i know this is a long shot but that is a dead ringer for that van I looked at in Dubbo last year.
i know this is a long shot but that is a dead ringer for that van I looked at in Dubbo last year.
It would be great if Rodger can supply the tags, I'm sure someone could put him in touch with his old HZ!
that van came from Kandos I thought and the dubbo guy said he was second owner I think, I maybe wrong, that does happen (not often) :lol: but you are right it does look similarOriginally Posted by wbute
HZ Jasmine Yellow Windowless Sandman, now being driven everywhere and is finished!
HZ Madeira Red Windowless sandman now Sold to Bigrob
HX Mandarin Red Sandman Ute finished, and club registered
1979 HZ malachite windowless van with 308 5spd, all chromed up and shiny finished and named "The Player"
Married to RodneyHZ253
They all would have looked like that when new! Red ones that is!
G'day Absinth,
Sorry, but I don't have any interior shots of the beast. She had the standard "charcoal" interior with a tan coloured headlining. As was the custom in those days I decked the back out a little so that it didn't act like a drum when you drove it and to make her more comfortable to sleep in. I started off by putting a divider between the front and back. The divider sat on top of the tray and went all the way to the roof. It was set back enough so that I could still lay the seat back as far as it would travel (bugger all really) but there was enough space between the divider and the back of the seats that I could use as a storage space - a baseball bat fitted very nicely in there too! It was made out of South Pacific pine timber that I varnished. The centre of the divider was cut out to make a hatchway and a series of four louvred 'French doors' that folded back on themselves were fitted into the resulting hole. These doors too were varnished. I put these in so that I would have some ventilation when I closed off the back when I sleeping in it. The doors were secured by polished brass hasps. I glued roof insulation ("pink bats, but they were yellow) to the sides and then covered these with more varnished South Pacific pine sheeting. The wheel arches were taken care of by constructing a box that went from the divider to the tailgate and were just wide enough to cover the wheel arches. I made them high enough so that I could use them as a bedside table. The tops of these were hinged in sections so as you could open them up and use the boxes to store stuff in. The boxes were covered with cork flooring tiles so as they would absorb noise. The only other mod I made was to put a small light on the centre brace. The light fitting was an original Holden one the same as the one in the front. I bought the light from a Holden dealer and had it fittted by an auto electrician. It was wired up to the light swith and would come on when the doors were opened and could be dimmed via the headlight switch just the same as the front one could be. I had a standard 6 inch foam matress in the back that was covered by an Army matress cover and it fitted between the two storage boxes/wheel ach covers very well. I also had a huge pillow made up that fitted from one side of the cab to the other. I had the standard curtain fitted across the back window suspended between stretchable curtain rods.
I was posted to Lavarack Barracks twice, firstly between 1974 and 1977 and again between 1979 and 1981. What unit was your old man with?
Cheers.
Rodger Kelly
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G'day Byron,
Yep, you are right; it was a thermal choke and not an electric one. The manual advised you to put the pedal to the floor, release it and then start the engine. You let the engine idle and when it was hot enough you could 'tap' the pedal and the choke would release. Trouble was, it was it always played up and no amount of fiddling around would make it work. Also, there was a corrugated hose that ran from the carb to the top of the manifold to channel hot air. The mount for this disappeared when you fitted headers! The Rochester was a good carb but the thermal choke was a real pain. They fixed the problem later on by fitting electric chokes to them I ran a 308 equipped 74 build HJ GTS Monaro that was fitted with one. When I first bought the beastie it had a carbie problem and I had it rebuilt by a fellow here in Perth. The heating tube for the choke was a thin piece of aluminium tube that the previous owner had just jammed between the header tubes so it did not work properly at all. When I had the carb rebuilt the fellow who did it recommended that I replace the choke with an electric one off a Statesman which I had him do. I ran the Munro for 15 years following the rebuild and never ever had a problem with the choke again.
Re the photos, no problems, e-mail me - cobber@iinet.net.au - and let me know your address. The originals are all slides and were scanned into jpeg images at low resolution so they will reproduce far better if you scan them at a higher resolution if you want to publish them.
