Welcome to mySandman
mySandman.com.au was established to relive and retain the history of the beloved Holden Sandman. The website and forums are community driven, with content provided by many members. If you think you have a Sandman and want to identify it be sure to check the detailed reference guide. The Holden Sandman is a very difficult vehicle to identify, but not entirely impossible.
Sandman Beginnings
The Sandman through the 70's
In early 1972, GM Holden built a special show ute for display and advertising purposes. The ute, which was called the “E'wet”, had a factory fitted 350 V8 with airconditioning and power steering. It rolled on Honeycomb rims which weren't released until the HZ GTS series 4 years later for the Monaro.
This ute had a set of narrow pin stripe decals, which were very similar to those on the Pontiac Judge, and could have been a prototype decal for the Series 1 Sandman pinstripes.
HQ "E'wet"
The Holden Sandman decals featured a Sandman logo on each side of the panelvan or Ute, located on the B pillar, above the quarter panel line. They also featured distinctive side pinstriping. The utes also had a tailgate “framed block” which was a narrow strip along the bottom in the same colour as the other decals.
1974
In 1974 the first HQ Sandman was released, on the back of the successful HQ Monaro series II. With this release, Holden was aiming to capitalise on the sporty sun and surf culture in Australia. The HQ Sandman was available in both panelvan and ute models, featuring sports GTS styling with slotted front guards, bucket seats, GTS steering wheel, full GTS sports instrumentation, GTS wheels and Sandman decals and stripes.
The introduction of the HQ Sandman led to an apparent decline in interest in the Monaro coupes, as the Sandman became the two door vehicle of choice amongst younger drivers. The HQ Sandman in 1974 was only produced for nine months, and an original HQ Sandman is very difficult to find as a result.
1975
The HJ Sandman was released in October 1974. Once again the Sandman offered a full range of GTS goods and the same decal options as the HQ model. 1975 saw a marked increase in the promotion of the vehicle, using images of sand, sex and surf. TV shows like Number 96 and The Box were hits around this time and certainly helped to fuel a wave of cultural change in Australia.
1976
The HX Sandman was released in July 1976. This model of Sandman kept all the features of previous models, minus the fluted guards but added new decal striping and colour options. New Government regulations required vehicles at the time to have anti-pollution systems installed, resulting in a Sandman with a weaker engine than its predecessors. The new decal styling would continue on to subsequent Sandman models.
1977
In October 1977 Holden released the HZ series Sandman. This release maintained the same features as the HX and included a front air dam spoiler, twin headlights and a vast improvement in suspension with the addition of radial tuned suspension, remember that the front guard flutes were removed in the HX series and remained off in the HZ as well.
