Sandman production build sheet

[stickthis]

Im the same. I would have stripped about 20 hq-wb and never seen one.

I have found a few in VL's

[barbadosGreen]

I haven't looked in my HQ yet, but when my dad opened up the rear floor of his new EH van, we found welding rod stubs, cigarette packets and butts, and what looked like a lunch wrapper!

The forward half of the rear floor area of the EH was actually double skinned - the heavy plywood load floor above and a sheetmetal subfloor below. I recollect that just behind the seat there was 9-12 inches (23-30cm) of space between the upper and lower floors.

This enabled you to cut out a portion of the load-floor behind the seat, attach a sheet of foam rubber and support it with suitable bracketry to form a seat-back about 30 cm to the rear of the (now) hole in the floor.

This enabled two additional passengers to sit on the upper (load) floor, with their feet on the subfloor below. (There were no ADRs or seatbelt requirements to worry about then!) This was how we fitted Dad, Mum and the two kids (My brother and I) in the panel van. Removing 2 bolts allowed the seat-back to be demounted and fitted back in the cutout to restore the load-floor to its original state.

Anyone else know of a similar mod being done?

Cheers

Bruce

[Sandaro]

I haven't found any in any of the cars I've had, I know its an american thing (pontiac etc) to put them under the back seat, so I always thought it might to an urban myth that the Australian manufacturers did the same.

When Dad bought his Sandman (new) they gave him the production sheet along with whatever paperwork the dealers give you, invoice etc. He didn't have to go looking for it. So the fact that a lot of cars don't have it anymore may be that the original owner has just thrown it out.

In answer to Bruce's question, I know that there was a company that fitted a wagon fold down rear seat to fb panelvans (and other models probably) to take advantage of the footwells for rear passengers or to lay flat for the full load when needed. Except it required cutting out some of the side of the parcel floor (before the wheel hump) and some of the cross floor supports for the usual plywood.

Steve

[HK1837]

I've seen Gemini vans have the wagon rear seats fitted, go straight in.

[mckackie]

in all th eyears I worked as a mechanic I never saw a production sheet anywhere, but in the service/owners book folder I found an old computer punch card, allegedly the factory's instructions for what trims, paint etc were scheduled into the assembly line for that car. It has printed numbers on it that match the chassis and engine numbers. I will post a pic once I kidnap a nerd.

[barbadosGreen]

Steve, That's interesting info about the company doing conversions on the FBs - I didn't know that.

Bruce

[sanman]

Steve, That's interesting info about the company doing conversions on the FBs - I didn't know that.

Bruce

Fe's and FC's were also a popular van to wagon conversion. Fe wagons were quite expensive and also had a long waiting list. They also did not have high roof vans back then. There were also companies adding one back door, making them (3 door vans). It was an easy task to put a back seat in the back of a van and side windows. They sometimes became known as Vanettes. In fact Fe wagons today are very scarce and the old Fe standard wagon was one of the rarest cars Holdens ever made!

Cheers Geoff

[meanmachine72]

ok dont flame me please as its not a van broadcast sheet!!!
but its better than nuthen, and besides my car shares some HQ bits