Could this be a sandman - Chassis swap

[TwoTees]

If thats the case I am going home and putting the hx sandman ute tags on my WB ute and forgetting about doing a resto. Whats the point.

What does that mean? A sandman with sandman tags is a Sandman. No one has said any different.

the tags have to match the chassis.

I agree to be a full matching number, original vehicle along with the engine that needs to match the one on the sales docket. Then you have a complete matching number Sandman. Engine not matching It worth less money and not as original. Chassis not matching. Its worth less money and not as original. Paint not matching, not original and worth less money and so on.

WB you have changed your tune. This is a quote from a post you made previously following Absinth....

As far as I'm concerned the identity of a vehicle is in its tags.

If the tags are gone than a van is just a Belmont or Holden van and a ute is just a Belmont, Holden or Kingswood ute regardless of previous Sandman heritage. No tags.... No ID.

If you pranged your 76 Sandman in 78 and the chassis was beyond repair you could purchase a new chassis from GMH and have your Sandman repaired. The Sandman ID from the tags is still in place and the car is still a Sandman but has a replacement chassis.

Same applies to a replacement body shell to some degree..... A new body shell could be purchased from GMH to replace a badly damaged one....... However...... a replacement body shell from GMH had its own tags fitted denoting it as a Nasco replacement shell so technically your Sandman ID would now be gone as the original Sandman tags would stay with the old shell.

However.... I know of quite a few panelbeaters that did body replacements to repair vehicles back in the 80's that simply removed the Nasco ID and riveted the original ID from the old shell to the new one as it saved the owners the extra inconvenience of changing the details with the various registration depts.

In my opinion replacing a body shell is no different than replacing damaged panels... as long as the tag ID remains the vehicle is still a Sandman.

Now-a-days as collectors/restorers I still believe the tag ID denotes the vehicle pedigree no matter what has been replaced..... BUT.... a vehicle with matching ID... Body-Chassis-Tags-Engine will be the most valuable... non matching engine to a smaller degree less valuable and non matching chassis decreasing the value by a bit more.

I have my opinion on chassis numbers which is much the same as Absinth. I think it adds to the value of a van/ute if they match but it isnt the be all and end all to their identity. However if you say that then it opens the whole can of worms as to the sale of tags on their own. I dont agree with that at all. So i suppose that means that you need the correct chassis to be 100% legit. So....... where do you stand if your chassis is blank? In the same position as any sandmans that have had a chassis replacement and restamp that the owners are unaware of really. There must be heaps of them about.
Owners books and full history to me is the most reliable and therefore any vans/utes with that are the most valuable by a country mile.

And I agree with most of what you said and strongly feel that tags should never be removed from the body.

The question I am raising here and have not heard a sensible answer is....
How (in some people's opinion) does a sandman's identity evaporate because the chassis, with the same part number, gets changed?
I have posted up a sensible explanation why it does not. Anyone?