Champion collection of Brock cars heads to Gold Coast

The Gold Coast will be the home of a new shrine to race legend Peter Brock.

The cars and memorabilia from the life of the Brock of Bathurst, housed for years at Yeppoon in far-north Queensland, are moving south under new ownership.

The collection is expected to become part of one of the giant Movieworld or Dream World theme parks.

Bathurst winner Paul Morris, the owner and operator of the Driving Centre on the Gold Coast — which has a track and extensive display area, —has ruled out hosting the collection. "No, it's not coming here," he tells CarsGuide.

The Brock collection was assembled by his close friend Peter Champion, a Queensland mining magnate. Brock sold many of his cars directly to his mate, who also set up a born-again HDT business to build modified Holden V8 road cars.

Champion's collection includes almost all of Brock's significant winning cars from Bathurst, or exact replicas

He put together the Champion's Brock Experience museum in Yeppoon, his home town, but because of its remote location the museum struggled to draw visitors and turn a profit. Champion sold the collection and this has sparked the move south to the tourist belt.

Champion's collection includes almost all of Brock's significant winning cars from Bathurst, or exact replicas, from the 1972 Torana XU-1 to the 1980s Commodores and eventually a 2002 Bathurst car. There are also the (rebuilt) Shelby Daytona in which he was killed in a road rally in Western Australia and even a Lada Samara that Brock converted for sale in Australia.

The hundreds of pieces of memorabilia include helmets and race suits, parts and documents.

Champion's company, HDT Special Vehicles, announced this week: "The owners of the historic Peter Brock Collection, Champions Brock Experience, wish to advise the public that they have entered into an agreement with a major Gold Coast tourist attraction to display and promote the cars, memorabilia and for the subsequent use of related intellectual property."

There is more to come — fans will be able to take an ownership stake in what Champion's outfit calls "this historic and unique part of Australian motor racing history". In keeping with the hush-hush nature of the move, interested parties first must sign a confidentiality agreement.