Petrolhead Profile: Ian Bone

I met an extraordinary person during my often-discussed vacation in Brisbane. Meet Ian Bone of Ipswich, Queensland. He’s been running a local motorsport museum in Ipswich since his retirement, collecting and restoring old, notable race-cars from both English and Australian motorsport. From open-wheelers of the 1930s to 90s Bathurst racers, his display is full of classic motors or remnants of them (largely doors and hoods of V8 Supercars).

I visited his display following recommendations from Australian CTizens last month. With the D Johnson museum in Gold Coast and Willowbank raceway closed for the holidays, this was pretty much the only car-related spot I could check out within my vicinity and schedule. I was just amazed at what he had to offer, and since we were practically the only visitors that Saturday, he was able to give us a 1st person tour and insight into every single model on display.

Furthermore Ian is not just a petrolhead keen on just talking about/collecting cars. He’s also a former amateur racer. He’s competitively driven both a BMW E9 and an Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Twinspark in amateur competitions, largely local closed-street circuits.

His museum even has an extensive archive and viewing library, containing dozens of back issues of car magazines, adverts, and more importantly for restorers: original manuals/documents for classic models. And for collectors, multiple shelves containing a vast diecast model collection donated from the public and from his personal collection. In conclusion, if you ask me: Ian is a true petrolhead with a clear passion for motors. His efforts are just relatively unheard of, and I think he deserves to be brought to attention both within Australia and on CT.

I won’t delve further as I’ll create a separate post going over the museum itself in detail with plenty of photos I took during my visit. I’d just thought I would bring him to attention to CTizens here and recommend his museum to any petrolheads who happen to be passing by Ipswich, Queensland. If you are keen in checking out this haven for us petrolheads, stop by Ipswich City Plaza, Shop 219 via Bell Street Food Court.