Quote Originally Posted by wbute View Post
You could never even truly know if a "genuine" sandman still had its from the factory body shell. If it was T boned as it left the dealers it would have been repaired under insurance and if it needed a new shell or chassis it would have been replaced. It would have still retained its original numbers and plates. Now 30 plus years later and the current owner believes its a un-touched survivor. All hypothetical of course, but totally possible.
They are NOT works of art. They are simple old Holdens that any Joe Blow could modify in their back yard, and that IS what happens to them.
True in some cases. Often you see them also with spare part body shells, and only the BODY tag. Paint code is PRIME.
Same thing happened when cars were relatively new with blown engines, especially early XU-1's. If dealer had to fix a busted rod, they'd order a block and piston kit, and the original engine number was put onto the new block. From what I can tell Nasco actually did this, and the busted block had to go back to the zone office to be destroyed. So there are also some matching number XU-1's out there that have a little secret that is unknown to the owner. Who really cares though?