Our Club’s History
This document has been compiled from information and a photograph supplied by the following founding members:
Al Handley, Grahame & Heather Robinson, Keith Woodbridge & Tony Rehn
Article compiled by Rod Liefman – October 2020
• Several of our early members (8 in all) were originally members of Gold Coast Street Rodders.
• In 1997 at the monthly meeting of Gold Coast Street Rodders, a new By-Law was passed that prevented anyone with a post 1949 vehicle from voting or having a say in the club’s “business”.
• There were 8 members with post 49 vehicles, who were incensed that they were not able to speak against this proposed new By-Law.
• At the following meeting of GCSR the 8 members tried to get the motion rescinded, however it fell on deaf ears.
• The 8 outcasts went over to Hungry Jacks to discuss their future.
• They all had SIV registration and several of them decided to join Kustoms of Australia in Melbourne to maintain their SIV requirements.
• The 8 were: Keith Woodbridge, Allan Loose, Geoff Davis, Steve Bain, Michael Robertson, Grahame Robinson, Al Handley and Ron Whelan.
• Over the next 12 months their numbers grew to around 12 people. They occasionally held meetings at each other’s homes, discussing their future and what they would do.
• This lead to the decision to form a new club. Several names were suggested : Kustom Kruisers, Gold Coast Cruisers, Mudgeeraba Cruisers – however most of these names were already being used by others.
• Al Hanley contacted KOA America and was told that John “Chopper” Katzanis had the Australian rights to the KOA name. Al knew John from when he lived in Melbourne. Following a phone call to “Chopper” the group was given permission to use the name with “Gold Coast” added. Chopper also forwarded a substantial amount of merchandise for the new club to sell and retain 20% to go towards building a bank account.
• Ron Whelan was elected President, however he had to step down and return to Maryborough to manage his business interests up there.
• Tony Rehn was elected as President, after being approached by Al Handley.
• More meetings took place and the eight came to the conclusion that they would not get anywhere without their own clubhouse.
• Al worked for GCCC in Town Planning and had already furbished Gold Coast Street Rodders with a building. The lessons learnt from this would prove very handy!
• To raise funds they started to organise R’n’R dances at local venues, using top R’n’R bands. It was a risk, but it paid off! They had great nights at Nerang Civic Centre and Mudgeeraba Hall. These raised around $4000.
• During this period Al Handley spoke with Council’s senior property officer, who told him he would let him know if a suitable building became available.
• A site for the building was allocated just down from The Woodturners on Franklin Drive.
• About a month later Al received a phone call from Grahame Robinson to advise that a Heritage building that had once been the school at Gilston had been relocated to a church in Springbrook Rd, Mudgeeraba about 30 years previously and was currently being used as a kindergarten. The church were upgrading their facilities and building a new complex and no longer required the kindergarten building.
• Al Hadley inspected the building with the Council’s senior building inspector and found it to be in good condition and suitable for the KOA’s needs. It was also close to where it resides today within the Mudgeeraba Heritage Park which would prove a big bonus in keeping removal costs down.
• Cnr. Ted Sheppard agreed to pay for the building from his Divisional funds, however all other costs were to be borne by KOA.
• After investigating their options, it was estimated that $10,000 – $12,000 would be needed to move, re-site, refurbish, repaint and replumb the building. Cnr Sheppard also helped with the lease and they were able to save about $2000 in costs.
• A site was allocated just down the hill from the Woodturners Clubhouse on the Franklin Drive side of the Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum precinct.
• Grahame Robinson and a working bee of members & friends terraced and levelled the site as well as setting out a garden using sleepers Ron Whelan had sent down from Maryborough.
• Not long after that, The Mains Roads Department informed the club it couldn’t build there as they were going to widen the road! They were then allocated the current site on which the Club House sits today.
• Grahame Robinson & Peter Freeman bored all the stump holes and, with another working bee, placed the oregon sleeper blocks alongside the holes for the house movers to rest the house on. This would enable the structural steel posts donated by John Jacobs to be cut to size, concreted into the stump holes and then be bolted to the floor bearers. As there was a sizeable amount of these steel tubes, they were also suitable for bearers for proposed extensions. This was a big help as the club was about $6000 short of their target.
• The building was booked for removal in about a month and they needed to quickly raise funds as it looked like being ‘A Bridge Too Far’.
