Over the past 20 years, brothers Carl and Grant Amor have amassed a quite incredible collection of classic vehicles. From sports cars to limousines and everything in between, the collection of 70+ cars is astounding. In 2020, the brothers opened the Gold Coast Motor Museum, a brand-new complex to house and display their collection, and it is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in motoring and the wonderful machines that are part of automotive history.

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Nestled in the pleasant green landscape of the Gold Coast hinterland, just 30 minutes from the hustle and bustle of Surfers Paradise and less than an hour from the Brisbane CBD, lies an absolute treat of a location for anybody with an interest in cars.

It is here that you’ll find the Gold Coast Motor Museum and a quite wonderful collection of cars – a mix of the vintage and classic – the ages of which span from the early days of motoring up to 1988.

From a beautifully restored 1911 Ford Model T Fire Chief’s truck to the flamboyance of a 1958 Buick Limited Convertible; from the brushed-steel glory of a 1981 DeLorean and buffed-up muscle of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to the elegant luxury of a 1935 Packard Super 8 Coupe that was once owned by famed U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart (yes, that Amelia Earhart!) – everywhere you turn, there’s something special at which to look.

It’s all here, from the very rare and exotic to the once common cars that will tickle the childhood memories of many who stroll by.
There is even a 1924 Stanley Steamer on display, although that steam-powered marvel is not in the museum itself but is rather the centrepiece of Stanley’s Barn, the restaurant and bar located right next door on the museum’s grounds.

Opened in October 2020, the Gold Coast Motor Museum is an automotive treasure trove, a salute to the art of the automobile, and a testament to the passion for cars of two brothers who spent years building up their collection of dozens of fine vehicles before deciding to build a suitably striking location where they could share it with the public.

The brothers are Carl and Grant Amor. They are the brains and driving force behind the museum, owners of the vast majority of cars found within its walls, and are the founders of Aqualuma – the Gold Coast-based designer and manufacturer of underwater, commercial, and industrial LED lighting systems whose products are sold around the world.

It is the success of Aqualuma that has enabled them to pursue their passion for cars – a passion they have had since childhood and which they shared with their father Denis, an avid collector himself.

“We were born into this,” says Grant. “Dad and mum liked cars and when we were kids, we would help dad tinker around with the ones he collected.”

“And the idea for the museum has always been with us because dad had wanted to do it,” adds Carl. “However, for many years it was way at the back of our minds and way down on the list of possibilities.”

Their father sadly died when the brothers were just teenagers, and the car collection he had assembled would be sold so that, as Grant says, “Mum could survive and drag us up.”

The museum dream stuck with the boys through the decades, however, and fast forward 40-something years to 2017, and the long-cherished concept had become a realistic proposition.

By this point, Carl and Grant were well-established figures in the Queensland and Australian business community, having built successful businesses in the automotive, marine and, of course, lighting industries.

In the mid-1980s, Carl – an auto trimmer by trade – had established a paint, panel, car trimming and restoration business which Grant would join him in running. Within a few years they would find themselves deeply involved in the motorsport scene through an operational role with the Australian Touring Car Championship, repairing race cars for V8 Supercars championship teams, and even prepping the pace cars for the Gold Coast Indy racing festival.

A few year later, after purchasing a 53-foot motor yacht to restore, they had established a marine trimming business and had developed an interest in underwater lighting for boats. They would go on to sell the automotive workshop and focus on developing that marine business, with Grant’s design for a strong and efficient LED underwater hull light becoming the foundation upon which Aqualuma would be built.

It was during this busy business-building period that the cornerstone of what would become their vast collection of cars was bought.

It was a rare car, an unusual find, and one that would test their restoration skills.

“It was in 2000 when we found the first car that we bought to collect,” says Grant. “It was a 1958 Buick Limited Coupe that we discovered in a paddock in Kansas in the U.S. It had been sitting there for 16 years and it was, as you might imagine, a long restoration job. It was a big, tricky car to do, but worth it.”

That particular Buick is a good example of the brothers’ preference when it comes to their taste in car collecting – something offbeat and unusual, and one that needs work to be brought back to its original condition.

“We do like cars that are a little unusual,” says Carl. “It’s not so much about rarity, but rather about the things you don’t see every day.”

From that first purchase things began to pick up speed and by 2017, the brothers had amassed a collection of more than 70 cars, many of which can be included under that ‘unusual’ banner.

Take the sleek, wedge-shaped, 1988 Heron MJ 1 – a name that, perhaps, is familiar only to the most committed enthusiast. Heron, a New Zealand company, built just 25 of the two-seater, mid-engined cars in the mid to late-’80s.

Coming from New Zealand, and in such small numbers, makes the MJ 1 unusual enough to tick all the boxes for inclusion in Carl and Grant’s collection. However, for Carl, the Heron is even more significant.

“The Heron has some history with me as I did the upholstery on the first 17 cars,” he says. “The one we have is number 23, so unfortunately that is not one I worked on back then, but I believe there are only two of them in the country now, and less than 15 left anywhere. So it is special and rare.”

