Just a few points, there would have been no WH, WK or WL utes. VH, VK and VL were all V sized vehicles. The W sized vehicles (HJ-WB) would have continued into whatever came after WB whether that be WC, WD etc. If the W shape had still been around in 1988 it would most likely have got an injected 5.0L like the V sized Commodore/Calais. 6cyl version of WB successor would have been the hardest option for GMH to build as the 3.0L Nissan and the old Jatco auto would have been of no use in a commercial vehicle (ever driven a 3.0L GQ patrol?). This may well have been why the W series ended in early 1985, as they knew the Nissan engine was coming, and at that stage the Holden V8 was to be dead at the end of VK (remember Street machine's "Save the V8" campaign) and the "big" engine was to be the turbo Nissan engine. The V6 Buick engine came after the Yen went ballistic and made the Nissan engine too expensive.

Mauser, the "New" Sandman introduced mid HJ (ie the XX7) and its non-Sandman XU4 counterpart weren't introduced without good reason. You could still easily get a normal Sandman but its name changed to XU3.

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Quote Originally Posted by Sandaro View Post
I actually wonder how many new car buyers of Sandmans were actually clued up to the reduced GMV of sandman's generally? Would the salesman of the day actually have highlighted the point? Maybe that's why the XU3 is relatively scarce? Unless you knew (and also had a need for carrying maximum weight) you just got XX7.

Steve
As above a "normal" Sandman was available for the whole Sandman run, from 1/74 through to late in 1979. The sedan tyred variant was only available for a limited time ie late 1975 to late 1979. When you eventually read the reason all will become clear.