Quote Originally Posted by Absinth View Post
Byron, do you know if HJ were the same?? ie: Holden door trims on Holden Sandman van and ute and Kingswood trims on Kingswood ute. When Kingswood Sandman was dropped were the trims upgraded to Kingswood on all Sandman???

I ask because I have seen pics of what appear to be genuine HJ Sandman vans with Holden (base model) door trims but they do have armrests.

Another query is did HQ Belmont and early HJ Holden Sandmans have chrome door scuff plates?? I remember buying some chrome scuff plates from the wreckers for my van but can't recall whether it was for the HJ Holden van I had or for my early HJ Sandman van.
I'll check it out when I get a chance. But from memory HJ all had armrests, there is no mention of it in HJ as optional. Remember HJ had 3 x major trim and trim code changes, so it is hard to generalise.

Kingswood Sandman wasn't dropped until the end of HJ, so yes when it was dropped all Sandman got Kingswood trim (at the start of HX).

As far as I can tell, as I put in an above post HQ and HJ were as per the base vehicles. It wasn't until HX that Sandman got Kingswood features like chrome scuff plates, tail-light surrounds etc. So in essence, HQ and HJ Sandman at the Belmont level were proper "sports utilities". Basically SS utes and panel vans. Kingswood ute is like a GTS ute. And HX-HZ Sandman are a different type of package altogether. Maybe "Sports Kingswood" is a good term - maybe aimed at a softer, less aggressive audience. Maybe we'll call them the "Metrosexual" version, and the HQ-HJ the "Manly version". This is just reflecting US trends of the time I suppose. HQ and HJ are like the GTO's of their day, and the HX and HZ are more like a Transam of the late 70's (all shiny and bright colours, but no balls anymore!).