Hi Jamie.

To my knowledge, all HQ/HJ/HX Sandmans could be optioned 6 or V8, but the HZ Sandman had the V8 as standard equipment (no 6 cyl option.

Dr Terry.

im still not sure what you mean by the Kingswood Sandman. The S.A sandmans where still stamped as a belmont.M 70 and Kingswood N 70. that from i have seen was the different in bodies. All HX-HZ Vans had a full hood lining and light swiches in the door jams. That did confuse people.i own 2 vans,both HZ.the bodies are tottally the same. both factory V8.but the kingswood is a 6-3 spd and the sandman is a 308-4 spd. both have fullhood linings. That Van i told you about before. the Sandman without a hood lining is plated XU3. This old guy is a plummer from QLD. He told me he got it new and asked for it to have no roof as it might get damaged from his tools.

Had a read and found the following items might need some attention:

The HZ GTS was discontinued as follows: a batch of cars was made at the Adelaide plant in 2/79. One owner was not satified with the car he was assigned out of this batch and his car was made in 3/79. There were no GTS sedans built after this date.

The HX and HZ sandmans had GTS sports mirrors. (also all have GTS grille and headlight surrounds, I know that they are only painted but they are recorded as seperate parts for this reason)

N66 was replaced by N67 on the 18th September 1978.

HZ ordering procedure has the following colours for stripes (31/7/78)

DX5 Bright blue/blue green/dark blue on 1887 1931 2214 1935
DY1 as you have it on 1936 1937
DY2 oronge/bright blue/blue green on 1927 1930
DY3 as you have it on 1926 1933
DY4 white/blue green/ dark blue on 1929 1934 1938 1939
DL7 = delete stripe

Another identifier might be the interior light on Belmont/Holden sandmans. The HZ states it has interior light wiring to the doors unlike other M vehicles.

Might I also suggest that on a page dedicated to the Sandman that you include what the sandman option includes. You could use the system that GMH uses in its ordering guide. For the HZ it reads as follows:

XX7 includes:

B30 Carpet floor coverings
C57 Forced air ventilation
M11 Console floor shift
M20 4 speed manual floor shift 3.05: first gear
N66 6.0JJ x 14 rally wheels
QEU Tyre ER70H14 6 P/R steel belted radial
U17 Instruments oil, water, voltmeter, tacho, clock, facia black.chrome.
XS6 Front bucket seats
D14 Front door armrests
PLUS THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL FEATURES:

GTS headlight bezels, steering wheel, black painted grille and front sheetmetal
Cigar lighter
Kingswood door trim and hardware complete
Front door jam switch
Bright front door sill plates
Kingswood lion grille badge
Black paint out on front door frames and openings
Black paint door handles and windscreen surround mouldings
Colour coded left and right hand door mirrors
Black paint on upper tailgate (8WM70 only)
Mylar insert - rear window seal (8WM80 only)
Bright tail lamp surrounds
Full lenght headlining trim (8WM70 only)
Front air dam
Quartz halogen headlamps

DELETE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS

Holden front end sheetmetal, door rearview mirror, headlamp bezels, steering wheeland door trim and hardware complete, endgate holden nameplate, engate engine badge (optional) Holden grille and badge.

XU3 states same as XX7 except tyre option is QCP instead of QEU.

Alternatively you could link to a page that does have information on what the sandman includes.

You also mention option XU4 as a problem with XU3 identifiers but also B47 can be a problem, this is a comfort package and comprises B30 and full length headlining.

You state that the late HZs have GTS guards, I cannot find any reference to this.

Hope this helps.

