Two molested HZ's, what to do next.

[Leyla]

Dear My Sandman forum members, your advice is gratefully sought on a HZ Ute and a HZ Panelvan.
The story so far....
My husband bought a Hz Panlevan a few years ago, which has been down in country Victoria for the last two years (we live in Brisbane.) We sent it down there with his parents to stop it rusting more and his parents knew someone to restore it. Anyway two years on the person who was supposed to do it never did, and hard to control things from so far away, so we decided to bring her back up here to restore.
In the interim, we purchased a Hz ute for $3000, as it had GTS guards, twin headlight front, GTS rims, which he thought we could cannibalise for parts. In the end we got quite attached to the ute while waiting for the PV to come back up, and spent a bit of money getting the ute back on the road. Found out the ute has, a HJ Chassis (which we had a bit of trouble with as it was previously registered but not with the HJ chassis number, a four speed manual gearbox, front and rear disc brakes, 202 with 350 Holley,extractors and a Salisbury diff of some kind and HQ GTS rims. It looks like it did have a V8 at some point but now has a straight 6. We got new door inserts, an original HZ radio and spent some cash on the engine, new springs etc...
The Panelvan is a HZ with a HJ front, it has power steering, it has a 253, 350 Holley and extractors into a single 3inch exhaust, bucket seats from a commodore and I think statesman doors. At some point i think someone loved this van as the interior is fully lined and has a timber floor. Also it has tear drop windows, that wind out and are lined with fly wire (we both actually really like these, even though we know most people prefer windowless.)

The questions....
can anyone recommend somewhere in brisbane that does restoration work as one place on the gold coast quoted us $60,000 for the Panelvan, which seemed a lot, especially for a very molested, non sandman van. Another place a start up of $10,000 and upwards for bare metal re-spray depending on what they find hiding underneath, although I think it looks pretty solid.
we were thinking of painting the original colour which is Opaline blue i do believe, but would probably prefer a darker blue if we went for a blue, and does it really matter on trying to keep anything original in such a molested beast?
Should we just sell both and buy a proper Sandman? My husband will not sell the Subaru STI to allow me to do this! Don't think he will let me sell either of the Holdens either even though it doesn't make financial sense, and i'm pretty attached to them too.
Any other inputs/suggestions all much appreciated!

The Tag details for anyone that would like them:-
Ute:-
08/79
Model: HZ8WM80
Body no:- 459570-A
Trim:- 1930-67C
Paint:- 568-305212
L20, M20, GV7

Panelvan:-
08/78
Model:- HZ8WM70
Body no:- 423423-A
Trim:- 1929-67V
Paint:- 568-30520
L20, M40, GV7

Cheers.

[playwme]

Sorry to say, but if you can't do most of the restoration work yourself, then financially you're better off selling them and buying one that someone's already done. Paying someone else $80 an hour (which is minimum what it costs to run a shop) makes little sense. Even doing a majority of the work yourself, it's still easy to overcapitalise. Doing up a non Sandman is pointless when you can buy a really good one for $20k, or add another $10k and buy a really good genuine Sandman.

[Valencia]

Sorry to say, but if you can't do most of the restoration work yourself, then financially you're better off selling them and buying one that someone's already done. Paying someone else $80 an hour (which is minimum what it costs to run a shop) makes little sense. Even doing a majority of the work yourself, it's still easy to overcapitalise. Doing up a non Sandman is pointless when you can buy a really good one for $20k, or add another $10k and buy a really good genuine Sandman.

Yep what he said

[Leyla]

Thank you both for your advice so far, knew that this would probably be the case, it's hard though as we are both quite attached to the cars and would like to see them bought back to glory.

[mr.jones]

Could you pass on the chassis no. for those two?

[Valencia]

You could spend a lot of money on them but both of them being original 6 cylinders you would never get your money back
not sayin you would sell but one day you might change your mind
ute looks pretty good by the way

[Leyla]

Could you pass on the chassis no. for those two?

The Utes Chassis no is:- Q1NVAAA79D003
The Van's is:- BHZ228969A

Sorry to say, but if you can't do most of the restoration work yourself, then financially you're better off selling them and buying one that someone's already done. Paying someone else $80 an hour (which is minimum what it costs to run a shop) makes little sense. Even doing a majority of the work yourself, it's still easy to overcapitalise. Doing up a non Sandman is pointless when you can buy a really good one for $20k, or add another $10k and buy a really good genuine Sandman.

I thought around $30,000 ish for restoration. Is this reasonable? Just thought $60,000 sounded a lot. But is this as you say a price for people who can do a lot of the work themselves? Even at $30,000 I know you could get a nice Sandman, I look at the ones for sale often, we even looked at a HJ Sandman Ute for sale on the gold coast, it was just under $40,000, looked beautiful though. But then unfortunately kinda like the two old Holden's we have. Have read many posts on here about labours of love and not doing it for the re sale value as you always lose. I would like a real Sandman at some point. Appreciate all the advice though.

You could spend a lot of money on them but both of them being original 6 cylinders you would never get your money back
not sayin you would sell but one day you might change your mind
ute looks pretty good by the way

Thanks for saying the ute look's good, she's kinda mine since the Van is my husbands. I like her.

The Van does have a V8 in it now. It's kind of on the start for a mock up Sandy.

[Valencia]

Im about to launch into a full rebuild next year on my hz sandman to
paint job free brother in law is a spray painter i will be helping him
mechanical work dirt cheap best mate same help as much as i can
i have done my sums already im still looking at least $20,000 just in parts if not more
so it does cost a lot of money even if you do some work yourself
if anybody tells you they can do a full restore a van for $30,000 they are lying to you
of course it all depends on how much and bad the rust is

[Leyla]

Im about to launch into a full rebuild next year on my hz sandman to
paint job free brother in law is a spray painter i will be helping him
mechanical work dirt cheap best mate same help as much as i can
i have done my sums already im still looking at least $20,000 just in parts if not more
so it does cost a lot of money even if you do some work yourself
if anybody tells you they can do a full restore a van for $30,000 they are lying to you
of course it all depends on how much and bad the rust is

Thank you for the information. Appreciate it. Good luck with your rebuild.

[buck]

this has had some money spent, still a replica but much easier to finish off.
$14990 or make an offer.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1978-Hold...ht_1961wt_1362
$_12.JPG
$_12.JPG

here is another replica, both would have had more than the asking price spent on them.

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/...D-2199317&Cr=7