Shannons opens new HQ

To car enthusiasts the country over, Shannons speaks a language we all understand. Owning a collectible car requires specialist knowledge, and should the worst happen, specialist support. It’s for this reason the Shannons brand remains a success, more than 35 years after Robert Shannon founded the business.

Last night the company took yet another step forward, opening its impressive new headquarters in the Melbourne suburb of Heatherton.

Two years in the making and located a stone’s throw from the original office, the converted warehouse provides a centre not just for Shannons’ insurance operations (underwritten by the Suncorp Group), but also its financial services, auction house, club and classic car gatherings, and motorsport and charity interests.

Shannons says its insurance business has grown 50 per cent in the past five years and its online Shannons Club has grown to host more than 70,000 members. It’s a sign of the strength of the classic car market, as head of Shannons, Geoff Keogh, explains.

“This new location is the product of a whole lot of hard work on the part of many, many people,” Keogh said. “Some two years in the making, I think its size, its presence and the facilities are a fabulous reflection on the continued growth of the Shannons brand, both here in Victoria, and nationally.

“The classic car market, and the motorbike hobby set, is thriving, and we’re very proud of the intrinsic role that Shannons has to play in the growth and the development of the motoring movement.

“Shannons' growth over the past couple of years has been the best on record. In fact, Shannons as a business is some 50 per cent bigger than it was five years ago in terms of customer numbers… But equally, what’s so important to this group of people is that we continue to preserve the core and the essence of what has made Shannons as successful as it has been,” he surmised.

The opening of Shannons' new corporate headquarters comes just in time to host its Late Summer Classic Auction. To be held on February 27, it will include a handful of performance Commodores from the early HSV and late HDT era, a pair of HK-series Holden Monaro GTS coupes, and a very original HQ Monaro GTS sedan.

British motoring is also well represented with a Triumph TR5 roadster, two E-Type coupes, a fully-restored Mk IV Saloon and even a 1998 XJ8 long-wheelbase Saloon to face the gavel.

More information is available here.

Pictured by year (guiding range):
>> 1947 Jaguar Mk IV 1.5 Saloon ($55,000-$65,000)
>> 1959 Jaguar XK150 S Roadster ($145,000-$160,000)
>> 1969 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Series II 2+2 Coupe ($62,000-$68,000)
>> 1971 Jaguar E-Type V12 Series III Coupe ($85,000-$95,000)
>> 1963 Jaguar Mk II 3.4 Saloon ($20,000-$30,000)
>> 1998 Jaguar XJ8 3.2 long-wheelbase Saloon ($8000-$12,000)

>> 1984 HDT VK SS Brock Commodore ($40,000-$50,000)
>> 1988 HSV VL SS Group A SV ($65,000-$75,000)
>> 1989 HSV VL Walkinshaw ($75,000-$85,000)

>> 1962 Holden EK Special sedan ($35,000-$45,000)
>> 1968 Holden HK Monaro GTS 327 ‘Bathurst’ coupe ($200,000-$230,000)
>> 1968 Holden HK Monaro GTS 186S coupe ($70,000-$80,000)
>> 1973 Holden HQ Monaro GTS sedan ($35,000-$45,000)