HQ advert

[jason.ruff]

Hi found this on ebay and it has created a lot questions. Hq sandman with honeycombs? 350 chev? whats going on with the torneau?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ORIGINAL-...-/111026930867

[chrisp]

two words

"Dealer Special"

Chrisp

Or the marketing department have no idea what their company sells. But I thought that was a Ford thing.

[Alien DNA]

Its called the Ewe'T. 2 of those were made in 1972 for the Sydney motorshow. Silver with blue stripes and statesman interior with sheepskin tonneau and door card inserts!! Prem front and honeycomb wheels! Basically it was a design exercise for the HQ Sandman

[Blocker]

Hi found this on ebay and it has created a lot questions. Hq sandman with honeycombs? 350 chev? whats going on with the torneau?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ORIGINAL-...-/111026930867

two words

"Dealer Special"

Chrisp

Or the marketing department have no idea what their company sells. But I thought that was a Ford thing.

As Alien said;
More info here http://mysandman.com.au/index.php/mo...-details?id=72

[jason.ruff]

Wow now a Q ute with all the fruit would have been unreal. Wonder where its at, and why they didn't run with it for the sandman.

[HK1837]

No-one that I know knows where the original Ewe't is now, or the other 350 Kingswood ute built 2 months later. That magazine article actually has a mistake as it states the car has a LSD but it only had air and steer. The second one was steer and LSD. Those wheels were firstly on the 350Z, then on the HQ Premier styling car for the SS and left GMH on the Ewe't. They actually became a HJ option not long after (option PE1).
Sandman was a sports package, not an engine option. Plus the 350 was all but obsolete by the time the Sandman was released and for the whole time Sandman existed it was available with the biggest engine available with a manual transmission - the 308. By that time the 350 was basically auto only. Leo Pruneau wanted the quad nose for the GTS from day one, and if the GTS got it Sandman would have got it. He wasn't allowed to have it until HZ!

[Alien DNA]

Plus the 350 was all but obsolete by the time the Sandman was released and for the whole time Sandman existed it was available with the biggest engine available with a manual transmission - the 308. By that time the 350 was basically auto only.

But wasnt there 4&2 door Monaros with 350's rolling down the production line through most of 1974? Was it a case of not enough time to engineer a 350 for commercial applications? Damn shame the HQ Sandman didnt come wit the 350 :(

[HK1837]

Yes, but as I said they were all autos. Manual 350 was basically dead by the release of Sandman. I think there may have been a few manual XW8's built early in 1974 but to all intents and purposes the 350 manual was no more in 1974. Even if the 400 wasn't pulled from HJ late in 1973 I doubt there'd have been a manual version either, and I also doubt they'd have been available on a HJ commercial. The new higher performance 308 released for HJ basically made the 350 obsolete too, as it went just as hard - a 308 manual HJ is all but identical performance wise to a 350 manual HQ. To put it into perspective, have a look at the 0-100 and 1/4 mile times as tested by Wheels or Motor on the early LX SLR5000 or SS 5 litre. They are as quick or quicker than the L34's tested 18 months earlier. These used the same engine as a HJ. I know the later LH's had the same engine but it is harder to find tests on later cars, most are on the earlier 1974 with the HQ spec 308 engines, plus LX didn't have a pea shooter exhaust!