The apprentice mechanic who engineered the Coast’s biggest spare parts business

WILL the Wrecker until now has remained a mystery along with much of the vehicles hidden behind the ramshackle house on the M1 with its pink FX Holden.

Gold Coast Kitsch List - Pink FX Holden at Gold Coast Auto Wreckers

WILL the Wrecker until now has remained a mystery, along with most of the vehicles hidden behind the ramshackle house on the Pacific Motorway with its eye-catching pink FX Holden on the veranda.

The 78-year-old businessman first repaired bikes as a young boy, began work as an apprentice mechanic at 13 in Victoria and later moved to the Gold Coast operating a service station at Miami for a decade until 1970.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ABOUT HOW HE’S SELLING UP

When Mr Smith began buying his existing plot off the Pacific Motorway at Reedy Creek, the roads around his wrecking business were gravel tracks.

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He is affable, energetic and protective of his patch, picking up bits and pieces and pulling away weeds from the grass tracks.

At its peak, Mr Smith had 10 employees in the business he manages from the house, fielding calls from throughout Australia with people offering up wrecks, each with their own story which he recalls but none that makes him chuckle more than the pink FX Holden.

“A guy rings up and says that he has a car for sale. He told me that it’s a bit different, that it’s hanging on a wall in a restaurant,” Mr Smith said.

The vehicle was the star attraction at Olivia’s Malt Shop, just south of Surfers Paradise on the beach side of the Gold Coast Highway where staff on rollerskates served customers during the early 1980s.

“So I went up there and bought it, put in on the back of a truck and brought it back,” he said.

“We put it up there (in the house) with a crane. Now it’s known all over Australia.”

His “photographic memory” rather than a computer enables him to locate the vehicles and among the stories he loves to tell is a mystery about a 1976 450sl Mercedes Benz.

Mr Smith received a telephone call from Beenleigh police asking him if he wanted the vehicle which had been stolen but not collected by its owner after two years.

Mr Smith said he was later told the vehicle was pinched by thieves in Melbourne and had belonged to legendary horse trainer Bart Cummings.

At the back of the property are two bulls and a German Shepherd called Tora employed as security and listed on council’s dangerous dogs list.

Staff make sure the gates are locked before entering.

“We used to have trouble with overgrown grass. Since we bought the steers they are like pets and if we have enough room we will keep them,” Mr Smith said.

They are our lawnmowers.”

WRECKER SITE SALE FOR RAIL LINK

A CONFIDENTIAL multi-million deal will see the landmark Gold Coast Auto Wreckers at Reedy Creek cleared to enable fast forwarding of the light and heavy rail connection to Coolangatta.

After a 13-year battle with the State Government, owner Will Smith brought in a team of consultants to help negotiate with government, leading to a settlement on four of five blocks on his 5ha site.

Mr Smith will keep the iconic house with the pink FX Holden peeking through the first floor but in the next nine months is required to move 5000 car bodies from the site, considered the biggest wrecking yard on Australia’s east coast.

The future route for light and heavy rail is behind the house and the private property until now proved to be the last stumbling block in clearing the way for trams and trains to Coolangatta from the Varsity Lakes rail station.

As consultation began earlier this month on five options, including the southern connection, Turnbull Government bureaucrats met with the city council to discuss a $480-million funding commitment.

Asked yesterday if he thought the rail link would be built outside his backdoor, Mr Smith replied: “Yes, it will happen. But when? How long is a piece of string? It’s the government you are talking about.”

The State Government in March 2003 sent to a letter to Mr Smith giving “notice of intention” to resume most of his property without setting a deadline.

The auto wrecking site was one of 35 properties identified that would need to be acquired when a report in the same year was discussed by council.

Extending the line to Reedy Creek in the first stage was expected to be completed by 2008 and the Elanora connection by 2011, the council report said.

But the Government put the rail extension on the backburner for funding and it is listed on the Transport and Main Roads’ Connecting SEQ 2031 plan for delivery in that time frame.

By placing Mr Smith on notice that it would resume his site, the Government froze development on valuable land which could have been either sold or developed for an industrial estate fronting the Pacific Motorway.

Consultants estimate Mr Smith was paying at least $300,000 annually in rates and taxes while the former mechanic continued operated his spare parts business which had been a passion for more than three decades.

The 78-year-old businessman, who has kept a private profile, yesterday admitted that among the mix of emotions about dismantling the wrecker’s yard, his strongest feeling was one of melancholy.

“Let’s face it, the money I got is nice,” he said.

“But you can’t beat the memories and nostalgia of the old cars.

“I’m pretty melancholic about it.

“You can’t replace the feeling I’ve got for all this stock.

“I’ve grown up with them, mate.”

The sell-off of one of Australia’s largest and rarest collections of car wrecks will begin in the New Year, with major sales planned each weekend.

The wrecking yard is home to Kombi vans, tractors, buses and almost every vehicle on local roads since the 1950s.

Many of the rusted frames have grass and vines growing through the interiors but their value is items like bumper bars, fuel pumps and windows which collectors chase.

Some of them are regular buyers from interstate.

Mr Smith said he intended to keep a Mark Five Jaguar from the early 1950s, a 1946 Chevy ute, a 47 Ford ute and a Vanguard ute.

“I’ll be keeping my older cars – they’re collectors’ items,” he said.

“They’re part of me, mate,”