Van clubs in the 70s | RetroFocus 

When l was a kid my jaw used to drop at some of the artwork that was on the sides of these panelvans.All different themes ,science fiction, sword and sorcery,surfing.Just amazing

Golden age of Australian motoring - when most of the cars on the road were actually made in Australia.

My mums boyfriend had a 1975 hj sandman panelvan in lime green decked out in black crush velvet, sound system ,mirrors on the inside the roof in tne back and the like, this was in the mid 80s and the van had a mild 253, m21 aussie four speed floor shift and the Salisbury diff with those hotwire mags and we all went across from melbourne to perth 4 times and i rode in the back all the way and those were still the good ol days but you couldnt do that now you'd be booked we all must be seated with belts on ,miss those times.

Those were better times. Life was fun, simple and not overcomplicated

Wow , brown crushed velvet upholstery , mirrored ceiling and custom airbrushed body . Love it .

Called a shaggin’ wagon in its day - and the drive in movies lying back with the back open, those were the days....

Fascinating to see what "van" meant in Australia in those days. We had the same van obsession in North America, with the same sort of murals and interiors and customised engines, but the vans themselves were very different. Basically built on a truck wheelbase, whereas these are cars. We have few if any vehicles like this, but seeing them here, I'd like one!

What a great time to be alive.

They were the good old days! I remember the vans in Perth when I was a young lad. The murals and art work on them were amazing,even the names were awesome- Dragonslayer, Loaded Dice, Vanquish,Van Demon,Misty Blues and my all time favourite- Midnight Erection!🤣👍😎🇦🇺

That was great to watch, who could ever forget the van craze. It didn't go unnoticed by the car makers either. Sandman, Drifter and Surferoo came along from GMH, Chrysler and Ford to cash in on it. Man they were good days.

Hard to believe Australia was ever like that. Proof it only takes 30 years to ruin a country if you put your mind to it. RIP the old, REAL Australia.

What a wonderful time in Aussie history

I had a 1977 HZ Sandman Panel Van. Excellent car and great for sleeping in when too drunk to drive, and having a good woman in the back doing the nasty. Good days back then.

Remember the fumes of leaded petrol flowing in, through the upper tailgate?

Just shows you its modern food, no fattys back then.

Gotta love the Quadraphonic stereo. Bet he rang a few bells in that one.

If it’s rockin don’t come knockin 😂

Just checked on an inflation calculator and assuming this is from 1975, the middle of the 1970s, then that $15,000 would be today $108,268.

The best decade.

Everyone was thin back then!

The PV is an Aussie Icon and I did have a metalic blue HK Holden station wagon with a 192/ triple carbs and a 4 speed

Real cars. I feel sorry for people nowadays who are stuck with modern plastic cars

Back in the day when Aussie cars rulled the road .

Ahh yes, back when Oz was a great place to be.......no wonder I cry myself to sleep every night nowadays!

Love it I had a van in the 90s old hj with the 253 loved it to bad rust got most of them becoming hard to find and I lost my tinny too lol

best intro

I had an HX '76 Sandman, 308, 4 on the floor.. Canary yellow, blue stripe in 1992.. Such good times..

In the 70's my brother had a stock standard Ford Falcon XB panel van and would get pulled over by the police on occasion. The police would ask what he had in the back, and he would say 'my work equipment'. Then the police always insisted on an inspection and would find...well....work equipment. Ahh, Queensland police in the 70's and 80's. The police harassment was worse when my sister drive that car.

I miss my old XD pano......ahhh the memories...

“If she’s a rockin Don’t come’a knockin”

HQ twin headlight front end was the best looking front end Holden ever made in my opinion. The single lights looked a bit too empty, the Z/J/X looked a bit too busy. They should’ve kept the Q body and stuck with mechanical improvements rather than facelifting them. And don’t even mention the WB... haha

They were also called sin bins.....

Oh those we're the days, where did those vans all go, my kids just don't get it.

HZ PeeVee cost me 6k in the late 90s. Ended up spending close to 70k on her by the end. Dont think I'll even be able to find another one in decent condition in the this day and age. Absolute collectables now.

🚙 *1970s **_Pimp My Ride_* 🚙 😎

Grew up in Parramatta and 8 yrs old at this time. Traveled in the back of a Malleys van to some of these areas. Violently car sick most of the time and can still smell the leaded petrol fumes watching this.

