Did all Sandman Vans have the "SANDMAN" stickers on them?

[Big Rob]

Correct HK, the dealer asked me if I wanted the stripes and name put on my HQ when I purchased it new in 1974. My avatar reveals what my answer was.

And a good choice that was in my opinion! Great colour and stripe combo.

Pity they didn't have a "delete badge" code to lose the Belmont badges. It always looked strange to me to see a Belmont badge on a GTS guard.

[HK1837]

They were Belmonts and Kingswoods though hence why they had the badges. Same reason Thunder utes still have SV6 or SS badges.

[Dr Terry]

Pity they didn't have a "delete badge" code to lose the Belmont badges. It always looked strange to me to see a Belmont badge on a GTS guard.

It was easy to delete a decal on the assembly line, they didn't stick it on.

The old die-cast badges were fastened with pins & clips thru holes in the panel. These holes were punched before assembly & painted, so each model variant had its own front guard or tailgate or whatever.

The fact that the holes were present before assembly made the badges a lot more difficult to 'delete'

An HQ GTS front guard would have had holes pre-punched for the Monaro badge & the GTS badge.

In hindsight, it would have been easier (& perhaps cheaper) to use GTS without holes for both Belmont & Kingswood Sandmans, or even easier just have one Sandman model, which basically what they did for HX & HZ.

Dr Terry

[HK1837]

Terry although i'm happy to be wrong I don't believe the reason they had Belmont, HOLDEN or Kingsowod badges on HQ and HJ Sandmans was because the guards had holes in them. I believe it is because they were a Belmont or Kingswood. SS didn't have holes at all but it was a different lux level to a Belmont, GTS sedan did for both Monaro and GTS badges but it was meant to be a different lux level to the Kingswood it was tagged as. I think some GTS coupes had bugger all badges too.

HX and HZ Sandman were meant to be seen as a separate model/lux level like you say, hence why they lost the HOLDEN badge off the tailgate. Plus they were no longer the same basic lux level as their base vehicle as the Sandman packages included lux level upgrade equipment to basically Kingswood spec (chrome, trim, stainless etc).