Rock 'n' Roll George Kyprios' car may be in the Queensland Museum but Scott Hutchinson's replica will soon hit the streets
A MEMORY of Rock 'n' Roll George will soon drive Brisbane streets.
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A MEMORY of Rock 'n' Roll George will soon drive Brisbane streets.
Rock 'n' Roll George, aka George Kyprios, died in November 2009, aged 82, and keen rock fans Scott Hutchinson and his father Jack bought his original vehicle shortly after his death.
That famous 1952 FX Holden, which George drove up and down the length of Queen St from around the late 1950s until the early 1980s (in between dancing in winklepickers at the original Cloudland) is now on loan to the Queensland Museum.
Scott, the chairman of Hutchinson Builders, wanted George's memory to still be seen around the streets so he and his father bought an identical vehicle to the original car and plan to replicate the famous automobile.
"We bought the original car, which is in the museum, but people decided it was too valuable in its present state to drive around," Scott said.
"They said it was a cultural artefact but we wanted to drive something, and continue the memory, so for 12 months we looked for a replica that we could do up like Rock 'n' Roll George's car but not obviously pretend it was the real thing."
They located their booty at Jacobs Well with the help of the Holden Club. It's an immaculate 1952 FX Holden built at Eagers at Newstead. It's four months older than George's car, with two owners and 38,000 miles on the clock.
"It is in perfect condition. The boot stays open unaided and all the windows work perfectly," Scott, who paid $16,000 for the replica, said.
The vehicle, being transformed by Shaun Rugen at Sumner Park, is expected to be rockin' on the road by the end of this year or early 2012.
Scott said there was no commercial motivation for acquiring the car and the Hutchinson logo would not be emblazoned on it.
"People will think it is the real thing but we will never pretend it is the real thing. We will tell them to go to the museum to see it," Scott said.
"Gen Y-ers who do not know about George go home and talk to their parents . . . the parents' faces light up."