Possible HJ Sandman

**Rookiepilot** · 25-10-2010, 01:06 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, 01:29 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.