Classic car boom triggers theft
Very first love: Motor enthusiast Glen Hamilton in more satisfied times with his HT Monaro.
Supplied: Glen Hamilton
If it weren’t for the boom in classic car investment, central Queensland motor enthusiast Glen Hamilton believes he would still have his beloved HT Monaro.
The white car featuring black stripes straight from the factory, and later painted vidoro green with gold stripes, was the very first classic car he got on the road.
“I always loved that,” Mr Hamilton said of the green.
Photo Fresh love: Glen Hamilton may have lost his very first love, an HT Monaro, when it was stolen a few years ago, but now he has a fresh interest. He is presently a restoring his one thousand nine hundred forty eight Dodge Business Coupe and hopes to have it on the road in time for the Classics on the Coast next May.
“So that was the colour we painted the Monaro, right down to the houndstooth interior and two hundred fifty three V8 and four-speed gear box.”
But when Mr Hamilton and his wifey drove down to the Gold Coast to the annual Winter Sun festival a few years ago, disaster struck.
During a storm one night, the car was stolen from where he was staying at his friend’s home on a quiet cul-de-sac on the outskirts of town.
“They came in the middle of the night and shoved it around the corner.
“They couldn’t embark it because of the immobiliser.
“They then went and stole another car and used that to shove our car out of the sub-division and obviously went away and got a trailer and that was the last we ever witnessed of it.”
Mr Hamilton said he would still have that car if it hadn’t been in the high-value bracket.
“It was valued on the market for around $55,000, which doesn’t put it in the top end but it certainly makes it appealing to the average bloke who wants to make a quid by stealing someone else’s pride and joy,” he said.
“That, I don’t think, would have happened if it were a $15,000 car — people wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble.”
Australia is now catching up with the US and Europe, where there has been such a boom in classic car investment over the past two decades that some cars now outperform property, shares and gold.
International consulting hard Knight Frank, which issues its annual Luxury Investment Index, shows classic cars yielded a seventeen per cent come back last year and almost five hundred per cent over the past decade.
“I think it sends out the wrong message – it also stops those cars from being seen, because the people who do buy and restore them, they’re not game to take them out anywhere,” Mr Hamilton said.
His HT Monaro could be bought fresh for $Three,500 at the time and it was not that much more expensive than the average Kingswood of the day.
“A fella my age would passion after it,” he said.
“But when you see their values go through the roof to ridiculous prices like somewhere inbetween $100,000 and $200,000 for the uncommon version, that just takes it out of the arms of the average enthusiast and puts it in the mitts of either the serious collector or the investor.
Photo Classic love: The All Classic Motor Club Central Queensland meets each month for a drive, but every two years it holds Classics on the Coast. This attracts all sorts of vehicles from all over.
“It doesn’t do anybody else any favours because A, the car is too expensive, B, they’re not game to use them and C, it’s stopping people who want to have joy being able to do it.”
Mr Hamilton is president of the All Classic Motor Club Central Queensland, a club with almost four hundred enthusiasts who have a passion for anything with wheels and a motor — cars, buses, motor bikes.
Members meet each month and part of that is a going on a drive through the region.
This is for members who have a special interest vehicle registration, as these vehicles can only be driven as part of a club event.
Like many in the club, Mr Hamilton’s passion for cars began when he was a boy.
“I’m from an era where my parents didn’t have the money to pay people to fix their cars, so my dad would do his own work.
“I was one of four boys, so we – and me in particular — would love getting down and helping Dad. It’s different for us now; we do it because it’s a passion, but that’s where it began.”
His current love is a one thousand nine hundred forty eight Dodge Business Coupe — an American left-hand drive, which he bought on eBay on Christmas night a few years ago.
“It’s very different. It’s a big American car, it’s a single bench seat, it’s basically what a businessman would use to go door to door.”
So how much longer until he gets it on the road?
Photo Vintage cars at the Classics on the Coast motor showcase.
“You should never ask a car restorer that question,” Mr Hamilton laughed. “That’s almost a barred question.”
But he hopes to have it done by May next year, when the All Classic Motor Club Central Queensland runs its biennial Classics by the Coast.
“It won’t be a totally restored car, but I am basically restoring everything mechanical underneath it, including rewiring, the entire deal.
“But on the outside it will look like it is. It’s a bit of a ratty custom-built, I guess, but it will still have most of its originality.”