The Heron is the youngest of the cars in the collection, and while it will likely remain so, the brothers are open to acquiring more recent models, should they fit the criteria of being ‘unusual’.

“Pre-1988 is our preference,” says Carl. “We were going to have the cut-off at 1980-81 but then the Heron came along, so if there is something really exceptional from the ’90s, we would certainly look at it.”

BUILDING THE MUSEUM

By 2017 Carl and Grant knew the long-held dream of a museum was something they might be able to achieve. Actually, it was, by then, something they needed to pursue with a pinch of urgency – their collection had grown big enough that they were using the Aqualuma premises as storage and had even called on friends (with suitably large sheds, of course) to house a few of their cars.

“It got to the point where we thought the timing is right. The business is going well, and if we are ever going to do it, now is the time,” says Grant.

And so the search was on for a suitable location.

“We needed to find a property that was large enough, that could never flood, and we also wanted room for a restaurant,” says Grant.

“And the restaurant had to have a view so that if you were having a meal or a drink, you would feel like you were in the country. We wanted people to be able to get out of the city and come and enjoy the hinterland and the natural beauty.

“It took us quite some time to find the block of land that we were happy with.”

The 12-acre property they found was perfect and a repurposed structure was shipped in and redesigned to become the very modern, main museum building. At the same time, the restaurant and bar – aka Stanley’s Barn – was designed and built to simulate a vintage, country-style venue.

The brothers went to the extreme to pull off that build, with Grant travelling nearly 2500km around Queensland’s west buying old hay barns and cowsheds to get his hands on the rusted tin roofs to use for the inner ceiling, while 105-year-old trusses were brought in from Sydney, and 90-year-old wall linings from Brisbane.

With the walls lined with photos of the brothers’ great grandparents, grandparents, mother and father, and the Stanley Steamer taking pride of place inside, the effect is complete and charming.

The draw of the Gold Coast Motor Museum is, of course, the cars, and the eclectic collection is shown off at its very best in a cavernous museum space that is lit so every car is given a chance to shine.

The Studebaker Avanti Supercharged Coupe looks fantastic. So too does the little Isetta microcar and old Morris Minor sat nearby. The Goggomobil Dart, the Ford Escort RS2000, the Ferrari Mondial Coupe, the Ford Cortina Lotus and Reliant Scimitar probably never looked better.

Particularly spectacular, for this writer at least, is the truly glorious 1970 Aston Martin DBS V8 – surely a favourite of the brothers too?

“I got asked about our favourite car in a radio interview once,” says Carl. “The girl on the radio said, ‘I guess it’s like children, you can’t pick one’, and that’s right – they are like our kids, and they are all cool for different reasons.”

“The way I try to describe the cars in the museum is that everything in there has a soul,” adds Grant. “Every car in there was built by somebody with a passion for automobiles. Today, it feels like the motor industry is run by accountants and that no car out there has that special something, that ‘soul’. They all drive the same, feel the same and do the same thing. These cars are different. They were designed and built by people with a passion for what they were doing. That’s the difference.”

The question then becomes is there anything missing from the collection? Is there a special car out there – perhaps more than one – that the brothers would like to get their hands on?

“There’s probably about 400,” says Carl with a chuckle. “But we won’t name them because someone will ring us, say they have one, and then we’ll have to buy it!”

A SUCCESS STORY

In the age of Covid, opening any new business is something of a risk. Opening one that relies on the ability of people to get out and congregate in one place is especially prone to the unpredictability of the coronavirus era.

For Carl and Grant, 2020 and the build-up to the museum’s opening did lead to some moments of doubt that, for a while at least, forced them to pause and take stock. Fortunately, Australia was spared the worst of the pandemic and, restrictions or not, the appetite of people to get out, have a good time and look at some cars, was incredibly hearty.

“We did pull the pin for about 5 or 6 weeks,” says Carl. “We had some builders helping us, but we couldn’t keep throwing money at it not knowing how the Covid thing was going to work out. But then we realised that we were so far in that we should just get it done. If we couldn’t open on the day it was finished, at least it would be ready when we could.

“So we powered through and by the time it was finished, the rules were that we could open to up to 55 people in the restaurant. We thought if we could do that and get 50-100 people a day through the museum, we would be ticking over. As it turned out, on that first weekend we had 2700 visitors!”

And things have continued in that vein, with people coming in droves and the museum notching its 10,000th visitor by the beginning of 2021 and performing strongly since.

Those numbers are, of course, a testament to Australians’ love of cars but also point to the fact that Carl and Grant have poured everything into making a visit to the museum a special experience.

“We have never done anything in our lives with the thought of making money. Everything we have ever done is because we were passionate about it, we wanted to do it, and we wanted to do it well,” says Carl. “And I think people can feel the passion we put in and have for the place.

“And these cars put smiles on people’s faces. They walk in and see something special or something that jogs their memory. It’s about the experience. And if that is our legacy, that would be great.”

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (March 2021)

19 March 2021