Need and want a question answered by a Guru, (like HK or the Doc) and that being, with an HQ Sandman Ute versus an HQ Ute with bucket seats do both have the vinyl flap hanging from the rear window rubber and covering the metal panel behind the seats and the vinyl on the the inside of the B pillar wrapped around behind the for mentioned vinyl flap? Am aware that the vinyl flap is on bench seat models and goes from rear window rubber to back top of the bench seat. Also is this flap of vinyl the same length and common to both bench and bucket, (excluding the B pillar vinyl). May be a Belmont Kingswood thing!
I had to read that more than once to understand it and i wrote it, "sorry".

To my knowledge all utes with bucket seats miss out on the vinyl flap to the rear window, Sandman or not.

The parts books seem to back that up, with only the one part number & this is for bench seat only.

Dr Terry

Thanks HK1837, thanks Dr Terry and thanks Tour Director, I have read several times by those more switched on than I (the guru's) that before anything becomes Holden gospel it should be observed or seen in print more than once, and as Dr Terry stated it does not appear in the parts book. Here I will need other owners of HQ Sandman Ute's to assist.

Since my first post and reading what HK the Doc and TD wrote I have visited a friend with several Utes to see first hand what is to see on his Utes.

I have acquired a HQ Sandman Ute and was trying to find extra holes in the vehicle that I read HQ Sandman"s had, from memory it was HK1837 (but don't quote me) I may be wrong and I think 4 or 5 was the number. This is not an ego thing, but to detail.

This HQ Sandman Ute ("Holden Historic Services verified") has the vinyl flap hanging down and the vinyl on the inside of the B pillar and running around behind the hanging flap of vinyl. At the bottom of the flap is a piece of wire running through the lower folded and sowed edge, with a small loop at each end of the wire. Behind the seats a beam crosses the body with round holes facing forward across it's length, in this beam is three screw holes, one right, one centre and one left. The centre one lines up with a hole in the centre of the vinyl flaps lower edge, and the left and right line up with each end of the wire. This flap is a rectangle with sides running strait down from the corners of the rear window. The flap of vinyl on a bench seat Ute runs from the rear window corner to the back corner of the seat (so is tapered to meet the seat) and is half to two thirds the length of the one on the Sandman Ute. Checked the other Sandman Ute and has the same three holes in the same place.

Conclusion, both Sandman Utes have the same three screw holes in the same place, both Belmont's, one built Melbourne, one built Brisbane. Built six months apart. Shape and size of vinyl flap differ from bench seat Belmont Ute (reference HQ Belmont bench seat Ute not registered since 1983) HQ Sandman Ute's have a cover made of vinyl,(trim code color) covering the metal panel behind front bucket seats and anchored at the base with three screws.

This is my conclusion and as such should not be considered fact.

I need any other HQ Sandman Ute owners willing to investigate whether their Utes have the three screw holes. Also any HQ Ute owners with factory fitted bucket seats (2 seat compliance) Belmont or Kingswood to investigate the existence of these three holes.

Edited by user Thursday, 12 April 2018 10:51:40 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks Dr Terry, thanks HK1837 and thanks Tour Director, that is really top detail information that I have never read any where ever, not used to writing a question so sorry for the long winded confusing way it was written, I'm learning.

There are two different length HQ-WB tailgate hinges, I think they went longer in maybe HJ - never took much interest as it is for all utes and vans, not Sandman specific. I think the longer ones were introduced so the tailgate could be fully dropped.

You won't find 10 trim in a HQ Sandman, they are all 3x trims. 30 trim in a HQ Belmont ute or van or HQ Kingswood ute gets black headlining as default, with doeskin as the neutral headlining (option XU3). Just because XU3 was an option, don't discount any particular car not having it as neutral headlining seems to be one of those things that they regularly put on stock order vehicles (which a large % of Holdens were, like around 80%). As far as I am aware it was a no cost option anyway, and GMH tended to force feed large amounts of a particular trim to use up excess material close to the end of a model - I have paperwork for this for HG where they tell dealers to option XU3 wherever possible to use up excess material. It is possible something similar happened closer to the end of HQ if they had excess doeskin headlining fabric. Here is the words from a letter to dealers on 30/3/71:

"As we are nearing the run-out of HG, it has become essential to call up XU3 headlining on a number of models to utilise the material available. This applies more to Belmont Utilities than other models and it is essential that we call up XU3 on every order with 12A and use 50% XU3 with trim 14A and 16A, therefore we may have to add XU3 to a number of orders received to achieve this"