Palmer orders dinosaur for resort
JUST how compatible will a Tyrannosaurus rex be with a 100-year-old Rolls Royce?
The meeting of beast and vehicle in the movie Jurassic Park did not go well for the vehicle, but Clive Palmer will be hoping for a better outcome.
A source at the Palmer Coolum Resort has confirmed that a mechanical dinosaur is on the way.
The life-sized dinosaur is understood to be under construction in China.
It will complement a vintage car museum that the mining magnate plans to establish at the resort.
Life-sized T-rexes are advertised for sale by Chinese manufacturers on the internet from about $2000 - a steal in comparison to a static model on display in the United Kingdom for the equivalent of $505,000.
The mechanical dinosaur will at last give some weight to talk that Mr Palmer plans to establish a Jurassic Park experience at the resort.
Talk to date was that the colourful and controversial millionaire wanted to clone a dinosaur from DNA.
Mr Palmer rubbished the report as a beat-up but then later said it was a good idea.
The exact arrival date of Coolum's T-rex is not known, but is understood to be in the near future.
T-rex would be wise to keep his claws off his master's latest purchases.
They include a 1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Roi des Belges Tourer, which was bought from the Danish Aalholm Automobile Museum.
The Roller, chassis number 1677, was the vehicle upon which Baron J.O. Raben-Levetzau founded the museum.
It was one of the key purchases at an auction this month of 175 vehicles from the museum.
Just like the Baron, Mr Palmer plans to establish a vintage car museum.
The 17 cars he has bought from the museum collection are expected to arrive in six to eight weeks.
Unlike the vehicle in Jurassic Park, which was flipped and crushed by a T-rex before being pushed down an embankment, the 1911 Rolls and other vehicles are unlikely to be driven by visitors.
