Did Holden sell so many genuine sandmans ???

**vanman** · 14-09-2013, 11:57 PM

There seems to be thousands out there now days..
every second van is sold as a "genuine sandman"..
Does anybody know how many sandmans were sold and how many are still around?..(Byron u must have a good idea on this).

I know off about 5 that were written off / crushed directly by me and my mates over the years.. and that was back in the 80's n 90's when no one gave a dam about them..
so there must of been thousands crashed n crushed, but theres still a bloody lot left..

It just don't add up ..

I know we look for a lot of things to distinguish the sandman from the stock.
Non brissy built vans can be called a sandman if there specs match up with the key points of identification.
But a Brissy built van or ute with the same build combo and not stamped with the XX7 or XU4 etc is not classed as a sandman..
Therefore it makes sense that many vans aren't sandmans, but because they are not brissy built, they fall into the sandman category..
I hope that made sense...

I am only mentioning this as i was thinking about the story of the people who sold what they thought was a genuine gt and then got sued as it wasn't..
the same thing could happen with a non brissy built sandman..

anything is possible

**Big Rob** · 15-09-2013, 12:13 AM

Someone on here would know the numbers I'm sure.

You make a good point. I grew up in the 70's during the "Panel Van Craze" and it seemed like there were millions of them everywhere. The funny thing is that nearly everyone pulled off the stickers or ordered them without because the 1st trip was often to get murals painted on the tailgate and sides.

Most Sandmans were modified heavily and subjected to some horrible "custom" atrocities, and yet as you say, there seems to be a lot still around.

I guess a lot of tags survived and have been given a new body in a lot of cases.

**wbute** · 15-09-2013, 07:25 AM

The old numbers question.

**HK1837** · 15-09-2013, 07:37 AM

I don't think there is that many left. I have 629 Sandman ID's recorded and another 448 possibles there were many thousands built. 250 or so of the possibles are cars that may not exist anymore as they are recorded off records. The use of Sandmans as mines for parts for 1-tonners and utes and other such things was not confined to Sandmans, GTS's and SS's were used in exactly the same way. Note that I don't record actual cars, just the tags so many of the cars I have as Sandmans may no longer be a car, or on the original body either.

I'm not sure why everyone thinks that being an Acacia Ridge build guarantees an original Sandman, as i'd rather have a non-Acacia Ridge build that I confirm was a Sandman by evidence on the body rather than rely upon a code on the body tag that may not belong to the body it is on.

**wbute** · 15-09-2013, 07:48 AM

The other possible reason there seems to be a disproportionate number of them left may be any V8 car is more desirable. Therefore people tend to want them more than a 6 cylinder plumbers car.

**SANM4N** · 15-09-2013, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by vanman

There seems to be thousands out there now days..
every second van is sold as a "genuine sandman"..
Does anybody know how many sandmans were sold and how many are still around?..(Byron u must have a good idea on this).

I know off about 5 that were written off / crushed directly by me and my mates over the years.. and that was back in the 80's n 90's when no one gave a dam about them..
so there must of been thousands crashed n crushed, but theres still a bloody lot left..

It just don't add up ..

I know we look for a lot of things to distinguish the sandman from the stock.
Non brissy built vans can be called a sandman if there specs match up with the key points of identification.
But a Brissy built van or ute with the same build combo and not stamped with the XX7 or XU4 etc is not classed as a sandman..
Therefore it makes sense that many vans aren't sandmans, but because they are not brissy built, they fall into the sandman category..
I hope that made sense...

I am only mentioning this as i was thinking about the story of the people who sold what they thought was a genuine gt and then got sued as it wasn't..
the same thing could happen with a non brissy built sandman..

anything is possible

i was thinking this the other day when i sold the brissy built 308 4spd van if only the van was built at another plant everyone on this site would be saying it was a sandman, ill have one one day

**HK1837** · 15-09-2013, 12:31 PM

I wouldn't be saying it was, it'd get a ? next to it as a possible unless something else said it was a Sandman eg GVW, trim etc.

**SANM4N** · 15-09-2013, 12:37 PM

well the weight, absinth yellow, courtesy lights, the fact that it was a belmont(or kingswood) i cant remember which way it went with hj i bought it with a gts dash in it (can be put in later yes) but quite a lot stacked up for it but that one detail on the plate

**SANM4N** · 15-09-2013, 12:38 PM

trim was correct too

**HK1837** · 15-09-2013, 01:54 PM

There is no unique trim or GVW for Sandman in HJ. They got the same trim as whatever the base vehicle had (Holden or Kingswood). The GVW was the same as the base vehicle for most of HJ (2155kg for 6cyl and 2200kg for V8). Only the late XX7's in HJ got a reduced GVW and then it was common with XU4.

The only Sandmans you can pick by GVW are 1978-9 complianced HZ XX7's, and the only ones you can pick by trim code are some HX and some HZ. These are the ID I can confirm as Sandman from ID alone.

Dashes, courtesy lights, seating capacity, GVW, headlining etc are all good indicators but are no guarantee as they are all options on non-Sandmans.