1st Boorowa Show & Shine report.

[Farmer]

Here was another outing back in March. (Been sitting in my drafts - Slack!)
So, the Apex club in our nearby larger town, together with the new panelbeater have held the 1st Boorowa Show & Shine. Some very nice metal turned up, as it was open to "anything you might put in Unique Cars or Bikes". Unfortunately only 3 Japan cars, of which 2 were my & Gary Carter's Belletts. A perfect weather day saw 60 cars & bikes turn out, so the organisers were but .
The Fire rescue squad cut up an old Corolla in a mock rescue, & the Ambulance showed correct immobilisation & removal technique. We had wheel & spark plug changing races, & a good lot of trophies. (none for me )
It's a definite for next year (probably March 19) so I'll post & see if we can get more Belletts here.
Here are a few pics........

Gary's '67 auto.

1st Boorowa show & shine (81)_resize.jpg (196.3 KiB) Viewed 12324 times

Doris.

1st Boorowa show & shine (52)_resize.jpg (217.08 KiB) Viewed 12323 times

Mazda 1500. 'SS' Suspension (low). My 'peoples choice'.

1st Boorowa show & shine (7)_resize.jpg (232.14 KiB) Viewed 12324 times

2nd pick - '58(?) Studebaker Silver Hawk. Soft spot for these!

1st Boorowa show & shine (19)_resize.jpg (179.51 KiB) Viewed 12324 times

Nice easy day. Cheers, Matt.

[dave]

Cool man! Good to see you're flying the flag! Belletts in shows are the strangest things; people look at them for the nostalgic reasons, while they're normally looking at Mustangs and other street machines for envy/appreciation reasons.

Keep on flying the flag and taking the Belletts out because they certainly get people talking. Not that I have to tell you that!

[Farmer]

You're right, mate. I'm amazed at the number of people come up & share their Bellett story, then thank me for reviving happy memories. And I've honestly never had one say anything like "it wasn't real good". Either EVERYONE is polite, or they were just good.
Thanks, Matt.

[dave]

Off topic but in response to what you said... I had an old plumber come around to the house recently.... he was so old, he grew up on a farm in Edwardstown in Adelaide. Edwardstown one of the closer suburbs to the city and all the houses would be 1950s and 1960s, with a main arterial road (Main South Road) through it that is full of businesses either side. LONG TIME since that joint was a farm...

Anyway, he saw the Belletts in the shed and said he had a Bellett ute when he first started plumbing, but he was spending around $120 month on running repairs and that was in about 1970 AND doing his own repairs - that was just PARTS! All I can think of is that he had a dud!

[Farmer]

Yeah, I supose there had to be a few, but it makes me wonder how hard he was on it. I have a mate who had a '65 sedan at the same time as me for his first car. He absolutely pounded it, & after about 18 months the motor came to bits (literally - #2 piston jammed in the top of the bore & shattered, the shock breaking the crank forward of the centre main bearing. He kept driving until the front half of the crank went forward & smashed the timing cover, which let all the oil run out. It kept going until the back 2 big end bearings ran dry & siezed. There was a long trail of oil on the road with bits of timing cover in it.......)
He replaced the Bellett with a 1 owner 4 cyl TC Cortina, which was destroyed in 6 months with similar treatment. Then he got the Bellett out of the backyard, we fitted a motor from the wreckers and he got another year out of it!
Some people are cruel.
Cheers, Matt.