Clive Palmer plans $100 million car museum on Sunshine Coast

The Sunshine Coast could soon be a must-visit destination for Australian car enthusiasts, with billionaire Clive Palmer planning to open a museum with more than 1200 vehicles on display.

Billionaire mining tycoon and former politician Clive Palmer has unveiled plans to open a large car and motorcycle museum at his Yaroomba resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

To be named the Palmer Auto Museum, representatives for Mr Palmer submitted development plans to the local council as part of a $100 million refurbishment of the resort, according to Sunshine Coast News.

The museum will be able to display up to 879 cars and 363 motorcycles, with the formal proposal claiming as many as 190,000 people will visit the attraction annually.

In contrast, the museum’s car park can only cater for 516 cars and just 42 motorcycles.

“The museum will collect, research, preserve, and display some of the rarest working vintage cars from around the world and represents an exciting new tourist attraction that will be unique for the Sunshine Coast,” the proposal reads.

Mr Palmer purchased the site in 2011 – formerly named the Hyatt Regency Coolum resort, which opened in 1988 – before closing the facility in 2015, resulting in 600 employees being laid off.

It’s understood a community group known as Development Watch has opposed the museum, claiming local residents weren’t consulted and the facility isn’t required to attract tourists.

Some reports have Mr Palmer’s car collection at more than 150 vehicles, including 17 rare vehicles purchased at an auction in Denmark in 2016, as reported by Drive at the time.

In February 2022, newspaper the Courier Mail reported Mr Palmer had purchased a bulletproof Mercedes-Benz 770 Grosser Offener Tourenwagen owned by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler – a claim Mr Palmer denied.

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