HZ Sandman Valencia Orange

[HZSandman]

Here is our 1978 HZ Valencia Orange XX7 Sandman that we have just recently finished (nearly) restoring. Owners: Ian and Jo

Some resto and finished pics:

[Blocker]

Ian, how difficult was it to seal up the windows? I am thinking of doing it to my HJ. And when I say I am thinking of doing it.. that means paying someone with more skill and knowledge than me to do it

[abncraig]

awesome job the van looks sweet

[HZSandman]

The windows were done by a professional Andrew. Like you I was not game to touch them. Hard to know the exact cost as I got the rear quters done at the same time, but it was probably around $3500 including paint. Words of advice would be:

Make sure you get plenty of opinions, ask lots of questions
don't even bother with smash repair people
Make sure they have done them before
They need to spot weld around and around and around the join at intervals so as not to warp the panels this keeps the heat down
Resto places are the best bet
No need to cut a whole panel or replace the whole roof as some suggested
I also got the side supports out of an old wreck which helped as they went straight in and therefore I did not have to get them made up.

I saw a van at Hanging rock yesterday that had the same treatment and there were cracks in the bog coming through. Having seen mine done close up I reckon they will go the distance as there was very minimal filler applied, probably no more than if trying to get a windowless van perfectly straight.

Thanks for your comments abncraig.

[sanman]

Hi Ian,

Top van, love the colour and thanks for sharing the photos. It looked a very good van to start with, how long have you had it and I noticed you changed the interior colour, any reason, just curious.

Thanks Geoff

[wbute]

Looks awesome! Nice to see them getting restored this well.

[HZSandman]

Have had it for nearly 2 years now. It did have a pretty good body. Only a very small amount of rust. Most of the rust had already been cut out and replated. Drivers foot well was done. Rear quarters were done but I got them redone as they had a stack of filler on them and when that was removed we found that there were only spot welds about every 1cm or so. So we took all the filler out and completely spot welded the whole thing. After the windows went back in we had the whole van repainted from the front doors back (except the roof). Overall though it was done pretty well.

Next van I get will go back to bear metal so I will start with a less polished example.

The interior should be 63V (buckskin) originally but it came with a black console (although it was from an HJ and we ended up sourcing an HZ one from a ute anyway) and repo door trims. I like black heaps better than brown so we went black.

We stayed away from the slate black which it really should be so that it can be seen to be a non original interior. Kept the top of the firewall painted buckskin so that it is also obvious what the original was. I kept all the buckskin stuff I had that was in good condition including the dash and glove box with the original tyre placard on it. Missing are the arm rests, door trims, sun visors (which I should have kept, but sprayed them black instead) and seats which would have to be re-trimmed anyway. I reckon for less than $1000 it could be back to buckskin if required. I am going to slowly try and acquire more buckskin stuff at swap meets in the future if the condition is good.

I guess with such a rare car these days you have to make sacrifises with what you start with.

As soon as I get some garage space (which means moving house) I will be on the lookout for an XX7 plated 308, 4 speed to start tinkering with. Hope there are some left by then.

Ian

[Absinth]

Err, hate to say it Ian but that's a HX console mate. HZ had the coin slots in the front section as well.

On the bright side...... it goes with the HX steering wheel.. ;)

Window infills came out great and I love the rear interior.

[HZSandman]

Well bugger me, now I'll have to be on the hunt for a new console insert as well.

I think the wheel is out of an HQ as it has the 5mm thick spokes. Have the original horn cap now but have not fitted it yet.

Picky, picky

[agr071]

It looks great Ian.
After seeing it at the nats, it wasn't even evident that it originally had windows.