Don’t miss Edd China at the 2024 Festival of Speed

Edd rose to fame as a co-presenter on Wheeler Dealers, but his first foray on television came years earlier when he built a street-legal sofa car. Since then he has continued to build a series of whacky and adventurous vehicles, setting several Guinness World Records along the way. We spoke to him ahead of the Festival of Speed to learn more about his life in engineering, and how he hopes to inspire others together with eBay.

One thing’s clear: Edd China loves a challenge, as evidenced by the majority of his work.

“Certainly at the time building a street-legal sofa car was a big challenge, but that was the point,” he said. “I wanted to see if I could build a car that was nothing like a car but still complied with all of the rules so be allowed to travel on the road, even the motorway.

“I set the Guinness World Record for Fastest Furniture at 87mph with it many years ago and have since driven to Ireland, the South of France, Monaco and even from LA up to San Francisco and back – just so I could go down Lombard Street, the wiggliest road in the world, and cruise the PCH in style!”

“A few years later I built the world's largest motorised shopping trolley to help promote a movie launch in Leicester Square. It’s around three times the size of a normal trolley and stands 3.5 metres tall. It's made of stainless steel, has custom wheels and suspension and you drive it from where a toddler would sit, which is a long way up. We are about to give it a whole new electric drivetrain and I hope to have it back on the road soon.”

“More recently, re-building a 1916 Cadillac from a pile of rusty parts and in the style of an Edwardian rally car was a huge challenge too. We had to do about two years' work in fifteen weeks to get it ready for the 2016 Peking to Paris extreme rally event.

“Unfortunately, our entry was cancelled a week before we flew the car out to China but I haven't given up yet. Someday, I know I'll get the chance to drive the car through the Mongolian desert and that will be an amazing adventure.”

It’s quite the collection of automotive achievements, and highlights in an interesting way that the cars we know today could have turned out quite differently. This year at the Festival of Speed we’ll be re-tracing the pathway of propulsion from the earliest days of motoring, and Edd in his own way has added an extra chapter to the story.

But his enthusiasm for engineering doesn’t end with his outlandish creations. Edd believes the fundamentals of car maintenance are something we should all endeavour to understand.

“I absolutely believe car owners should understand how their vehicles work and should definitely attempt at least the basic serving required to keep them on the road,” he said. “By working on your own car you will certainly save money but also you will understand better when funny sounds, smells and vibrations appear and that means you can fix something before it gets really bad. and expensive.”

That’s why he’s so enthused by the work that eBay does to help everyday motorists work on their own cars. “eBay can help you find the correct parts for your car through parts backed by eBay Assured Fit. Just type in your car's registration number or make, model and year, along with the part you are looking for and eBay will present you with a list of parts that fit and will even guarantee free return within 30 days if for some reason they don't.”

“The trick is to start with really simple things like wiper blades and light bulbs and as your confidence and knowledge builds you can take on more critical things like oil changes and brake servicing,”

“It always pays to get help from a friend, or expert, to prevent you from making any serious errors and it’s always worth joining a car club so you get to meet like-minded people who are bound to have already found out how to solve the problem you are stuck on!”

If you’re interested in kick-starting your own interest in car maintenance, you’ll have an opportunity to learn from the best in the business by heading over to the eBay Garage during the Festival of Speed. Edd will be there on Saturday 13th July to provide plenty of insight into his life working with cars, providing priceless tips to help you keep your car in perfect working order.

“I’m certainly looking forward to seeing the eBay Garage this year,” he said. “They’ve got lots of fun games and different guest speakers, including myself, to encourage everyone to embrace their DIY spirit and tackle car maintenance for themselves.

“I’m particularly looking forward to taking on some of the fun challenges eBay have in store for us. The 28-litre Beast of Turin thundering up the hill, is always a firm favourite too.”

Edd will be involved in a round table discussion on eBay’s Live Stage which is bound to cover plenty of topics from simple car maintenance to outrageous engineering ideas.

“I can guarantee it will be about all aspects of the auto universe and that we'll get off topic almost immediately! I’ll be joined on stage by a host of car enthusiasts at different stages in their journey, so I'm sure it will be a lot of fun wherever the conversation leads.”

Visit the eBay Garage at FOS to immerse yourself in the world of vehicle parts and accessories and put your skills to the test for a chance to win some exclusive merch!