Warren

great work byron, i can see alot of time and effort has gone into this site

Byron,
Congratulations!! This is a well put together reference for Sandman Owners. Just a few points I would like to make mention of;
1) I would like to substantiate your comment that HZ sandman vans and utilities were fitted with the SLE wheels from late 79 onwards. I have spoken to several owners who have reported and confirmed this by sending photos of their vehicles to me. In the case of one vehicle the owner had ordered it from his local dealership and was still the original owner. At time of delivery he was advised simply that Holden had run out of stock of the Rally Wheels.
2) With regards to decals I would like to add/verify the following. I have retained factory samples of the following colour schemes
DY 1- Orange, Light Brown, Brown
DY 2- Orange, Bright Blue, Blue
DY 3- Yellow, Orange, Red
DY 4- Bright Yellow, Light Orange, Dark Orange
DX 5- Plum, Purple, Dark Blue
I have inspected (i.e., original decal kits fitted to unmodified HX and HZ sandmans) the following Colour Schemes:
?? ?- Dark Blue, Blue, White (fitted to a supermint green HZ van)
?? ?- Light Blue, Mid Blue, Blue - This colour scheme actually retains the same two outer colours as the Dark Blue, Blue, White colour scheme. This particular decal set was fitted an Atlantis Blue HZ Sandman Van and is the only one of its kind I have seen. I cannot honestly say that I cannot verify the existence of blue/purple colour scheme as I have not personally inspected or had a request for this particular colour sample. I have a vague recollection I saw a set of these on a van many, many years ago and that the purple was almost black in colour. It is interesting to contemplate what duco colour this may have actually complimented given the change in the green colour range from HX to HZ. I also believe that the new colour schemes introduced for the HZ cannot acurately be assigned part numbers. One additional point made to be by several owners is that in 79 several HZ vans were being delivered without the decal kits. I have been lead to believe that this was the case because the public opinion was swaying against their visual appeal. Consistent with this the HZ was the last Sandman produced.
3) There seems to be ongoing debate regarding the fitment of GTS guards to HZ Sandmans. In my experience of viewing genuine Sandman vehicles over the last twelve years I have never personally come across an unmodified factory vehicle that has had these guards fitted to it. Furthermore, logically, I can see no reason why they would have been fitted. I am uncovinced with regard to this point.
4) With regards to dual headlight (GTS?) fronts. I have never inspected a dual headlight GTS front that appears consistent with having been fitted to a HX Sandman Van or Utility from the factory. As you will no doubt be aware the GTS front fitted to HX was of the single headlight variety. It seems highly unlikely that Holden would have fitted the dual headlight GTS front it had reserved for the LE to Sandmans especially given that this front had not previously been fitted on HQ-J models. However, having said this I have inspected a factory delivered Sandman that had a Statesman front fitted. This specific vehicle was quite peculiar as it also retained Statesman badging, grille, and accompanying Sandman Decal pinstripes. I inspected the factory order sheets at the time and recall the option being denoted. I have been advised that the vehicle I am currently restoring XX7 utility did have a dual headlight front fitted but I have been unable to source accurate photos to confirm this.
5) In relation to grilles, I would like to add the following points. Firstly the HX and HZ grilles are actually made out of black plastic and were not painted as Warren denoted. At one stage Rare Spares were actually selling the GTS Black HZ grille inserts for about $120.00 I think. Additionally, I have inspected several undamaged original HX Sandman Vans and Utilities that were actually fitted with HJ GTS grilles including the GTS badge. I have no idea as to why this was the case but I have seen too many HXs with these grilles for it to be coincidence.
Hope people find this information interesting. I would love to hear from anyone who has pictures of a genuine factory fitted GTS front on a HX Sandman. Keep up the good work!!
Cheers,
Fletch

Fletch, I am unsure as to if the grilles are painted or not this is a quote straight from the GMH ordering procedure sheets for the HZ.

I, like you, also beleive the GTS guards would not be fitted, although all leads must be followed. maybe the one with SLE wheels you mentioned, if the build date of this car could be found it would clear up this point.

GTS badging wouldnot be unussual on these cars as many dealers did things to make the cars more desirable. I know a fellow who purchased a HX GTS and when he picked it up it had an HQ GTS horn cap. The car was on the dealership floor for a period of time and the dealer must have wanted to "dress" it up a little. I also met a fellow last weekend who has an HJ GTS coupe with Stateman front from the "factory" but more likely the dealer. Even my brothers HJ LS has some dealer items on it.

