Brothers in Cars - Gold Coast Motor Museum video
Brothers Carl and Grant Amor carry on a family tradition with the opening of the Gold Coast Motor Museum
Ironically, it was one of the co-founders of the Gold Coast Motor Museum’s inability to sell used cars that led indirectly to a car and memorabilia collection that makes up, in my humble opinion, one of, if not the best and most engaging automotive museums in Australia.
Expat Kiwi Carl Amor came to Australia in the mid-80s with a plan to make a living selling used cars. But the motor-trimmer found the selling side of the car game a bit challenging – a tad unfortunate when you’re a half-owner in a car yard. Luckily he was joined on the Gold Coast by his brother Grant, and between them they decided that, combined they had more of a future in restoring and customising cars than in selling them.
| In the video, Chris mentions a story he did for us on driving a Nascar – see it here
And that certainly proved to be the case, the pair over the years producing some of Australia’s most outstanding customs, including one Amor customer car even winning Best Paint and Trim at the prestigious Grand National Roadster Show in the US.
There are some mighty stories to be told
More recently they branched out into the marine industry and now, via their company Aqualuma are world leaders and innovators in underwater lighting systems for larger recreational and industrial craft.
Set in the lush green hills of Upper Coomera, not far from the sandy beaches of the Gold Coast, the museum welcomes visitors with a rustic setting, including chooks and miniature horses foraging contentedly in the grounds. The Amors were keen to create a family-friendly atmosphere so that everyone from toddlers to codgers will feel instantly at home amongst the stands of eucalypts on the 12-acre rural property.
The surveyor's lot is not an easy one
A large barn-like restaurant and bar caters for all tastes and even here there’s a rich array of memorabilia, including an Amor family photographic archive that provides hints to the theme that underpins the collection housed in the modern museum building opposite.
"Dad died when we were young. He was a car collector and a real enthusiast," explained Carl over lunch as we enjoyed the chef’s signature – and delicious – Pork Belly Bites.
"The museum is really a dedication to Dad and also to Mum who raised us. We both inherited Dad’s devotion to cars and that’s really what the museum is all about."
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While there’s clearly a deeply personal motive behind the museum, Carl says he’s constantly moved by the emotion the displays elicit from visitors.
"The historic stuff, in particular, seems to draw out memories for people, and you overhear comments all the time from people about their own childhoods driving around in this car or dad and mum having owned that. It’s a real buzz for us actually."
The museum houses what I believe is one of the most intriguing, absorbing and eclectic collections of automotive classics, curiosities and memorabilia on public display anywhere in Australia. And there are plenty of motorcycles and period novelties to engage and entertain – even a classic 1953 Chris-Craft timber power boat.
History buffs will be drawn to pioneering aviator, Amelia Earhart’s 1935 Packard Senior 8 x 3 window Coupe, one of only four still in existence and which was gifted to her by the president of the Packard Motor Corporation.
While living in the US, Gold Coast resident Ross Marshall stumbled upon the car, which was totally disassembled and was eventually moved to Australia, where it has been thoroughly restored.
Then there’s the 1911 Ford Model T fire engine that the Amors found in an online auction and that was restored as a tribute to the fire fighters who lost their lives responding to the 9/11 New York City terrorist atrocity.
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Many of the exhibits, some of which are on loan from their owners, are supported by displays detailing their unique stories, so you find yourself absorbed not only by the vehicles, but equally by their back stories.
Motor racing, in all its rich and varied forms, is also well represented, as are its many personalities and characters, including Marcus Ambrose, whose achievements in both the US and Australia are on show via the STP NASCAR Ford that he took to victory at the Watkins Glen road course in 2008, complete with dents and lurid tyre swipes earned during the wild fender-bender race. Parked alongside is the Falcon that he drove to V8 Supercar championship glory for Stone Brothers Racing in 2003 and 2004.
One-off 1949 Buick Custom 8 is a stunner
Speedway fans are also well catered for, with plenty of historically significant machinery on show.
Opened in October, 2020, the Gold Coast Motor Museum is really like a giant barn-find. As it lures you deeper into its Aladdin’s cave of restored and unrestored bikes, cars, automobilia and period curiosities, you’ll find yourself transported to other times and places. Perhaps even literally in the case of the museum’s shimmering stainless-steel DeLorean gull-wing coupe.
While the displays are rich and varied, they also represent the brothers’ divergent tastes, as Carl explains.
"We’re both obviously hardcore enthusiasts, but we believe our tastes and interests are different enough to make the museum interesting to everyone," he says.
The 9/11 tribute fire truck is a case in point.
"Grant actually rang me to tell me he was bidding on this old fire truck, and I told him I had been too. So we’d both been bidding on the same lot and we hadn’t even discussed it. I won by the way," he laughs.
It’s a dynamic museum, too, with displays constantly being swapped or updated so no two visits are the same and even the buildings have stories to tell. The museum structure itself was actually the Tweed Heads Rowing and Aquatic Centre in a former life, while the rustic restaurant was constructed using 106-year-old Oregon timber trusses from an old Sydney warehouse.
Ambrose Nascar
From historic street rods to NASCARS, Stanley Steamers to DeLoreans, and a Motley Crue chopper to a 1914 Belgium FN straight-four motorcycle, if there is not something to absorb and captivate you here, then can I perhaps suggest respectfully that you consider taking up knitting.
And if nothing else, the restaurant’s Pork Belly Bites will have you coming back for more …
Entry is $20 for adults and $15 for seniors, while kids are free. For more information, putter off to: goldcoastmotormuseum.com.au.
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