The Holden Sandman panelvan was and still is an icon in the Australian motoring scene particularly in surf and pop culture, but the lesser known ute variant never really achieved the same cult status.
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Utes see more of the hard work on farms and with tradies.
Rodney and Jennie Barnes from Parkes were happy to show me their Sandman ute recently, which they've owned since 2011.
“At the time we had two Sandman panelvans," Rodney said
"Jennie and I decided to start searching for a ute to complete the package and hopefully match our HZ van. It wasn't an HZ but we came across this one for sale in Goulburn and went for it."
Rodney and Jennie's ute is a 1977 genuine HX Sandman with a 253 cubic inch V8 and a four speed manual transmission. Rodney went on to tell me that while the Sandman utilities don't quite command the same prices as the vans, they are probably more scarce.
“The utes generally died out more, simply from overuse - seeing more of the hard work on farms and with tradies and so generally they are thinner on the ground in the Sandman scene,” Rodney said.
Rodney told me that their HX was in pretty good shape when he and Jennie bought it in 2011.
“We started looking at it and planning to restore it little by little when we bit the bullet and went ahead with a full 'closed door' restoration having it completed by 2012.”
Adam Pay did the body work and preparation and Kevin Clark at Littlewood Smash Repairs laid down the original Holden colour - Mandarin Red. Some of the extra features on the Sandman's over and above the base model Kingswood ute include GTS dash, bucket seats, GTS sports wheels and the stand out stripe package.
The HX model like Rodney and Jennies' featured a single headlight front end with no flutes in the front guards as compared to the twin headlight front on the later HZ model.
Since having their ute on the road Rodney and Jennie have had their share of success on the show scene with trophies at the All Holden Day and local car shows. Rodney has been president of the Central West Car Club for a number of years.
The club is based in Parkes and holds regular meetings at the Parkes Leagues Club at 7.30pm on the first Wednesday of each month. You can find out more about the club at www.centralwestcarclub.com .
