Making a Sandman Replica out of a WB UTE

[Blake Coppell]

I am a 18 year old from the Sydney Northern Beaches. I was given a WB Panel Van done up in Bright Orange with the Sandman Decals across it. Looks like a legit Sandman from the outside but i am now trying to do it right by putting all the original sandman parts in it.

I have original Premier Bucket Seats in it at the moment but wanted to put a bench seat in it. I also have a Column shift. Is it wrong to have a bench seat and column shift in a real Sandman or????

I want to do it right and am talking to some very good interior and exterior Holden Specialists. What would you recommend i do with the seat and gear situation. Column shifts are rare and so are bench seats but everyone i have seen on here has a column shift and bucket.
Hope you can help me out.

[buck]

no sandman ever had a bench or column shift, all where bucket seats and floor shift.

[HK1837]

As above except they weren't floor shift, they were console shift. Floor shift is a stick without a console.

If it is a replica do as you like, but to do it properly you need to weld in quarter lights, weld up the washer holes, use HJ-HZ harnesses and rear lights. HJ-HZ buckets don't fit properly in a WB but the bench seats will.

[Dr Terry]

Firstly there were no WB Sandmans in production. There was one prototype built, but the whole thing was canned soon after. The last real Sandman was an HZ.

All genuine Sandmans had factory bucket seats & a console shift, which can be either a 4-sp manual or T-Bar auto.

It was the regular plain jane commercial vans & utes which had column shifts & bench seats.

Don't let that stop you though. If you want to build a WB Sandman to the way you want it, go for it, it's your car.

Dr Terry

[Robbo]

Yep, what Dr Terry said. Build it to suit what you want or need it to be. Enjoy your build.
Cheers.

[wbute]

Ok. You can only have 3 speed manual or auto on the column. So if you want a 4 speed manual you need floor shift. That will work with a bench seat as well but you can't have a T bar auto and bench seat.

[HK1837]

You can have a 4spd column shift, but need to do something funky for reverse!

[wbute]

Yeah you could probably do a 5 speed as well but you would need something funky done to your head

[HK1837]

What I meant was a 3spd column will perfectly operate a 4spd aussie box. You'd just have to knock it into neutral and have a cable operated reverse or something like that.

[Dr Terry]

What I meant was a 3spd column will perfectly operate a 4spd aussie box. You'd just have to knock it into neutral and have a cable operated reverse or something like that.

I saw that system done once, back in the 80s. It wasn't too bad to drive either.

Dr Terry