I am so confused HJ Sandman

[chezzabeer]

It was originally Mandarin red (pronounced man-dar-in, not man-de-rin (as in the fruit or chinese language) as people often mistakenly call it).
It is obvious plates have been off, rivets are all wrong.
Vin, Body and chassis numbers all pretty much go together, although the chassis number is a fraction out of sequence with what i'd have expected (i'd have expected it to be 1000 numbers higher), but nothing really out of the norm.
Pictures are fine

There is no way I can be 100% sure it is a Sandman. I'm about 90% confident the ID plates were off a Pagewood assembled Sandman, but without inspecting the body up close there is no way to tell for sure it is a Sandman body. If it is a Sandman body it'll have attachment steelwork for the full headlining plus factory HJ console brackets, but without seeing these up close it is impossible to tell. Pictures don't really help all that much, they'll just show the stuff is there not that it was there originally.

--- Updated ---



Funny isn't it? Holden stating that a HJ is a genuine Belmont van. When for starters it isn't. And if it was, that is the only type of HJ van anyway, so ALL HJ vans would be genuine Belmonts!

Thankyou so much for your time to look into it and explain.
At the end of the day I am still none the wiser. Guess I can honestly say to my knowledge it is a genuine Sandman!! ( or appears to be) without being 100% I cant believe how difficult it is to find info, Is there any way I can track previous owners?
The prevoius owner had told me he met the origional 1st buyer who confirmed it was a Sandman he said he bought it up in Brisbane, which would seem weird if there is a factory up there to be an Adelaide build? would it not??

is there any one in Tassie who may be able to assit me to with the vrification of the console bracket?

GMH said it was a belmont/build body from the plates and that was the only Authnticity they could give me unless it had the XX7 or Xu3 stamp then they would still not give actual authenticity, but rather a letter saying these numbers correspond with the Sandman theyalso said that holden didnt actually decide which vans would be sandmans, that that was up to the dealers.

Who ever knew it could be so hard The belmont thing is confusing too. Do we all own HJ belmont Sandies???? LOL Jeesh! I just thought they were HJ's blonde I know,....... I can hear you men all laughing now.

--- Updated ---

It was originally Mandarin red (pronounced man-dar-in, not man-de-rin (as in the fruit or chinese language) as people often mistakenly call it).
It is obvious plates have been off, rivets are all wrong.
Vin, Body and chassis numbers all pretty much go together, although the chassis number is a fraction out of sequence with what i'd have expected (i'd have expected it to be 1000 numbers higher), but nothing really out of the norm.
Pictures are fine

There is no way I can be 100% sure it is a Sandman. I'm about 90% confident the ID plates were off a Pagewood assembled Sandman, but without inspecting the body up close there is no way to tell for sure it is a Sandman body. If it is a Sandman body it'll have attachment steelwork for the full headlining plus factory HJ console brackets, but without seeing these up close it is impossible to tell. Pictures don't really help all that much, they'll just show the stuff is there not that it was there originally.

--- Updated ---



Funny isn't it? Holden stating that a HJ is a genuine Belmont van. When for starters it isn't. And if it was, that is the only type of HJ van anyway, so ALL HJ vans would be genuine Belmonts!

Thankyou so much for your time to look into it and explain.
At the end of the day I am still none the wiser. Guess I can honestly say to my knowledge it is a genuine Sandman!! ( or appears to be) without being 100% I cant believe how difficult it is to find info, Is there any way I can track previous owners?
The prevoius owner had told me he met the origional 1st buyer who confirmed it was a Sandman he said he bought it up in Brisbane, which would seem weird if there is a factory up there to be an Adelaide build? would it not??

is there any one in Tassie who may be able to assit me to with the vrification of the console bracket?

GMH said it was a belmont/build body from the plates and that was the only Authnticity they could give me unless it had the XX7 or Xu3 stamp then they would still not give actual authenticity, but rather a letter saying these numbers correspond with the Sandman theyalso said that holden didnt actually decide which vans would be sandmans, that that was up to the dealers.

Who ever knew it could be so hard The belmont thing is confusing too. Do we all own HJ belmont Sandies???? LOL Jeesh! I just thought they were HJ's blonde I know,....... I can hear you men all laughing now.

[Innuendo]

GMH said it was a belmont/build body from the plates and that was the only Authnticity they could give me unless it had the XX7 or Xu3 stamp then they would still not give actual authenticity, but rather a letter saying these numbers correspond with the Sandman theyalso said that holden didnt actually decide which vans would be sandmans, that that was up to the dealers.

Putting aside whether it is or isn't a genuine Sandman. It 100% isn't a Belmont. Holden did not make any Belmonts in the HJ series. What they did make was a Holden Panel Van. The Belmont name was dropped for the HJ series.