you take it.

ref the master cyl, if you are sticking with the standard brakes then stick with the original bore, if you are changing to discs then you may need a smaller bore or a servo to get a reasonable pedal effort (discs don't self servo like most drum set ups)

[biturbo228]

Isuzu bloody Bellet! How on earth did you manage to find one of those?

I take light offense to Herne Bay being the end of Kent It's hardly somewhere out on the Romney marshes! We've even got a motorway (unlike Tunbridge Wells where I used to live).

What other cars were stashed there? Seems like quite the treasure trove (in a 'cursed pirate gold' type of way).

skinnylew Oof Bexley :S had to drive there a couple of times for prop work by JW Engineering. Excellent engineering outfit, but rubbish journey. I suppose that'll be inside the ULEZ zone now.

[skinnylew]

Yup just inside the scam zone..........surrounded by polluting farmland, paddocks and woods

Just realised where JW Engineering is, had no idea that's the type of stuff they did.

[Twitch6284]

It will be getting a disc conversion eventually, but as you can imagine, everything available for this comes from far away lands and with a quite considerable cost to get it to my doorstep, so if I can get them to work I'll be sticking with the drums for now. Thanks for the info Kevins.

There's quite a lot of cool stuff in that yard, it's the same place I dragged my A10 Violet out from. Obviously, not my yard, not my stuff, so details shall remain vague.

[Twitch6284]

I've been playing with the Bellett again. Got sick of lying in the puddles to work on it, so built me one of these Clarke tents.

Due to space issues in said yard, had to build it over the Mazda. Said Mazda fires up on the button every time, I have to move it about a few times while I construct said tent. No dramas.





Tent done. Nice. Seems to do the job intended rather well. Time to but the Bellett in it. Push a bunch of non runners about, make a path, all good. Sadly the Mazda has caught wind of my plan to put it back outside, and isn't a fan. Does it start? Absolutely not. Also at least one of the brakes has decided it very much doesn't want to be pushed. The Belletts brakes a also pretty stiff, and I'm clearly getting old, so abandon said effort for another day.

Said day was today apparently.



Now some actual progress can happen in the miserable weather..

[Twitch6284]

Segwaying back onto more topical matters, Isuzu things..

As mentioned, the brakes were rather stiff. Jacked it up, chuckled again at the floppy rear wheels when this happens..



I've never been a fan of working on drum brakes. Perhaps this is due to multiple years of LDV ownership, but most of my experience with them hasn't been a joyous experience. At least this thing has 4 of them... 3 of which having incredibly old drum retaining screws still present.



But actually, much to my amazement, all 3 retaining screws came out with a few taps through a crosshead screwdriver, and all 4 drums came off with little more than a couple bashes with a leather hammer. Still can't quite believe it.













All the internals are complete and intact, all the adjusters work, I adjusted them all back in a little, and all the wheels now spin freely to the point I had to chock it from rolling away on the flat! And could negotiate it through the maze of vehicles into it's new room.



Naturally the wheel cylinders are seized, but a hell of a lot of internet trawling leads me to believe I may be able to use the rears from a Morris 1000. Would anyone be able to confirm or deny similarities there?

[igor]

I have an idea that Isuzu used to build the Hillman Minx under licence at some point prior to the release of the Bellett. If that is indeed the case perhaps something from the Rootes Group parts bin might fit.

[Davey]

I always take it as a sign that a car wants to be saved when jobs go so much smoother than anticipated. Great job so far.

[Siert]

Wow, that’s super cool. In Finland there are relatively many of these, you may be able to find some spares there. (Check nettiauto.com)

[spacekadett]

It’s been a while since I’ve done any brake work on a Minor, but that rear cylinder does look familiar.

I’d never heard of a Bellet until I saw this thread, but it is a cool car with an equally cool/ interesting history 😎