V series 'Sandman'

[Innuendo]

alot of mods....think he has pulled it off well...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/vz-ss-cus...item257684ac04

Yes, Rick's VZ took out Most Desirable Custom at the Bathurst Van Meet last weekend. It has a lot more mods than you first think.
I'm not a fan of the wheels either. 22" on the rear look OK, but far too large on the front. The Air Bags don't allow the front to drop as far as the rear either.
Still, great modern custom. BTW: This is not a factory HBD Van.

Regards, Smooth

[Sandman_77]

Ok going to upset many here, so bewarned

Old rivet counters i respect you guys were all the same somewhere, some of us born in different generations so have different opinions and seen different changes

Old Holdens never die true, but get harder to find a good one, younger Holdens are getting rare to find unmolsted and original

I was born HJ Series so never seen a new van on the forcourt at my local Holden, like my other passion Minis, I was and still too young for that, but that doesnt stop me having the passion for both of them - Holdens and Minis of that era

Minis I could fix I packed my bags and went to UK before they stop production in 2000 and bought 3 of them, the day I got of the plane and went past the dealer and seen them in a showroom, full of minis I was like a kid, I was back there ready for opening, that day I bought the first one a 2000 model brand new never forget it, 6 months later back there and got another for wife, and just beofre we came home after 4 years bought another with 5000 miles cause hey when would i ever get the chance again

In 2001 Mini were gone replaced with MINI made by BMW, classic Mini owners hated the modern ones, so did I they killed the fashion, they killed the brand, they killed the factory put loads of familes and a village out of work, some been there for 40 years, I really hated them, I was living there and seen the pain

In 2012 I have 5 classic Minis sitting in my shed, I have two kids, slight problem no anchor points in my Minis dont wanna really have them as dailys anymore cause there classic and you cant get them, I dont wanna drive them into ground, my daily is a HZ Premier Wagon, some sernario

I drive into MINI dealer and say wll its grown on the Mini community it has modern features, safety, still has the style of the classic and has way to many great features, and driving it makes me smile and kids love it. 30 minutes later after loving it kids climbing in it and saying MINI for the first time, the passion had flared, the kids had added Mini to there words and they wanted it, SOLD

The reason I write this and say old rivet counters move on, some of us never lived in 70's never could own there dream, H series cars are too hard to find, to rare to drive, Holden still lives in 2012, they gave us modern folk a chance to own a dream share a passion, show our kids what there Pop had, a chance for us newer generation to feel what you had, load it with boards, eskys beach towels and kids and go live the dream, Thats what Holden did in 2004 or what ever.

Its not about what it says on a little tag under the bonnet, it what our it represents, a Aussie Icon, a real option to own the 70s dream, best dam thing on the market I rekon, sadly I would have bought one, I invested time looking at doing the conversion so I could loose the rear ute window put seats in the bck for kids, cause I want that, look at them there rare as hens teath in mint condition and low miles, old real van owners, will stop you at the servo and say 'I had one of these in the 70's good on ya mate", I say real owners not rivet counters like the sour lemon pastel faced guys on here who wanna bang on about shite, the guys that lived the dream, and are chuffed the modern generation are still living the dream

In closing Minis and Holdens are my passion, sheds full of them Old and New, Monaros and Minis, if I find a HZ Sandy I will get a Modern Van happily too,
MINI RE vamped the classic, they couldnt live on with a 41 year old body in modern times, Holden moved with the times and still live, they are just re vamping the classics too, sharing the passion and dreams of the yesterdays,

Anoraks, Rivet Counters, Train watchers live on too cause your interest and passion helps the knowledge and fatcs stay true

Enjoy your weekend folk, im of to enjoy driving cause thats what living the dream is about

SAndy 77

[Gunna Do]

Hi sandman 77 ,enjoyed reading your post.I love the minis especially the cooper s,i would also own a converted vy van in a heartbeat,but i wish you could retract one sentence in your story regarding the sour faced folk,everyone is entitled to an opinion and while we are out enjoying driving they are probably rebuilding their pride and joys or researching the cars. If it wasn't for these rivet counters who else would care enough to research and create sites like this one and many others.My personal opinion on the modern sandman is they are a beautiful thing but will never have the pedigree like the H series.Sorry if i upset anyone with my opinion Brian.

