"LET’S JUST SAY I REALLY LIKE SANDMANS…”
original will always command more.
Ian G, the owner of this stunning 1975 HJ, credits his son with finding the car. It’s the 4.2lt manual version, which they sourced out of Toowoomba in Queensland.
Why this car? “My son and I love going on the Targa Tas Classic Rallye – a fantastic event – and we’d been running about in his GTS Monaro for about three years. He’s a car aficianado and called and told me he’d found a car for me.
“We test drove it in Toowoomba. There were only 800 made and I fell in love with it. It had been given a body-off restoration, a complete rebuild, and ran like a dream.
“We took it to a Holden show judge. He took a look and said, ‘If you didn’t buy it I would have.’
“It had a few little non-original things, which we changed. It’s not concours. But cars, in my opinion, are there to be driven!”
What’s it like to drive? “It is absolutely sweet. It is as steady as can be, and isn’t light in the tail.”
It’s running fresh Monroe shocks all round, and he has a lot of regard for its handling. We’ve seen it action in Tassie and can vouch for the fact it gets along very well.
So does he have any prior history with the Sandman nameplate? None that he’s admitting to. There was some vague mention of shaggin’ wagons and then, “I’d rather not comment. Let’s just say I really like Sandmans…”