• For those of you who believe in a Godsend, that is exactly what happened!
• Al Handley had recently imported a couple of Harleys from USA and had sold one to Peter McMahon (the owner of Eagle Harley Tours).
• Peter rang Al to see if he could organise 30 classic cars, who along with his 50 plus Harleys, had to move 400 travel agents flying in from Europe and going up to the Sheraton Mirage on the Spit. They were arriving on 7 flights over a 4 hour period on a Saturday which resulted in $2500 which went straight into the bank account. Less than 2 weeks later, Al received another call needing 25 cars and 30 Harleys to pick up 130 NZ and Australia travel agents from GC Airport and deliver to accommodation in Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.
• Again the club had about $2000 to bank! They now had enough money for removal, restumping and be able to start renovations.
• Two weeks later they met at the church with the unwanted kindy building at 5am.
• The building had already been loaded onto a low loader by some of Woody’s uniformed Police officers (Woody was Senior Sergeant at Mudgeeraba Police Station). “The Team” slowly walked alongside the truck, lifting power lines and branches to clear the building and by 6.30am it was “blocked up” onsite on the sleepers which Grahame & Peter had positioned a couple of weeks earlier. A full day was spent setting the house into its current position.
• As the stump holes had been bored, the next working bee found it easy to drop the steel posts with plates attached, into the holes. The building was then lowered and bolted to the steel plates.
• Council approval was then sought to concrete the posts in. However the inspection failed due to the holes not being wide enough to meet the required construction standard!
• Three or four members used empty soup cans to increase the diameter of the stump holes! Luckily for them there had been some precipitation that softened the ground.
• The next working bee was to concrete the posts into the holes. Grahame’s ‘paving’ friends Chicka & Warwick (from Heartbeat Rockers) assisted with placing the posts and then concreted them in. Further down the track, this pair went on to sand and polish the floorboards inside.
• Once the Club House was onsite it was noted that the only entry was through the door where the mens’ WC is now located. There was another entry door where the jukebox was located however, it was blocked off during renovations, as that corner of the building was found to be too high to use as an access point (FYI – this is the left hand corner when facing the front of the clubhouse or walking up the ramp to the verandah).
• Over the next couple of months, working bees saw the construction of the roofed verandah with sliding door access to inside. A men’s toilet added on externally and known as “John” Travolta! and the ladies rest room, known as Olivia Newton “John”, were both painted inside and out and the floor was sanded.
• The building was rewired and replumbed, and a member donated kitchen was installed. The verandah was next on the agenda, and the storage shed at the end was built at the request of Heather Robinson. Many members’ fathers came down to help with the construction (as they did with so many other projects).
• During this period Eagle Harley Tours came to the rescue several times, albeit on a smaller scale than previously. KOA GC supplied the cars for 7 more jobs.
• Additional cruises and further dances contributed sufficient funds to finish off the Club House!
• Everyone had to be a member of KOA Victoria (in order to be a member of KOA GC). As they had no record of membership or income, the club decided to start it’s own membership (with the blessing of John Katzanis) and so KOA Gold Coast was founded and became Incorporated in August 2002. Approx 35 people turned up.
• The inaugural President was the late Ron Whelan, the Secretary was Al Handley and the Treasurer was Heather Robinson. Due to Rons’ work commitments up North, Tony Rehn moved into the President’s position.
• The name of the club was registered and incorporated as Kustoms of Australia, Inc. Membership slowly expanded. It was decided to hold a weekend car show at the Mudgeeraba Showgrounds in August 2005. This was also the anniversary of James Dean’s death.
• Using this as the theme, there were approximately 30 cars in addition to KOA members’ cars which was below expectations. However, on Saturday night the R n R dance held in the Showgrounds hall was attended by about 250 patrons. ‘The Chevrolets’ one of Qld’s top R ‘n’ R bands at the time, were onstage. The proceeds put our weekend well into the ‘black’.
• KOA GC were also involved with the Qld Police initiative “Operation Drag” at the old Surfers Paradise Drag Strip. Both Tony Rehn and Steve Bain were Police Sergeants. Their idea was to give the local ‘Street Racers’ somewhere legal to race, and also hopefully get them off the streets.
• A movie night and smaller dances were held in the Club House, along with Karaoke Nights to raise money.
• Kustoms of Australia GC has gone from strength to strength in its relatively short lifespan and has evolved into the great club it is today.
