HZ Sandman options

[Innuendo]

I had always believed it true and knew of Vans (not necessarily Sandmans, although they might have been) that had cloth seats and power windows upon delivery (all late HZ's)
We discussed it before on the forum but Byron was adamant it could only be dealer fitted options. As with all end of run models the parts bins need to be emptied and promos start to happen.
The article is interesting but without context (atleast here). What print media is it from? Could be an official GMH magazine or could be a dealer story in a review magazine or just a reporter making up the options available.

[Big Rob]

I had always believed it true and knew of Vans (not necessarily Sandmans, although they might have been) that had cloth seats and power windows upon delivery (all late HZ's)
We discussed it before on the forum but Byron was adamant it could only be dealer fitted options. As with all end of run models the parts bins need to be emptied and promos start to happen.
The article is interesting but without context (atleast here). What print media is it from? Could be an official GMH magazine or could be a dealer story in a review magazine or just a reporter making up the options available.

Yep... Generally a list of options were available when you'd sit down at the dealership to order your van. Depending on who you were or who you knew you could "ask" for something extra from the Premier or Statesman bin, and as you state, the closer to the end of a model run you were, the bigger the chance of scoring some goodies.
There is however, the reality of the time that most people walked onto the car lot and bought one of the vans that was already there..... most of us couldn't wait an hour, let alone 3-6 weeks for a van. So 99% of the buyers got what they got. Most big dealers would have 10 or more Sandmans on the lot so there was enough choice of colour and engine/box that the buyer was happy.
The other thing to remember is that almost everyone wanted to customise their van immediately with wheels/tyres and stereo plus curtains and mattress..... nobody cared about remote mirrors and power windows.

Whoever wrote this was probably just quoting from the general options list, or the options list was printed well in advance and things changed before production.