THE smell of engine oil and metallic memories fills the air inside an old green shed at the Pimpama Heritage Park.
Avid collector Reg Schuster is talking about his first restoring project as he slowly makes his way through a maze of fully functioning vintage steam engines and century old parts.
Proud owner of one of the largest collections of stationary engines and collectables in Australia, the soon to be 89-year-old is preparing to bid farewell to a few of his prized posessions at a special auction on Saturday, October 26.
"It all started in the '50s, when Giltraps came to Australia from New Zealand and started a motor museum at Kirra," Reg said, adding it was love at first sight when he laid eyes on the old motor vehicles.
"When I saw the cars that they had, and they were getting around in, I thought, 'Gee whiz, I can restore one of those,' and that was the beginning."
Reg was running an engineering business at the time and started spending his evenings and weekends restoring old vehicles.
"Every spare minute I had I'd be working on a project.
"The first thing I ever bought was my wife's uncle's car. He passed away and he had a standard 14 horsepower touring motor car and I asked if I could have it to work on.
"Well, I finally got the car two years later and I pulled it to pieces and had the engine reconditioned and I carried on with restoring from there.
"My wife used to come down from Burleigh in the standard and they had a little house in Miami and she came down to attend a dance and that's how we met - 67 years ago."
Reg said it would not have been possible for him to begin restoring vehicles without engineering knowledge.
"I wasn't always in the engineering game but when I retired from business in 1977, that's when I really got into restoration."
With more than 400 items up for auction, Reg says his collection was well overdue to be downsized.
"I'm not going to live forever and you have to plan ahead because it's going to be too much for the family to look after when I finally go.
"I sold 11 fully restored motor cars back in 2007 because I was sick and tired of pumping up the tyres and trying to get in between them to keep them tidy."
Reg said many of the pieces being sold were quite unusual and one of a kind.
"The piece which has created the most interest is the 1924 Foden steam engine which was made in England.
"It has a three weight tipping body on it, so it can go backwards or either side and it was used in road making or shifting bricks.
"It originally came from Giltraps who brought it over from New Zealand in about 1958 and I bought it by tender."
Reg said anyone wanting to purchase an engine would have to undertake 100 hours of operation time to gain a steam ticket.
"It's just like getting your licence."
Reg's penchant for engines and self-proclaimed addiction has ballooned into an exceptional collection of lovingly restored steam engines, though he is adamant his family don't mind him filling up the back shed.
"I'm not interested in playing bowls or going fishing or play golf - I'm just happy to muck around in a workshop by myself."
"We're all different - I guess this is my life and it's been a good one."
Although mainly working alone, Reg said he couldn't have completed many jobs without the help of friends and family.
"Sometimes, if there's anything heavy or I need someone to hold something for me, I often tee someone up to come over when you need more than two hands.
"I don't really do it all myself because I do get help, because there's certain things you can't handle."
When asked of his favourite item, Reg said it was always hard to pick just one.
"Every piece of equipment I work on is something special and it might only be something small like a farrier's forge, or it might be the Foden but as far as I'm concerned, they've all got something different about them and they're things of the past that deserve to be recognised.
"What you strive for, all the time, is just to hear it going.
"Once you hear it, and you take it out to a field day to demonstrate it to the public, then you get on to another project and you turn around and the same thing happens and you're always trying to improve on them.
"That's the drive and it's just lovely."
