The van itself is a July 1978 build, so very early build as far as Sundowners go, I know of only 1 other July 1978 build, which is a yellow van which I think was the one used in all of the advertisements and a few magazine features. It was built as an auto, but has been converted to a manual at some point. The kicker for me is that it is in a colour I have never seen before, and with blue stripes, which again I have never seen before on a Sundowner. So of the 25 remaining Sundowners which I have records of, that makes this one a bit of a Unicorn
The downside (and it is a big one!) is that it is in Tasmania, and has no keys, so does not start, run and drive! For those of you who don't know where Tasmania is, look at a map of Australia. Then look down off the south-east coast, and it is a small island off the bottom. Which makes it a logistical nightmare to get it back to NZ. So needless to say, I bought the damn thing. I had it picked up and transported to an auto sparky, where it is at the moment. He is getting an ignition key cut, and will then attempt to fire it up. The fuel tank has a gaping big hole in it, so he is going to strap a 5L jerry can in the engine bay, and run a hose to the fuel pump. It needs to be able to be driven on to a transporter, as well as the RORO ferry for the trip to NZ.
That is the story so far!
And a few pics, to prove it did happen!
Your lockup must be almost full by now 
the ads ring a bell now, for some reason I thought it was a camper with pop top or something, another lesson learned