[wbute]

Hmm. I liked the Mambo Sandman. I saw a purple V series new on the yard at a Holden dealer in Sydney when I first met my wife and even she said it looked good. But they just needed to be more than a canopy conversion to really be up there with a H series in my opinion. Holden were so close to becoming a market leader in design at that time. They brought back the one tonner, they had a Torana concept car, they almost revived the Sandman name, monaro was reborn. The Maloo was being promoted as the fastest ute in America. Then they went all dowdy and just stopped for some reason.
This thread is purely based on if the V series is a Sandman or not, even including a poll on the result. So you can hardly add a post that declares that we should get past the rivet counting part. This thread is 100% about the rivet counting I would have thought?

[78 sin bin]

thought i would email holden and see if i could find out some more information about the new series vans. for example how many were built etc turns out they must be super special.....what do you think?



Dear Adam,

As per your request, we are responding to you via e-mail.

We write in reference to your recent correspondence received at Holden Customer Assistance regarding additional information on your holden VZ SSZ Ute.

Unfortunately this information is not available to the public as it is classified Holden information.

Should you wish to discuss matters further, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned on 1800 033 349, quoting the above mentioned reference number.

Yours sincerely,


Sophie Jones
Holden Customer Care Specialist[COLOR="Silver"]

[HK1837]

They wouldn't even know as they didn't build them. The last van GMH/Holden made would have been a Combo, before that the Scurry and the Shuttle. Any of the Holden utes with HBD fitted canopies would be in Holden's build records as a Holden ute, not as a van. There may be records somewhere how many canopies were fitted as HBD installations, but it'd be the canopies themselves that may be rare, not the vehicles - Holden utes were and still are common.

[78 sin bin]

would it be possible to contact hbd? there must be a record somewhere if they went to the effort of sticking a id plate under the hood with build seriel number.......lucky my ute is rare as well. one of 1200 apparantly

[HK1837]

Possibly. But remember they'd be records of how many rear wings went on V2's, 185/195kW HBD engines, spoilers etc. Most of it stuff no-one will ever care about. So they may have kept records, but possibly not.

[Innuendo]

Official, because I do care!

224 Total were built from VY Series 2 to the end of VZ. I'm unclear if this number includes the original MAMBO concept build, original FTP VU work Van or the two VY Series I Hot House Green promotion builds for the motor shows in 2003? But regardless it's +/- four. 11 in total were Maloo's of this 11, 3 only were R8's. 2 were VY SII the other a VZ. Of this 11 most were sold to the Australian Defence Force for use as promotion and recruitment vehicles (6 possibly 7 and all were black). Two Maloo's were actually (VY Series I ) originally painted Black but both were later changed to White to promote the Microsoft X-Box.

This 224 are all official SANDMAN conversions and all have the HBD compliance plate on the drivers side radiator support panel.
All of these are special vehicles and all should be noted as such, Be they your cuppa tea or not. They are official HOLDEN offerings regardless of "who or whom" was contracted to make the parts.
HOLDEN outsource thousands of parts. The "conversion" is meant to be a permanent conversion (not slip on and off at will). It's custom fitted and it changes the body shape of the vehicle legally. Changes the official vehicle weight and complies with the relevant Australian Design Rules.

Obviously there is an even bigger breakdown. Like how many were V8 SS, Storm's or Thunder's. Also even a few poverty pack V6 S version or lower versions.
There is a bloke (Rowan) ex-employee who has these stats right down to colours they were all painted.

Since then, a handful of VU to VZ have been done by AMCAT with the revised "original" mould.
AMCAT numbers for aftermarket early VU, VY and VZ and then later VE's are all numbered on the makers tag (fitted inside on the roof area near the Monaro toggle interior light). Mine is number 0062
Last I knew official number were still under 100 total. Remember this includes VU-VY-VZ and VE.

It is extremely obvious that "some" don't care, don't rate and don't give a flying _ about these models or stats.
But they are desirable and collectible in my eyes and appears quite a few others!

As for the arguments about "is it a Sandman" etc. HOLDEN themselves called them that in official promotional material and that's all that matters!
Their car, their design, their name to do as they please.

Regards, Smooth

[Vombil]

My take

Holden will do anything to turn a $$. Its a lot cheaper to contract someone else to make a canopy and fit it and then publish a flashy flyer calling it a sandman, than it is to retool the production line to make an actual van to fill the very small demand for utes with a big lockable canopy.

They should have left the canopy off and put some sandman decals and a few extras on an SS ute. then Id consider it legit... as a sandman ute.

You just cant call a ute with a canopy on the back a Sandman or even a van... its got a window behind the cab! in WA it is illegal to pop it out too.

I fully agree that they may become collectable but only so far as the lid. as it can be transferred (along with its tag) to any other ute in half a day.

Great looking car and im sure they drive much better and to a degree more practical (towing, daily driver etc)