Bowden?s Own racing collection

As Dan Bowden, 35, says: "This is a collection, not a museum.  A museum is for things that are dead or dying.  We are proud of the fact that all these cars are running and going."

The collection of about 80 vehicles from a 1932 Ford roadster to a 2007 Dick Johnson Racing BA V8 Supercar includes a 1965 Ford GT40 and a 1965 Shelby Cobra each worth $2 million.  Bowden says Shannons has insured the collection for $22-$23 million.

The only way to get in to see the collection is to buy one of Bowden's Own big car care kits, the super size or mother bucket kit. The tickets are free inside.  Even then, you can't walk up to the doors with your ticket and demand entry. 

In a covert operation, guests gather at a nearby service station and are escorted to the large shed set back in a massive suburban lot sheltered from the road by thick rainforest.  "We have to shut the doors when we turn the cars on for our Sound Tour because our neighbours complain," Bowden says.

No wonder. The collection features Norm Beechey's 1970 350 GTS Monaro which is credited as being the loudest car to race on Australian tracks.  They took it to England last year for the Goodwood Festival of Speed and won the trophy for best-sounding car. "It scared the Poms," says Bowden.

They get about 1000 people through the collection in a year with a tour every second Sunday and some evening corporate days.  They've had visitors from the UK, US, Germany and New Zealand as well as around Australia.  "We get about 30 to 40 calls a week wanting to come through," he says.

The collection and car care business are run by Dan and his brother, Chris, who also specialises in finding rare race cars for buyers.  "I've always been into cars," he says.  "Dad (David) was a hot rodder and he instilled that love of cars into us.

"At one stage, we had a (Falcon GTHO) Phase IV as the family car.  "I remember being at Lakeside in 1982 and I was just seven years old and it was the first time I'd been to a race track.  "People were screaming and dad was so excited and he let us eat junk food and I thought `wow this is great'.

"Dad's a stock market trader and he's done well, so he's put his own money into old race cars because he saw them rusting and being wasted."  His first historic race car buy was Pete Geoghegan 600bhp Super Falcon in 1982.

"It was in a million pieces and dad just about cried," Bowden says.  "He then got to wondering where all the great race cars were and so he started a quest to find them and restore them.   When he started he was the only one doing it, but now a lot of people are into it.  Race cars are a massive part of our history and we need to preserve them."

When the Bowden's started collecting, the cars were cheap and they cornered the market. Since then the prices have gone ballistic.  "We couldn't afford to do it now," Bowden says.  "People even blame us for inflating the prices of muscle cars."

Bowden has about 20 staff working on the car care business and the collection, including four mechanics who restore the racing cars to working order.  "We don't restore cars better than they were made for racing. We take them back to what they were, not show car standard," he says.

Their most recent restoration project is three 1970s Falcon hard tops raced by Murray Carter, John Goss and Colin Bond.  "As far as I'm concerned the restoration isn't finished until we get the original driver in it," he says.

"Bondy is champing at the bit to drive this one and he might be in the seat for the Gold Coast 600 in October."  Bowden's Own came to the rescue of the Gold Coast event last year after the A1GP went bust.

They sent several historic cars to the event to be driven in demonstration laps by their original owners, although Bowden admits Dick Johnson and Jim Richards got a bit "enthusiastic".  He plans to send more cars down this year.

"We have to be very careful about what drivers we get in them because we have a lot to lose," he says.  "We do a lot of speed events, historic meets and car shows, but there's just too much going on to get around to everything."  As for the collection, Bowden says they have enough.