Looks like there was only 49 VP Maloo utes. So if you include HSV then they are low numbers.
Not sure how we know HQ Sandman numbers though?

WB ute with L31 would be low as well.

HQ 350 wagon

HQ 350 kingswood sedan ( non gts )

Yes, Mick is correct. Some option packs & special orders will be very low in numbers.

One that comes to mind is the VC SL/E wagon. About 30 I believe.

HK1837 has listed a few 'regular' production model which would be very low.

HJ 6-cyl LS & 308 or 350 HQ Statesman (non-Deville).

HK Kingswood V8 utes maybe ?

Dr Terry

Speaking of tonners and BO6 packs, two things have always intrigued me about 1-tonners.

1. Why they persisted with the HQ front, when the ute/van commercial siblings were updated with the HJ front. Surely if it was about economics, then making low volumes of HQ panels just for the tonner doesn't make sense.
If it was to give the commercials a more utilitarian look - as the front bumper & "trailer" blinkers certainly did, then why not spread that same look across all commercials?

2. Why the B06 pack puts the HJ style Premier front onto the HQ-nosed HJ tonner.
I can understand the desire for better headlights, which the Premier front gave, but surely it would have been easier to put just a HQ Prem nose onto a standard HJ tonner?

Was there any particular reasoning for the HJ front - when the HQ front (less nose-cone) was still in production for the standard tonner anyway?
I understand the cowl is quite simple to swap when the body is being assembled & welded, but it's additional complexity for a relatively low volume.

The other rare one I thought of was a WB B06 or a WB XU4. I think I have seen an XU4 somewhere, and I’m not sure how you pick a B06 from a standard one.

My HJ Premier would be similar Warren. But as a regular production vehicle as a whole a HQ XX7 utility would be fairly low. Maybe not as low as others like HJ B06 Van for example or even HQ XW8.

How many Papaya VH Commodores did they build? They seem like a Central West thing or were they available in all areas? They were Papaya in colour, 253 and hot wire style wheels. Stripes up the side and Papaya lettering at the end of the stripe.

Edited by user Tuesday, 16 July 2019 8:55:08 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Not many at all Warren. My guess is most of them at that stage were Retail Order with very few as Stock Order. Possibly HT utility with 253 may have been built in limited quantity as Stock Order, especially Kingswood ute as 253 3spd with possibly a few 307 auto also in case a customer wanted a V8 automatic HT Kingswood ute but didn't want to wait for a Retail Order. Maybe GMH were a bit gun-shy after building bulk quantities of V8 HK Monaro and HK Brougham and struggling to sell them? I can understand very few 308 in that list as it would only have been available for a short time in 1969.
By the time they were into HQ the use of V8 started to grow a lot as you say but even then at the start, when you look at the Elizabeth body plant that listed build number as the body number, V8 van build was very slow compared to most everything else V8, remembering that at that stage all Pagewood, Mosman Park and Dandenong vans were also Elizabeth bodies and counted in that xxx-A. I think it really started to accelerate though by mid 1972 when GMH started the Sandman ute process and they built the two prototypes (ute and van) in December 1972. They could obviously see a market for the Sandman by that stage, and Leo had styled the GTS ute around the same time in mid 1972. BUT they continued to build 6cyl Sandmans for a few years as I guess by that stage V8's were still not seen as the biggest appeal. I guess GMH knew themselves they needed to change people's minds about V8's in general, they showed that hand with the White Hot HT's. Yet by what I have recorded 6cyl Sandmans by the time they were released in 1974 were not popular at all, to the point GMH knew they couldn't sell them by HX and made them by order only. When you look at a lot of the 6cyl Sandmans built for the release many look to have sat for a fair while before being actually sold - people wanted the V8 ones. And the amount of V8 (especially 4spd) HQ utes and vans built in 1973 and early 1974 back this up too.

Most V8 commercials would be Retail order though and sold pretty quickly after build, so they’ll be pretty close to production numbers.
My guess is the 308’s are mostly manuals, as that was a new thing when 308 was released across HT, prior to that 5litre (307) was auto only. Could have also been a few people hanging out for a bigger (than 253) manual HT commercial, and ordered them as soon as they were available. I have the paperwork somewhere that gives a date where you could order 308 in HT other than Brougham.
One of the guys that used to own Pit Crew in Newcastle told me he ordered a HT V8 auto GTS expecting a 307 and was delivered a 308 without warning.