Possible HJ Sandman

**HK1837** · 24-10-2010, 02:03 PM

Jason, way off the mark! Pagewood build their own HQ van bodies. Not 100% sure on Dandenong HQ vans, I don't recall ever seeing one to see if it was an Elizabeth body or not. It is HJ-HZ vans assembled at Pagewood and Dandenong that used Elizabeth bodies. All assembly plants that built Sandmans built their own ute bodies.

**GTS** · 24-10-2010, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by HK1837

I'd say 100% yes but not for any of the above reasons. 1950kg GVW and full headlining are really good starts too.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it until after Sept 75 that GM derated the GVM? Prior to that the only way to tell if a HJ was a Sandman was, for the most part, by what I quoted.

**stickthis** · 24-10-2010, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by HK1837

Jason, way off the mark! Pagewood build their own HQ van bodies. Not 100% sure on Dandenong HQ vans, I don't recall ever seeing one to see if it was an Elizabeth body or not. It is HJ-HZ vans assembled at Pagewood and Dandenong that used Elizabeth bodies. All assembly plants that built Sandmans built their own ute bodies.

haha I was yes. Ah got some of it right. lol. I did wonder later on after I wrote it!

**HK1837** · 24-10-2010, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by GTS

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it until after Sept 75 that GM derated the GVM? Prior to that the only way to tell if a HJ was a Sandman was, for the most part, by what I quoted.

Oct '75. And it wasn't that they'd suddenly derated the GVM. It was because utes and vans were offered offered at that time with passenger tyres hence the GVW had to be derated and a new Sandman package offered. The normal Sandman package with load rated tyres that was available from 1/74 continued right until the end of Sandman still existed, so not all Sandmans had a derated GVM after 10/75. HJ Sandman is easy to identify regardless of whether it is XX7 or XU3. It is HX and early HZ that are hard, especially those without unique trim codes.

**GTS** · 24-10-2010, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by HK1837

Oct '75. And it wasn't that they'd suddenly derated the GVM. It was because utes and vans were offered offered at that time with passenger tyres hence the GVW had to be derated and a new Sandman package offered. The normal Sandman package with load rated tyres that was available from 1/74 continued right until the end of Sandman still existed, so not all Sandmans had a derated GVM after 10/75. HJ Sandman is easy to identify regardless of whether it is XX7 or XU3. It is HX and early HZ that are hard, especially those without unique trim codes.

Fair enough....thanks for the info

**Rookiepilot** · 25-10-2010, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by HK1837

BODY number on the ID plate doesn't appear anywhere else on a Dandenong van, it is an Elizabeth body number to start with!

So, just to make sure I understand, if a Sandman was built at Acacia Ridge for example, the number on the VIN plate will match the body number on the body plate, but if the body was made at Elizabeth and assembled at Dandenong, the VIN number and body number will be totally different?

**HK1837** · 25-10-2010, 02:29 PM

Sort of correct. Acacia Ridge HQ to HZ Sandman use the PSN (part of the VIN) as the BODY number for both ute and van. Dandenong and Pagewood do the same for utilities, and Pagewood also for HQ Sandman vans. However Dandenong assembled HQ to HZ Sandman vans and Pagewood assembled HJ to HZ Sandman vans do not have the BODY number matching the PSN as the BODY plate is affixed in Elizabeth body plant and the VIN affixed at the assembly plant.

Furthermore, Elizabeth assembled vehicles from HQ right through to the last month of HX also do not use the PSN as the BODY number. From 8/77 onwards Elizabeth used the PSN as the BODY number. This is the case for all Elizabeth assembled vehicles. I think the reason they did this was because Elizabeth built many bodies for other plants, and if they used an Elizabeth PSN as the BODY number on the shells going to other plants they'd have huge amounts of holes in their PSN listing (which is how vehicles were recorded) as there would be no Elizabeth produced vehicles against all those holes. By the end of 1977 van production was ceasing at Dandenong (probably to built Commodore) and slowing down heaps at Pagewood to be finalised by 6/78, plus Mosman Park was finished before the end of HQ. Therefore Elizabeth body plant was basically only assembling bodies for it's own vehicle plant so the switch to PSN as BODY number occurred. That is how it appears anyway.