Warren

well done,great info,cheers sam

Nice work guys,
1) Warren, with regard to the grilles they were definitely black plastic I have a NOS HZ example in my shed to prove it. I also probably have a copy of the rare spares catalogue listing this from around 12 years ago if I can find it!! I have an original HJ black plastic GTS grille fitted with GTS logo that was fitted to an unmodified HX Sandman I purchased a long time ago (it may have been fitted by the dealer I wouldnt know except to say that the front this vehicle had not been damaged. ie., the grille had probably not been replaced). I have been told that some of the HX grilles were manufactured out of black plastic and then painted grey. I will check this out further!! I definitely know that HX and HZ grilles were both made out of grey plastic for Kingswoods etc.,
2)You guys seem to have a better idea than me as to the changeover time to SL/E wheels. I cant be sure when this guy purchased his but I will check through my emails, I think it was a QLD based ute, one owner. I am sure that it was getting toward the end of the HZ Sandmans production (whenever this was in 79).
3) With regard to the Statesman front end I have seen, this was indeed quite peculiar. I was told that they simply walked this front from one part of the factory to another and fitted it to this van. Given that it had the original decals on the guards and the paint was not blended or reprayed this seems to suggest it was fitted by the factory. I probably dont know enough to comment in this area, could this have been possible?
4) I have also been going crazy thinking further about the blue/purple colour scheme listed for the HZ. I remembered when we first collected samples (around 10 years ago) that we were very suprised to find that a NOS version of what we thought was plum, purple, dark blue actually had the outer colours reversed when we compared it against the Green Van featured in the HX brochure (with the drum kit etc. hanging out of it!). Furthermore, this colour scheme did not feature the distinctive plum (pinky) colour (Yes I am aware these brochures are over exposed but our colour wasnt even close!). Now this has got me thinking quite a bit!! Because, the outer two colours in this sample which we matched and can be seen on Alanas Kermit Green Panelvan are really different shades of purple. Additionally, I can clearly remember the backing of the NOS decal set we used to match our colours from was newer than other NOS samples I had at the time. It was whiter in colour but I also vaguely recall it had a slightly different 3M logo on it. This may suggest it was made later ie., around the time of HZ. Mmmmmmmmm. Is what we have reproduced really the purple, dark blue colour scheme from HZs? God, if only I had bought this set of decals!! At the time the guy would not part with them. They were definitely genuine and were stored in their boxes with the part nos on them. Thinking seriously about this I suspect we have reproduced the plum, dark blue colour scheme and mistakenly thought it was the plum, purple, dark blue (based on the fat it had three colours and was similar in colour to plum/ purple/ dark blue). I would be happy to send you a sample if you are interested Byron.
5)One question, I have been told that the HQ-J decals were also available in dark metallic blue colour. I certainly havent seen or have any evidence of this, and dismissed it as myth (perhpas a faded set or something). But I wondered whether either of you guys had heard or seen of examples of this.

I am doing some more hunting for original decal samples, so I will see if I can track down the HX-Z blue/purple colour scheme to confirm this either way. This will be a mighty task, but I will see how I go.

If only (I had bought all the NOS decals I could have), if only (I had taken photos of what my eyes have seen), back when I developed an interest in Sandmans they were so uncool!!

Keep up the good work

Cheers,

Fletch

Fletch,

On point 3 when the car is manufactured the front and guards are painted seperately. They are fitted after things like the motor etc are fitted. So if a dealer ordered a front apron etc and had it painted and fitted there would be no need to blend it in. The guards etc are all the same.

As for taking it from one side of the line to the other, they all come down the one line, there were not seperate lines for seperate models. If there was there would be no need to indicate the type of guards fitted on the production broadcast. (the guards are different due to drillings for badges, done before painting)

I do not doubt the grilles were black plastic, would help with stone chips.

Sorry but I cannot answer your other questions.

Warren

Hi, I like any info I can get on Sandmans. I have a HQ Sandman ute. 5/74 Im the third owner and known most of its history since new. Ive owned it since 1989. Its saffron, originally with a 308 and 4 speed. At present its away getting painted and I want to fully restore it. I was told there were only 66 HQ Sandman utes built, does anyone know how right this is? I emailed GMH and they dont have any info on it