What is important in a Sandman

[wbute]

I agree totally Gaddy, I dont even really care if the chassis matches to be honest. But when people start talking what is the most valuable as far as a collectible car goes then that is important.

I am happy with my WB which is exactly the same as a HZ Sandman ute but it has pretty much no value even though it is 100% original.

Value is really in the eye of the beholder. Its the stickers, the V8, the dash and the bucket seats as standard that give them their value. So much cooler than a kingswood or belmont/standard. Thats why people baught them in the first place, not because of the numbers on the plates.

[GNW1974]

I bought a HQ ute ex Qld which many of you would have seen advertised. Whilst every bit of research I did indicated to me the ute is a HQ Sandman, at the end of the day I could not determine the exact originality of the vehicle. Either way I will have either a genuine Sandman or a very nice Kingswood ute with all the right bits, and a rare combination to boot.

What did help me was some photos of the vehicle taken in the very early nineties where I could see the original colour of the vehicle on the insides of the doors and the firewall.

As the vehicle has a resonable paintjob now, all work I will do will be in the correct theme as I love originality and I would like to do a full resto and back to original colour down the track. A rough budget has been done and I am over 4K on interior alone.

I know I don't have an original motor, gearbox or diff, so over time I will have money to spend to get back to a semblence of an original HQ. But then a LSD and rear discs would be attractive. I would dearly love a 308 or 350 in it, but I would always keep the correct motor etc if i decided to sell it or revert to original spec.

What I do know is that I will get a great deal of satisfaction driving this ute on a Sunday arvo, going for a cruise and seeing heads turn and it will increase in value, and yes it does have Air Conditioning and power steering fitted (non original but factory setups) and these swung the deal for me.

[TwoTees]

I have been thinking of asking a very similar question to what Byron has asked here, albeit, mainly directed at body colour.
My van is now almost complete in the panel work and ready for primer and I really need to make a decision on colour soon.
10 years ago when I bought it and started to restore it there was no question as to the colour it was going to be painted... Jasmine Yellow. I always wanted a Jasmine Yellow HZ Sandman.
With my recent re-found love of my Sandman helped along with interest from 2 of my sons and the fact that they are becoming an asset, my belief is now, that it should be painted in its original colour... Atlantis Blue.
Now, I am really not feeling alot of love for Atlantis Blue, but I keep telling my self, I should be keeping re-sale in mind. (Just as Byron said earlier, Nothing is forever, things change and I may need to move it on)
From what I have read Atlantis Blue is not the most sought after colour so, by painting my van a more popular colour, will I make it more attractive to some buyers and put others off.
Also I was thinking of maybe custom tinting the colour a few shades darker to more towards Windsor Blue.
Yes I know that we should be doing what we want, but at the end of the day it is a fair sized financial investment that we may just need to cash in.
Hearing these opinions from you all is great. Please keep them coming.
Cheers, Chris

[Robbo]

So many good points been aired in this topic, with so many differing points of view.I prefer originality, and also enjoying what they were designed for in the first place! A great vehicle to get away from it all, and have fun in. I still have all my purchase papers and rego papers from when I bought mine, including the owners certificate from the service book. But, alas, I just dont have the ute.

[HZSandman]

Sean,

just on the cost of the interior. Here are my figures incurred changing our car to black interior:
original black Dash $150
Door trims - not sure as I got them with the car
glovebox $50
Pillar trims in original black $4.50
Sun visors spray painted black $35 + the vinyl spray paint
NOS Handbrake grip $17
Centre arm rest retrimming $41.50
new Handbrake plastic cover $36.76
new Kick Panels $41
Centre console $60 + black spray paint
new Door arm rests $140
new Carpet $120
new Pinchweld $67.50
Seats retrimmed $770

Total $1533 + door trims

These are my actual costs (yeah pretty anal like that, keep all details logged) and it does not even include the funds recouped selling some of the existing interior bits I had.

Now think that I could sell all this stuff to replace with Buckskin some of which is still in the shed and I reckon I would come out even or even in front as black stuff always sells for more on ebay than any other colour.

Re-trimming seats again would be the same cost but the rest could all be obtained in pretty good condition 2nd hand on EBay or at swap meets. Remember that 63V is a very common colour for kingswoods etc. I even wrecked a car a while ago that had all this stuff in it in good nick. It is easy to find.

Now repainting. Well not sure how you can on sell the old paint and replace it with new any cheaper than the cost of a respray.

Verdict for mine:
Interior is the simplest and least costly thing to change back to original on the whole car.

[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.

[TwoTees]

Now think that I could sell all this stuff to replace with Buckskin some of which is still in the shed and I reckon I would come out even or even in front as black stuff always sells for more on ebay than any other colour.

Re-trimming seats again would be the same cost but the rest could all be obtained in pretty good condition 2nd hand on EBay or at swap meets. Remember that 63V is a very common colour for kingswoods etc. I even wrecked a car a while ago that had all this stuff in it in good nick. It is easy to find.

Now repainting. Well not sure how you can on sell the old paint and replace it with new any cheaper than the cost of a respray.

Verdict for mine:
Interior is the simplest and least costly thing to change back to original on the whole car.

Yeah! I think interior is a minor thing. Especially 63v. You can find most of it for next to nothing. Add new door trims, carpet and re trim seats (About $1500) and a week ends work and your back with that brand new smell.
This would however adjust the price I would be prepared to pay for a top dollar example, (very small percentage of the total outlay) but would not scare me away.

Paint on the other hand is a little more difficult.

[HZSandman]

Agree with Twotees. I am just saying out of the paint, interior, running gear, etc the interior would be on my least important list re buying a restored car.

[TwoTees]

Agree with Twotees. I am just saying out of the paint, interior, running gear, etc the interior would be on my least important list re buying a restored car.

HZ,
Im doing what you have done. Going with black interior. I collected most of it years ago so I have it now. To go with original 63v would actually cost me more at the moment because I would need door trims, seats and carpet. I will keep an eye out for this stuff and put it away when I find it cheap enough. I have everything else and if I need to sell will just return it to 63v and sell the black stuff or give the buyer an option.

[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.