To be or not to be this is the question ?

[pj350]

Ok ive a few questions .....come across this van and trying to clear a few things up ......the van is a hx a 12/76 made in adelaide is l32, m20, gv7 diff 60A trim, 17776 paint, seat cap 2, had silver gts dash face, its got the orig paint absolutly stuffed and it does look to have the black round the windows ferry faded the body is badly rusted....hears the thing is it says its a kingswood ...HX8WN70 the Kgs are 1950.

[HK1837]

It is an XU4 Kingswood van. Reasonably common in HX for the same reason XX7's were more common than XU3's.

[pj350]

so Hk .....xu4 means again ?

[pj350]

it hasnt had prtector strips .....is that the thing with xu4s

[HK1837]

so Hk .....xu4 means again ?

In HX, exactly the same relative to a normal van as XX7 means compared to a normal (XU3) Sandman - passenger tyres were fitted to lower the carrying capacity to 500kg.

[pj350]

so would say thats a sandman then ?

[jennie285]

No a kings wood the tag which says 8wn70 means kings wood 8wm70 means Belmont note the M and the N difference
Still good

[pj350]

Yes i know what people say ...after hj they didnt make kingswood sandmans . But wheres the memo that states there is absolutly no chance of being able to get one, for a whole matter of reasons and cercumstances. In the reality of the car making, and what people could order in the day and the availability of the exact ....o hang on no theres no belmont vans available no you can not have your sandman with the m. As you go into hz when the models were getting along i can possibly understand they were only available in your m, but early on in the hx models ....? open minds.

[HK1837]

Definitely not, i've got the paperwork (issued 3/6/76) that shows that the Sandman package was not to be available on HX Kingswood, and it lists EVERY part that was added or deleted to the original design for Sandman.

Remember HX Sandman WAS essentially Kingswood specification. For HQ-HJ you could get a Belmont (HQ), Holden (HJ) Sandman or a Kingswood Sandman (ute only). After HJ the low spec Sandman was dropped and they were all essentially Kingswood spec Sandmans (and all Sandman were going to be Kingswood based). The only reason they upgraded the HX Holden ute and van to Kingswood spec as part of the Sandman package rather than simply add XU3 or XX7 to a Kingswood was the side strips (paperwork I have says this). So they added the following Kingswood bits to the base Holden ute/van as part of the Sandman package instead (plus all the bits and pieces to achieve this like chrome screws rather than plain etc):

Cigar lighter.
Kingswood door trim and hardware.
Front door jam switch package.
Bright front Door Sill plates.
Full headlining.
Kingswood Lion Grille Badge.
Bright Mylar rear window seal insert (ute only).
Bright tail-lamp surrounds.
Kingswood seat vinyl.

This is all what is added to Kingswood ute/van to make it different to a Holden ute/van. The only bits Kingswood that didn't get added were the side rub-strips and other bits that would be there except were replaced by Sandman specific bits (GTS U17 instruments, GTS black Grille and GTS).

Then they added the Sandman package stuff:

Blackouts on body.
Lukey Mirrors.
N66 rims.
Carpet.
Console shift.
Buckets.
U17 instruments.
ER70 H14 radials (XX7 only).
GTS headlight surrounds.
GTS steering wheel.
GTS grille.
Stripes and decals.

As far as I am aware the only reason HX and HZ Sandman didn't wear HOLDEN or Kingswood badges like HQ (Belmont instead of HOLDEN) and HJ was because the spec of the vehicle no longer matched either of those luxury levels (ie it sits in between HOLDEN and Kingswood).

The scenario described (ie o hang on no theres no belmont vans available no you can not have your sandman with the m) was not possible. Vehicles were entered into the rolling schedule months in advance as either stock order (built for sale) or customer/dealer order, and all options that the vehicles were to be made with were entered into the IBM mainframe at that time. If you look at Eric Blair's book "Holden Torana Performance Handbook" there is a production report printout in it for A9X, shows the options codes for each car, colour, trim etc etc. All GMH product had this data, and from this a Production Broadcast sheet was printed out for each car to be started, which showed boxes for every part or action that was to make up the car as it was entered into the mainframe by the zone offices. Right down to WAX or NO-WAX (wax for stock order, no wax for customer order). Things did not simply change on the run.

The only possibility for a Kingswood Sandman in HX would be a very early pilot car, and it would be a Dandenong assembly with a chassis number less than AHX00020M. But I doubt one was ever assembled.

[pj350]

yes i totally get all that Hk.....this thing has no protector strip holes ...What console brackets should a hx have ? Why would you even bother ordering a de rated hx n code van with the m code being de rated ?