Butchering a Sandman van

[Absinth]

In the late 80's to mid 90's utes were all the rage and vans were as about as popular as a pork chop in a synagogue. Utes were expensive for good ones but good vans were dirt cheap.....Sooooo

Take a good straight rust free HX Sandman



Rip down to the local wreckers and pick up ute turret



Then get out the grinder or panel cutter and have at it....

[sanman]

I remember seeing great Sandmans vans wrecked in the same era because they might have had a prem front, gts guards and dash. All dear as poison back then. One time in my youth, I spun my van being and idiot and caved in the quarter panel. The wreckers had a mint green with blue stripe sandman windowless van. I said I needed a drivers quarter, he said You can have one off that one ther for $150. The whole van was better than mine. Anyway out came the oxy, and he cut up the mint windowless shell, I spent a hole weekend drilling out spotwelds. I remember brand new quarters from holden were $350, so I saved $200.

Those were the days,

Geoff

[adam perth]

it was common in the early and mid 1990's

a sandman in my home town got simular treatment to that one above..

at the time the van was worth $3500, in ute form it was worth $8000 - $9000.
so it was easy money for many panel beaters

[Blocker]

Every time a Sandman is cut up, God kills a kitten.

I owned an HQ Sandman back in the mid 80's. For the next 20+ years and onward I have always preferred a panel van over a ute, I guess it's the nostalgia for me I just don't know.

[wbute]

Looks a lot worse seeing that now than it would have at the time. When I was at ag college in the early 90's there were two sandman utes and one van. One of the utes had just had the stripes pulled off it because they looked "stupid". The other ute belonged to a bloke from Wilcania and he loved it and I would say he still has it.They were just crappy ag student uni cars then. In my home town of 800 people there was an orange sandman cut down to a ute at the same time and another yellow sandman van that sat under a tree for years. I tried to buy that one a couple of times but owner wouldnt part with it. Went over seas only to return a couple of years later to find the it had been given to a couple of young blokes who stripped it and put the shell in the tip and the bulldozer did the rest. Two owners from new. These were all still in original paint with stickers still on them. I havnt seen a sandman on the road for ten years at a guess that is just a daily driver.
I suppose this is what makes them hard to find now and more interesting because of it. I hope I can get my HX Sandman ute back on the road. I know utes seem to be less desirable but being a country bloke they seem more relevant to me.

[tex]

utes are the only way to go i have a hz sandman ute,hz statesman ute with only 15,000km on clock and a wb ute , utes rule

[wbute]

utes are the only way to go i have a hz sandman ute,hz statesman ute with only 15,000km on clock and a wb ute , utes rule

What is a statesman ute?

[Absinth]

What is a statesman ute?

That's when you take the front doors and trim, interior seats, console, dash, front end and bonnet emblem off a Statesman and fit it all to your ute... similar to a GTS ute.

There is no such thing as a factory Statesman ute..... there is however such thing as a HJ Statesman two door coupe. (Monaro)

[wbute]

Hi Absinth, I was being sarcastic.

[mick h]

absinth - i cant look at those photos - makes me almost cry like a little girl. whilst utes are my passion too there is no excuse for ruining a perfectly cool sandman man. I would like to think i will have one of each soon. Man those pictures are just sad............