This ones been around a while

[Innuendo]

If it had the original chassis but different tags it wouldn’t be worth buying and because it’s got the original body and tags but not the chassis it’s not worth buying so basically you’re saying Sandman is not a Sandman in less it’s 100% complete, you claim it has the identity of another vehicle because of the chassis being different but if you can claim as Sandman is not a Sandman because 10% if it is not there how can you claim it’s a different car because there’s 10% present of that car,

Can of worms territory!

But because peoples opinion differ on these types of things the market (and therefor the $ value) for them drops significantly.

Lets say it has a WB chassis under it. RMS/RTA/DMT or whatever they are call this week in NSW would only register it as a WB Holden Panel Van (regardless of the tags). I assume it may vary in other states.
Maybe it has another HJ chassis under it (that would be preferable) but the number no longer matches. It would be registered as a HJ Holden Panel Van.
Now lets say it has a HQ chassis under it. It's now a HQ and doesn't need to meet ADR 27 pollution regulations.
Lets not forget about police stamped numbers either. Could even be on it's original chassis after being returned after being stolen.

On top of the chassis is a Sandman in my eyes and a chassis is just one component of the car just like a door or a wheel. But the chassis number is important to it's history.
The amount of Sandman's with non matching engines is HUGE and that doesn't seem to effect peoples brains like chassis do.

Like I said, can of worms!

When you are looking to buy a genuine Sandman you want matching everything with paperwork and the highest most desirable spec (especially if you are trying to make some cash).
If you are wanting a nice car for yourself to relive your past or the past you wish you had then that is a whole other story.

Nothing is black and white other than you are excluding a lot of the market or peoples opinion when it's not 100%.

For me it would be a Sandman still with a chassis swap!

[Sandaro]

I agree with you Inners where the shell and tags have provenance together, such as the signs pointing to this one. But it will affect the value all the same.

On the extreme side (and I imagine why some take the view of changed chassis no longer interested) earlier this year there was a HJ Sandman on ebay (with a HHS Certificate used in the advertisement to confirm authenticity!!) with a WB chassis. It think it was factory 253 4 speed, now 308 auto, but the worst part was body shell was also all WB. So what was original to the Sandman??--3 tags.

[Valencia]

Body or chassis swap doesn't make it an original genuine Sandman no more
lets not cloud the waters here

[Innuendo]

Body or chassis swap doesn't make it an original genuine Sandman no more
lets not cloud the waters here

So a genuine 1 owner Bathurst XU-1 (Bathurst raced) with the smashed passenger skirt had to be replaced (not a XU-1 any longer?)
Chassis number is gooooone!

[Valencia]

So a genuine 1 owner Bathurst XU-1 (Bathurst raced) with the smashed passenger skirt had to be replaced (not a XU-1 any longer?)
Chassis number is gooooone!

So if it was Bathurst raced it would be documented yes ?

- - - Updated - - -

Imho you cant go swapping parts like body and chassis and still call it original
doesn't sound right to me

[looznu]

What’s more original a restored matching number van that has had every part replaced on it but all numbers match

Or original new old stock sad man that has been preserved its entire life and has had its tags stolen?

[maxsandman]

Out of that choice... the first one

Until the other bloke recovers the tags

[looznu]

Disappointing answer
New is new no matter what the numbers say,

Restored is always restored.

[wbute]

There is no question it’s lost it’s identity. When you go for rego they only check two numbers, chassis and engine. Engines were commonly replaced as they wore out but this still has a bearing on desirability.
However the chassis determines what the car is in the eyes of the rego authorities who made the rules that applied to build the car. So whatever the chassis number now is, is what the car is to them.
I am not comparing this to a Torana without a removable chassis. This is how it works in HQ-WB commercials.
The car no doubt is still a great prospect to restore but it’s value as a Sandman is severely compromised by that chassis.
This has been debated on here a 100 times before and I have argued the same way, how could the chassis be more important than the tags? Unfortunately, it’s just as important as the tags.
It’s a stupid thing as the chassis is a replacement part as well. Plenty had new chassis after a prang when they were new enough for the insurance to justify it. There were rules no doubt regarding the repairers replacing the chassis number on the blank chassis and you still see them turn up with no number on them at all.
GMPA body’s turn up still with the GMPA tags on them. What’s the identity of a van with no chassis number and GMPA body tags?

[pj350]

Maybe the motor changed at some part of life but No id tags ..no matching chassis numbers in my opinion its just a normal old van .