repco round oz sandman

[HK1837]

I'm pretty certain it was a Sandman, especially seeing the apron cutouts, twin front and N66 rims. Assuming the rims are original to it, it must be a pre approx 8/78 build to have N66 rims. Normal mirror is a worry though, sort of makes it possibly a BO6, but the grille and surrounds are XU3/XX7.

I have the names at home of some of the guys in the photo, they'll remember if the van was a manual or auto. I'm pretty sure I have seen a photo of the rear of the van, and somewhere in that memory is an engine capacity badge. I just can't remember if it was 4.2 or 5.0L. But the photo is out there.

Edit - Greg, hopefully it was a 253. Now you just need a good HZ Kingswood van body shell!

[playwme]

Seems to have all the correct blackouts, plus the holes in the front apron as Byron said. Kinda makes sense to ditch the GTS mirrors in favour of standards. For one, they're likely to get knocked off on a tree branch or something. Secondly, the standard mirrors seem to have a larger body than the GTS ones and are probably easier to see stuff in. (correct me if I'm wrong here. All mine have GTS mirrors and I can't remember driving one without.)

[Blocker]

I'm no expert but they look like genuine porno moustaches.

Good historical photo, if you do a replica you will need a license to have all the tobacco advertising. Since my 'wife' works in the tobacco industry we can set you in the right direction.

[rallyvan]

Your kidding! For the last two years I have had the same idea kicking around in my read to build a replica of one of the HDT service vans. I have spent the last 15 years building and servicing rally cars and was looking for a project that would combine my rallying and car restoration interests! So two months ago I got the ball rolling on researching the vans. I spoke to some of the HDT team members from the Repco to get there memories of the van where and to see if they could remember what spec they where. The guys tell me there where 4 vans involved in the servicing for the Repco. One was John Sheppard's race team van from Victoria, the other Marlboro signed van was the rally teams regular service van and there where two one plain white vans with less prominent signage than the two 'regular' vans. I would assume that Holden would of provide the plain white vans and they would of been given back at the conclusion of the trial. I'm keen to build a replica of the rally van which was not only used for the Repco but used for a number of years after to chase HDT Gemini's around the forest as the team competed in the Australian Rally Championship.
The guys in the know tell me that the van wasn't a Sandman but a normal van with GTS nose and interior which would explain the mirriors and rims that Holden made to order for the team. It also sported one tonne suspension which I assume to mean the rear leaf packs came from a one tonner ute.
So I'm on the lookout for photos of the vans especially photos of the rear of the van and I am also looking for a suitable donor van for the project so if anyone has a HZ they are looking to get rid of.
When it's finished hopefully I'll be able to use it to chase one of the two remaining HDT Repco Commodores on a few historic rallies.

Anthony

[HK1837]

Don't forget about the "4th" HDT rally car, taken over by HDT in Darwin after drivers had a blue. It is still kicking around Newcastle area.

[ozbox]

if the van was not a sandman to start with then it would not have had the tell tale blackouts around the doors and also would not have had the black screen mouldings etc...the nose just tops it off...the story told by one of the nowaki brothers at the toranafest bbq was that this van pictured was john shepards personal van that was hijacked...:knockout:
gts mirrors would have been shit on dirt roads as in drooping so that may explain the standard mirror..

[wbute]

I saw an article in Australian Muscle car a few months ago on these vans and the Round Australia trial. The poor old Ford factory team only had transit vans and could not keep up with the V8 vans!
J rego plates were around in 77 as we bought a Hilux new and it had JFK plates and was purchased in Mudgee so the plates would have been hanging around for a while then being a country backwater.
They did have more than one according to AMC.