What is important in a Sandman

[Absinth]

Ian,

I have no doubt if you search around you can get second hand parts much cheaper but finding good enough parts to install in a restored vehicle in the correct colour is getting harder. Most if not all dash pads are sun damaged.... faded and brittle... I had a hard enough time finding a decent dash pad back in the 90's. I was quoted $450 to re-skin an original one.

I was a little out on the door trims they are $495 pr. Again good original are hard to get as most have at least one tear, water damaged backing boards and are worn/faded along the top from people resting their arm on them... particularly the drivers side.



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/holden-hj-san...item45f8b04f29

I detest vinyl spray paint and will not use it to repaint vinyl.... don't ever use it to repaint dash and in particular console plastic.... it goes soft and tacky when your car sits in the sun and glues the arm rest to the console.

If I was a potential buyer looking to buy a nice restored Sandman in the 30k to 40k range..... the last thing I want to have to do after forking out that kind of money on a car is to have to .... pull out a 308 and M21 and install the original 253 and M20 that the previous owner has kept in a shed...... repaint the car in its original colour or pull out the interior and spend months looking for a good original interior in the correct colour.

I don't care what someone does with their car... it's yours and you can build it however you want.... but that was not the question.

HQ SS is a far rarer car than Sandman's but somewhat similar..... only 2800 in total built and only available in three colours so are quite collectible.... but this one on ebay recently didn't get one bid at $6500...??? I think non original running gear had a lot to do with it.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/hq-ss-infra-r...item33655842a4

There seems to be a bit of a Sandman craze on at the moment and this is probably partly due to the success of MySandman..... how long this apparent craze will last... who knows... I love Sandman's but I honestly believe people are paying too much for unrestored and not very original examples.

[playwme]

HQ SS is a far rarer car than Sandman's but somewhat similar..... only 2800 in total built and only available in three colours so are quite collectible.... but this one on ebay recently didn't get one bid at $6500...??? I think non original running gear had a lot to do with it.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/hq-ss-infra-r...item33655842a4

That listing was removed before end of auction cause the seller sold it elsewhere. In this case the auction shows the original start price and wipes all bids. I reckon someone didn't want to miss out and just did the deal they had to. I would have too for an Infra Red SS.

I reckon one of you guys who have replaced their Buckskin interior with Slate Black need to go back to original, but only cause I want your Black stuff.

[mauser]

http://www.greataussiecars.com.au/au...4-brown-hj-ute

Is this an example of the Sandman you are set on Byron?

Mauser

[HK1837]

That's close. Actually Persian Sand looks good with white HJ stripes.

I'd rather pay $30k for one not needing work though, than $10k and work!