HQ Sandman Speedo's

[mauser]

'ello

This is a discussion based upon the information I have been able to gleen on which exact speedo the HQ Sandman range had in it.

I always thought the HQ Sandman got the other GTS dash guages but had the origional Belmont 200Kmh speedo. This information I got when researching them years ago and a person who had wrecked one told me about the speedo being standard Belmont.

This is how I think it goes in HQ terms... in 1971/72 speedo's were mph, around feb/march 1973 they were both mph and kph with to odometer being in miles, and in 1974 the range were Kph only with the corresponding odometer. The U21 GTS speedo's were 140 Mph on 71/72, 140 Mph and 220 Kph on 73 and I think 220 Kph only on 74 (although I cant find a picture of a 220Kph only speedo).

The speedo shown in the HQ Sandman advertising pictures on this site is clearly a 200kph one, but I'm not convinced this wasn't a marketing mock-up and may not be exactly what was in the final product. (The vents on the side disappeared as they used the new HJ shell on the last HQ's, not sure about the consoles yet lol)


HQ GTS 220kph Speedo


HQ Belmont 200kph Speedo

Information from a Vanning site shows the magnitude of the options the HQ dash had throughout the range from 1971 to 1974. The guages changed in configuration and during the years as the update to KMH took effect.

http://majesticvanners.forumotion.co...n-dash-options



The GTS Dash was available as Option U21.

There were also two (2) other Options not shown:
. U16 which was a Speedo, Large Tacho and a Small Fuel Guage in the centre where the Emblem/Clock goes.
. UDI which was a Speedo and a Large Combo Fuel/Temp/Oil Guage.

This quote from Byron on a Fastlane Post recently, assisting another poor soul chasing this elusive beast, to it having the earlier GTS speedo got me thinking about this in particular.

http://www.fastlane.com.au/forums/to...6&whichpage=57

"A HQ Sandman was simply a HQ commercial with a 5 x otherwise optionable items (M11, M20, XS6, U21 and N66), 4 x feature changes (GTS bezels, steering wheel, fenders, and 140MPH speedo), some paint blackouts and a box with white or black stripes in it (plus an extra feature change on a HQ Kingswood ute). If no further options were selected you got a 173 6cyl, 4 wheel drum brakes, rubber mats and no armrests. No records of them were kept, they were seen as no different to any other option package like Vacationer, XV4 Kingswood, SS Belmont, Taxi etc."

An Absinth quote from another Fastlane post about 140/220 speedos reiterated what information I had been told years ago.

http://www.fastlane.com.au/forums/to...erms=hq,speedo

"They were standard on all GTS cars, 2 and 4 door, all engine sizes. They were not used on SS or Sandman."

These pictures of the HQ SS on release, being based on a Belmont as well, clearly also show the dash as being the standard 120mph Belmont speedo with the other GTS guages.




In addition, a quote from AN5590 on here states his HQ Sandman speedo is the Belmont one.

http://www.mysandman.com.au/forums/s...p?t=512&page=1

"Interesting re: speedo, assume by GTS speedo you mean 140mph? my HQ Sandman ute has the 125mph/200kph speedo, a HQ 72 ute bought for parts has the standard 120mph speedo as per this thread. Wonder if HQ GTS speedo changed with intro of kph?"

Interesting but inconclusive..... any thoughts????




Mauser

haha on a mission to find out about HQ Sandman's....

[SandmanMuscle]

"around feb/march 1973 they were both kph and kph with to odometer being in miles"

This answers alot :P Now I know my odometer isn't broken.

When I got my HQ it had the 220 kph speedo in it, I later put the 200 Kph in it, both are in Kph and Mph. Never knew there where more options than these two.

[mauser]

haha I know shit... but that's what this is for. Some discussion and I know Ozbox will set me straight. lol

Mauser

[HK1837]

Features manual quite clearly says "140MPH (225kM/h) speedo" is a feature change for HQ Sandman. This is on top of U21. I simply assumed it'd be a metric equivalent of the 140MPH speedo.

[mauser]

Features manual quite clearly says "140MPH (225kM/h) speedo" is a feature change for HQ Sandman. This is on top of U21. I simply assumed it'd be a metric equivalent of the 140MPH speedo.

So the 220kmh speedo is specified as an extra on top of the U21 guages? If you ordered a U21 on a Kingswood/Statesman etc did you get the speedo?

Thanks for answering mate.

Mauser

[Blocker]

I moved this from the Showroom to Sandman Data sections.

Great thread!

[SNDMN]

I just took this photo of the speedo out of my 6/74 HQ GTS/4. As you can see it has both KPH/MPH, I haven't seen a KPH only one either.

Good luck on your mission Mauser

[adam perth]

just checked my 8/74 HQ, its KM/H and MPH.

[Absinth]

KPH only HQ speedo's were made and I have an original 200kph one in my box of speedo's. I am yet to see a 220kph GTS speedo but that doesn't mean they wern't made.

This is an original 200kph standard speedo than someone has fitted a GTS speedo needle to. Mine is the same as this but has the correct standard needle.



The Sandman brochure shows a standard 120mph/200kph speedo and I have been unsure if this is correct or not...... the HQ GTS brochure shows the 140mph GTS speedo and the SS definately had the standard 120mph speedo. One would assume the Sandman would follow the SS and have a standard speedo with the GTS speedo reserved for GTS cars..... however I have seen several fairly original looking Sandmans with 220kph/140mph speedo's fitted.

But.... my old HQ Sandman van back in 1981 had a standard 200kph/120mph speedo in it... a few months after I sold it to a mate the Tacho crapped itself and the only way we could get a replacement was to buy a complete GTS dash from the wreckers for $150. While changing over the Tacho we noticed the difference in speedo's and fitted the 140mph GTS one from the dash we got from the wreckers.

There is no way to know the speedo in your 35 year old car is the original speedo.... VDO speedo's are dated so there is a possibility a correctly dated speedo is the original but all the GTS speedo's were made by Flexdrive and these aren't dated.

There is also the possibility that one or more plants did or did not fit GTS speedo's in the Sandman..... it has been proven that some plants namely Acacia Ridge did not always follow the rules.

Byron has a HQ Sandman features manual that says the GTS speedo was a feature change so if I had a HQ Sandman now I would happily fit the GTS speedo.

To answer your question Mauser... if the U21 (sports dash) option was ordered on Belmont,Kingswood,Monaro,Premier,Brougham or Statesman then you got the standard 120mph, 120mph/200kph speedo. This only applies to HK,HT,HG and HQ.

[HK1837]

Features manuals is one of the documents that is rarely wrong.

If you have a speedo with the pciking slip code on it still see what it is. The HQ XX7 production broadcast sheet I have shows QX as the code in box 110 (inner RH guage). Guages are: QW QM QK QX RD