Original paint colour help.

[SLR_dave]

Looks great, very straight. I was looking at that 2200 GVM earlier today as well, but wondered if thats particularly conclusive? I was wondering if the headlining is factory, because why would you want a commercial built with a headlining on the heavier chassis. (Not that I'm suggesting you'd want to pull the headlining out at the back to check, they tear very easy and are a job for a bit of an expert hand to put back right, maybe not much point without the missing plate either).

Theres maybe some other pointers, eg the GTS mirrors are on it (thats a detail many replications miss), but its easy enough to fit them if you can get hold of them, the dash looks like its has silver trim, but again could be a re-fit - is it white or yellow needle? You could check to see if the GTS loom is on it, or if its been messed with. These were getting harder to get a while back.

The paint looks pretty good! Does it really need a respray?

It looks like its had one at some point reasonably recently, (you mentioned getting it 'stripped' at some point) if you really do want to do a test, you could try rubbing back a small patch on the inside of the lower tailgate with wet and dry, that should all have been body colour once (please correct me someone if Im wrong here). Blasting wont show you this of course, and if it's been blasted at some pointbefore, you may not find much. Inside of the lower tailgate's maybe a good test area for that reason, might just be lucky. I wouldnt use stripper!

[AlwaysBeamin]

Thanks for the suggestions it is white needle, also the paint is not too bad but it has faded and there are a few rust bubbles along the seams down the sides and some small bubbles starting to show on the roof. Will try rubbing a patch back inside the tail gate and see what that shows. How can you tell if it is GTS loom?
Even if by chance it is not genuine the work will still be done as everyone over here that has seen it says they haven't seen one this tidy in many years so it may as well be finished off to look the part. (also it wont be sold for a long time)

[SLR_dave]

Thanks for the suggestions it is white needle, How can you tell if it is GTS loom?

GTS loom has a tan tacho wire that runs to the coil wound into the loom that comes out of the fire wall behind the brake vacumn unit. It should be part of the original loom, not poked through the side of the large (rectangle on HX I think) grommet that runs through the fire wall. But dont unwind a factory loom to check, that stuff never wraps back, and you want to keep it. It should be obviously there, or not, its very common to have electicians tape or something like it back toward the firewall, but that more fibourous stuff is orig, no reason to unwind it, can be seen from the outside - maybe send a quick pic or two.

[wbute]

GTS loom has a tan tacho wire that runs to the coil wound into the loom that comes out of the fire wall behind the brake vacumn unit. It should be part of the original loom, not poked through the side of the large (rectangle on HX I think) grommet that runs through the fire wall. But dont unwind a factory loom to check, that stuff never wraps back, and you want to keep it. It should be obviously there, or not, its very common to have electicians tape or something like it back toward the firewall, but that more fibourous stuff is orig, no reason to unwind it, can be seen from the outside - maybe send a quick pic or two.

HX has round hole. HJ was square.

[HK1837]

Looks great, very straight. I was looking at that 2200 GVM earlier today as well, but wondered if thats particularly conclusive? I was wondering if the headlining is factory, because why would you want a commercial built with a headlining on the heavier chassis. (Not that I'm suggesting you'd want to pull the headlining out at the back to check, they tear very easy and are a job for a bit of an expert hand to put back right, maybe not much point without the missing plate either).

Theres maybe some other pointers, eg the GTS mirrors are on it (thats a detail many replications miss), but its easy enough to fit them if you can get hold of them, the dash looks like its has silver trim, but again could be a re-fit - is it white or yellow needle? You could check to see if the GTS loom is on it, or if its been messed with. These were getting harder to get a while back.

The paint looks pretty good! Does it really need a respray?

It looks like its had one at some point reasonably recently, (you mentioned getting it 'stripped' at some point) if you really do want to do a test, you could try rubbing back a small patch on the inside of the lower tailgate with wet and dry, that should all have been body colour once (please correct me someone if Im wrong here). Blasting wont show you this of course, and if it's been blasted at some pointbefore, you may not find much. Inside of the lower tailgate's maybe a good test area for that reason, might just be lucky. I wouldnt use stripper!

2200kg GVW is pretty conclusive as XU3's are pretty scarce. If it was 1950kg i'd give it far more chance of being an XX7 than an XU4. Most HX V8 Kingswood vans had 2200kg GVW and the full headlining so that combination is very common. On a HX Holden van the comfort pack (headling and carpet) is far less common outside of XX7 but could still be ordered.

[SLR_dave]

2200kg GVW is pretty conclusive as XU3's are pretty scarce. If it was 1950kg i'd give it far more chance of being an XX7 than an XU4. Most HX V8 Kingswood vans had 2200kg GVW and the full headlining so that combination is very common. On a HX Holden van the comfort pack (headling and carpet) is far less common outside of XX7 but could still be ordered.

Was thinking on those lines, but not sure I understand, was the comfort pack (what a cool name btw) avail on HXM70?

[HK1837]

Was thinking on those lines, but not sure I understand, was the comfort pack (what a cool name btw) avail on HXM70?

Yes but rare outside of Sandman, primarily as most cars were bought from stock and not ordered. Only ordered cars would get it, and it was the only way to get carpet installed by GMH. My guess is it was also cheaper to get dealer fitted carpet.