HQ Sandman found!!

[Vombil]

Classic isn't it...the car and also the John Smith bit, made me laugh when i first saw it.

nice... very very jealous

[GNW1974]

I'm not a van man but it is a beautiful car, hope you enjoy many years of motoring

[mauser]

Well done mate. That's a nice looking van.

I noticed some of things I have been looking at.... the 200kmh speedo, the inertia seatbelt console. There are some posts about these items in a Sandman.

No radio too... how did someone drive that for all these years without music. lol


Mauser

[Robbo]

Welcome to the site will.co. What a great find, a genuine, un molested, HQ Sandman Van. They do exist, good on you and enjoy, as I'm sure you will.

[Absinth]

That is one nice HQ and one of the few metallic colours I actually like.

I'd be willing to bet a lot of these 74 Brisbane built HQ (everything points to it being a Sandman except no XX7 on the plate) cars are actually a Sandman. HQ was the start of Sandman and it was late in the HQ run, not a lot of HQ Sandmans were built and it would be easy for the Acacia Ridge workers to simply forget to stamp the XX7 on the plate on the odd occasion.

MY Brisbane built HX Monaro was mistakenly stamped L32 instead of L31 and there are plenty of other known mistakes.

Problem is....... as much as it probably is a genuine Sandman it will never pull Sandman prices. A pity it doesn't have Sandman panelvan instead of Belmont as vehicle type on the rego papers.

If it was a windowless or even had factory fitted windows I would pay reasonable money for it..... I just really dislike those big aftermarket windows.

Enjoy your HQ "Sandman"..... she's a cracker..... and welcome to the MySandman family...

[hainzy]

Tell us the story of how you came to find it? I love peoples good luck tales!

[wbute]

I reckon its the nicest survivor van I have seen (only pics of it sadly). Keep it how it is, love it.
Is it really original paint? Lucky van to have had owners who actually loved and looked after it!

[will.co]

Well i always beleive in the meant to happen theory of life, this story is one of those and how sometimes the cup is half full if you can only see it that way....
Here goes!

I have a work car (Mazda 3) and was driving along the highway in heavy traffic and had to pull up pretty quickly and in so doing the young girl in her (drift battle) car behind me was not as quick on the response and to be honest too far up my clacker so she ran into the back of the my car doing minor damage.
Cause its a fleet vehicle it was needed to be fixed a.s.a.p so the insurance companys did their thing..meanwhile the girl contacted my boss and pleaded that we allow her to have her uncle who owns a reputable bodyworks (1.5 hrs out of the city mind you) fix it to help her save money, the boss agreed.

Weird thing was that on that day i was in the area of the bodyworks, (for the first time in years) doing business....crazyness !!
While i was there letting the bloke take photos to do a quote i laughed and said how she was luck not to have hit my HZ panelvan cause her car would be alot worse and i wouldn't have a scratch, lol, he then asked me about the van and i gave him the usual speach about my beloved and he then commented how an old bloke down the road had one of them nice old sandmans!!

EYES WIDE AND EARS PRICKED i then gently asked with a heap of anticipation if he knew where he lived etc?? c'mon c'mon c'mon i was thinking...hell yeah he works 10 mins down the road he said and gave me the address........

Finally he finished his work and i sped off down the road where i came across the address and went in and met the owner and his wife, i asked him if it was true and he agreed and started to tell me all about its history etc etc...finally we came to the end of the chat and i gingerly asked if he would consider selling it??? (c'mon c'mon c'mon)

WELL YES I WOULD CONSIDER IT AS I HAVE AN OLD CHEVVY THAT NEEDS RESTORING, I DONT HAVE THE SPACE FOR THE VAN AND THE MISSUS SAID I HAVE TO CHOOSE! ITS NOT ON THE MARKET BUT YOU MIGHT HAVE FOUND ME AT THE RIGHT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well F#@K ME i nearly soiled myself and i hadn't even seen it yet but after so many people saying no to this question i was pretty shocked.....as you can imagine....

So we swapped details and i organised a viewing and started researching the validity and codes required to get proof of Sandmantication...
When i arrived and first saw it you couldn't wipe the smile off my face and everything up until the XX7 check was a dream come true, when i noticed all codes matched but no XX7 was there i asked him about it and he didn't know what i was talking about and got a bit upset cause i think he thought i was trying to say it wasn't real when he had had it in its orig condition for years where he bought it from 1st owner as a sandman and thats what it was....just bloody look at it!!

I went away did more research and came back to put my deposit down with the beleif that minus the XX7 the car was a sandman to me and i had an opportunity to buy it even if it wasn't viewed as that by others and i wasn't gonna let that opportunity go cause of 2 letters and 1 number.
As it is the car and all the bits are rare anyways in their condition, HQ this, that and the other....
So the missus said i had to sell the HZ if i wanted it, so i did, and now i eagerly await with open garage to pay the last installment and bring it home....
Its even still registered with the original numberplates for god's sake..

It was meant to be, she was meant to be mine and thats the way it'll stay!!

So happy i can share it with you all as not alot of people would understand but im shure you all do!!

Im gonna put it in shows in hobart where i can say a firm "NO I WONT SELL IT" to all the young dudes who ask me. I will slowly restore the engine, ill paint underneath to stop any rust forming and do out the engine bay as well...apart from that ill just look at it and smile!!

--- Updated ---

I reckon its the nicest survivor van I have seen (only pics of it sadly). Keep it how it is, love it.
Is it really original paint? Lucky van to have had owners who actually loved and looked after it!

The paint has been touched up as it was a bit faided and the blokes mate did it in the original colour for him, its been well polished though...

--- Updated ---

Well done mate. That's a nice looking van.

I noticed some of things I have been looking at.... the 200kmh speedo, the inertia seatbelt console. There are some posts about these items in a Sandman.

No radio too... how did someone drive that for all these years without music. lol


Mauser

Hey Mauser, what are your thought after all the discussion on these threads regarding the A = Speedo & B = Seatbelts? in relation to my HQ?

The radio and lighter are a funny story as the original owner says that he optioned out of them as he didn't like the radio in the car and hated smoking so he asked to have them left out...weird i know but its nice to have the spaces there and nothing fitted cause it makes it different.

lOVE THIS SITE!! the users are a great crew of passionate sandy's devoted to finding and sharing information...very rare these days...good on the lot of ya!!

[Nigelk777]

I used to live near Bellerive (7018) and can confirm that the rego plate and rego number are correct for a 1974 vehicle. The Dept of Transport did not, and will not, register vehicles by names such as Sandman - only the usual Kingswood/Belmont etc - so perhaps that's why nothing is noted on the rego papers? Suggest you call "Motors" (previously Nettlefolds in the early days), which is the Holden dealer, and see if they can help you with records. Alternatively, find out where the man had his van serviced (odds on it was Motors, they even had a branch in Bellerive years ago) and see what their service records say. Well done! Nige

[agr071]

That's a fantastic story.
Good to see you were in the right place at the right time.
Congrats again.