Replaced by duel cabs and rooftop tents.

I had a black Sandman back in the day and I had some fun with the V8 . Not to mention my busy hands when in the back when entertaining a young lady 😂

Before the days of defects, engineering certificates and other BS. 👍

$15000 in (I'm guessing) 1978 would get you house and land in a rural centre...a new Holden Premier would have been somewhere around $7k - that's a lotta bread, maan!

Now it's all either fenced off, pay by the hour or full of Asians haha

The innovations 😂

The panel van crane just like disco music died as quickly as it began, would love one today though

Wife got baptised in Sandman. True Sheila!

If it's rockin', don't bother knockin'

And just for something different I had a '74 Escort van. My God I put some miles ( or K's ) on that thing.

Oh , my god .. The memories ..

Ah, I remember this!!

scarbough beach car park was full of vans every weekend in summer back in the day

‘What’s wrong with a car?’ 😂😂🤣

Then they got sick of vans and got into the 4X4 craze now they are the grey nomads blocking the the highway with their caravans and winnibagos

The Karen 1.0 did not talk nearly as much as today’s Karens

What's the music in the outtro?...cool riff... Used to have an HJ...looked like a hearse...so great...

The early SUV, in Australia.

Assuming the mid-1970s, so 1975, that $15,000 would be today $108,268.

Used to have a HJ sandman, 253 and M21, FAB

My memory was if it's rocking don't bother knocking.

8-10.000 dollars to buy one totaled finished off, wouldnt get a good shell of one of them these days for that much. Wish I had a time machine. Would make a killing

GMH, FORD and CHRYSLER brought out a recreational van in the day, holden sandman, ford gs sundowner and later the valiant drifter van and the ford surferoo was a prototype like the wb sandman and holdens hq superchicken van that still exists and I've heard many say the hj was the first sandman to leave the production line but read some history recently that about 90 hq sandmans were built from the factory, GMH were putting a toe in the water to see what public interest or response was like now what would a leyland p76 panelvan would of been like, maybe if british leyland australia had of survived this could of came to fruition and what would they have named it ,good worthy question and i know some may laugh at this one but hey we all have our opinions.

man im in the wrong era

Those where the days

check out my PV man . I had HQ with stato front , bubble Windows and bubble bonnet 253 4 speed . wish I still had it

Ahhh, the good ol Quadraphonic Sound Systems.This Guy had a 2x2 front and rear speakers. Graphic Equaliser too. Yes the groovy good old days for sure. I managed to survive the crazy 70s too. (Ha,Ha)👍🇦🇺🤪

OMG ! OMG! sweet, sweet memories ! but no big bins, sad

Back before fun was illegal ...

Vantastic

SOME OF BEST YEARS OF LIFE DO UP CARS AND WAGONS AND VAN

I got van aerial disease in 1 of those

Fark! You couldn't write a script this good! It's The 'bloody' Castle! This videos going straight to the pool room. Tell im' ees' dreamin'.

Where have they all gone ????

Where are they now???

Back when Australia was a free country, not a communist dictatorship...

Redline era brother.

What song is in the intro?

The 70s, our soviet country was big

An end of an era, only thing left we are left with is a shitty camry wannabe from Holden badged as a Commodore... disgraceful. But atleast we have our Thai built UTES

Really Hard to believe it only took 35 years to ruin Australia, my mum let me drive her blue Beatle then my first was a HD holden great motors the memories will die with my generation I'm 64 almost 🤑

Van Life. Pre-Internet.

and many a spilt bong eww

Hoping for some true blue Aussie blokes...

Makes me want to convert my Renault Master.....

Whats the song in the background?

Beutifull cars

Before today's pathetic car scene which consists of lowered and Simmons wheels idiots who fit massive reverse cowls that serve no purpose

These cars are probably worth bit of money if still in good condition

It'd cost a lot to recreate this footage

that was before they realy stuffed up australia with uncontrolled immigration

The Virgin conversion

didn't see a drifter ,

Some money those vans if they’re around today

The good old days, how things have changed. I was clearly born in the wrong era.

Mobile virgin conversion units 😎

The 70s are better

Why is everyone so slim?

Cool pinto hearses... But we're are the Vans?

We call them hearsts in America

that's not a van

australia is just upside down USA lmao

1:21 So sad, I bet that dog is dead by now.

Could of got 40 if they had less hair