Re the green HX in the background. It belonged to a mate named Dennis - it wasn't as fast as mine!!
Cheers.
Rodger Kelly
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G'day Mauser,
Thanks for that. The look out images were taken on top of Mt Pleasant at Duntroon on the afternoon I bought her. Note the fog!
Cheers
Rodger Kelly
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G'day Blocker,
Thanks for that.
Another Sandman? I'd be shot! I filled my desire to restore a car when I completed the restoration of my '74 HJ Monaro coupe a couple of years back. But then again, if I could locate my old beastie again..............
Re transferring the images, fill your boots!
Cheers.
Rodger Kelly
--- Updated ---
G'day Epic Dragon,
I don't know where she ended up. I sold her to another Army fellow in Townsville and he was posted to Brisbane shortly thereafter and took her with him. If he kept her she could be anywhere in Australia as he would have taken her with him when he was re-posted from Brisbane or was discharged in the state the he enlisted in. If he did sell her when he was in Brisbane then it’s my bet that she could still be somewhere in Brisbane but then again, that was 30 odd years ago!
Cheers!
Rodger Kelly
--- Updated ---
G'day Blocker,
Sadly, I did not keep a record of the tags!
However, given the mods I made to the back (see other posts) as well as the centre mounted antenna, the holes for the Statesman rocker panel trims and the tow bar maybe someone will recognise her. If they do, I'd love some pics!
Cheers.
Rodger Kelly
Last edited by Rodger Kelly; 18-01-2011 at 05:18 PM.
Well said. Its amazing some of the differences I have seen with placements.
Owner (Jason) - STICKTHIS Automotive Decals and Stripes
HX Sandman Panelvan. Mint Julep. Complete Factory Resto.
HZ Sandman Ute. Saddle Tan Metallic - Customised. Galaxy Blue.
HZ GTS. Palais White. Next Resto From 99% NOS Parts.
HSV GTO Coupe - Highly Modified
VR SS into a VS Supercar Castrol Perkins Ingall 1997 Tribuilte build
The build quality on the beastie was pretty poor. It had a couple of issues with the paint and pointed them out the day I took delivery. The dealer was non-plussed and just said to take it to their painters. The painter cringed and pointed out a whole lot more than I found! He spent a week rectifying the blemishes and also removed the stripes at the same time - I ordered the car without the stripes but it still came with them. The painter advised that a poor paint finish was common with the HZ. Other glitches included the Holden badge in the middle of the horn boss missing (they simply replaced the whole horn boss) and an incessant rattle that turned out to be a spare set of ignition keys being lodged under the right hand interior windsceen trim - I fixed that one myself after having it back to the dealers a couple of times and they could not find the problem. Have a good look at the pic of the engine and notice the overspray on the intake manifold!
Cheers.
Rodger Kelly
I believe it was 1RAR but that was a long time ago. Don't know what rank you were but if you did any PT you would know Paddy. We were living in the married quarters housing in Vincent. Ahh great times as a kid, I enjoyed our stay in Townsville and we did a lot of camping in the surrounding area's. Ravenswood was one of my favorite spots and it is a pity they destroyed it in the early 80's.
4/75 HJ XX7 Sandman Panelvan ... Persian Sand currently restoring
7/76 HX Monaro 4dr 308 4sp... Absinth Yellow and rusty as hell.. SOLD
3/77 HX Sandman Panelvan ... Absinth Yellow and rusty as hell .. SOLD
Awsome van Rodger. Apart from the interior colour it's near spitting image of mine. The scary part is the mods you did. Removed spoiler and decals, Statesman trims on sill panel, Holley, centre mount antenna, replaced wheels, towbar - all stuff that had been done to mine when I got it.
Would love to see some later photo's if you have them.
Sorry, I didn't know your dad as I was in a different unit. Townsville was a great place. I went back ther a couple of years ago and nearly didn't recognise it as it has changed so much. It is all grown up now and there are way, way more people there!
Cheers.
Rodger
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G'day Playwme,
More pics of her on the album page.
Cheers.
Rodger
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