Edd China, motoring TV personality best-known for inventing wacky vehicles and setting a Guinness World Record in an ice cream van, famously left motoring TV series Wheeler Dealers after 15 years, we wanted to find out who Edd China really is, how he became motor obsessed, and what the car fanatic is up to now?
What Do You Love Most About Cars?
“Good question, I think it’s really about the freedom, the freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want. But it’s also about, as far as building cars, that you can make them your own and have the freedom to express yourself through your vehicle. It can be down to it having ‘go-faster stripes’ on the side of your vehicle, to a funky interior, to something completely custom or even building something from scratch like I have done in the past with my cars. So, for me, it really is about freedom.”
When Did Your Obsession With Motors Begin?
“I was a Lego kid, so I enjoyed making things and putting my own twist on things. Even visiting family up and down the motorway often, I was looking at cars and took an interest learning about them. I’d say it was when I got my first car where my obsession really began; I had to do lots of work on it and take it apart at first as it failed horribly with the MOT and the welding, and as I was driving it down to the welders, having taken all the doors and seats out, I realised wow, this thing is much faster as it has no weight, and so my curiosity began from there.”
What Is Your Earliest Memory Of Tinkering With A Motor?
“My parents both had minis, so they took them both apart to make one good one. I remember helping them work on it, so that was my first experience with playing with cars. My uncle also had an old four-and-a-half litre Bentley, and I was about four or five and that was the first time I’d ever experienced going 100mph up at Clifton across the Common, with the wind in my hair. It was just epic and a really happy early experience with a car.”
What Was Top Gear Like?
“It was good fun actually, I got to play a lot, for example, I got to build a James Bond car on a budget and then the finale was an ejector seat. I wasn’t allowed to use explosives or compressed air, so I had to make this mad device out of springs and try and fire this chair out. They gave me the heaviest mannequin, with the result then coming out in a very typical Top Gear, funny but crap way – it barely cleared the back of the car, I think it just bounced off the back of the car on to the floor, but it was so much fun – I think you can still find the video online somewhere. I’ve always enjoyed being a part of magic and just the magic of TV really and making things happen. It’s just an opportunity to play.”
How Did It Feel Being Part Of Wheeler Dealers?
“It was kind of mad and nearly didn’t happen for me. At the time, I was in the thick of other work with a company that I had at the time, which involved building all kinds of weird advertising vehicles, including a driving office and a driving a giant shopping trolley so I was so short of time. Randomly, I had to go to pick up a product just ten minutes from where the interviews were being held, and I thought, now I’m here, I may as well pop in. I showed them how to change a tyre, talked about windscreen wipers, showed them my favourite tools, answered some questions, and then forgot about it. A month or so later, I was asked if they could try me out with the other presenter, Mike Brewer.”
“We had instant chemistry and I think that’s what they saw. Initially, it would be a tiny show on a tiny channel which was still exciting at the time. I remember flicking through on that channel and seeing two old ladies doing knitting and thought, yep, that’s us, just as famous! I guess it was a very slow whirlwind that just got bigger and bigger and then eventually we were the biggest show on Discovery.”
“We worked with so many cars, which meant I could work on the cars I’ve always thought I wanted and then after a couple weeks thought, nope, not for me, for whatever reason. So that helped ‘cure’ me of the ‘disease’ that is collecting lots and lots of cars!”
Do You Speak To Mike Anymore?
“No, we’re both very busy and he’s been over in the States and I’m now busy in this mad world of YouTube. It’s natural for people to grow apart when they don’t work together anymore, but we have no bad vibes for each other.”
What Are You Up To At The Moment?
“Lots and lots of YouTube stuff. We’re working on a new workshop setup currently, where we want it to look interesting and inspiring but also organised with storage and racking, which means I’ll then be able to find room for even more stuff! In the studio itself we currently have a rusty old Range Rover which we’re trying to make, well, less rusty. We also have a Ferrari that doesn’t currently work and so we’ll be fixing that up. And then we also have my electric ice cream van that I want to get the record back for – 99mph seems to be the obvious record to go for.”
What Are You Up To At The Moment?
“Well, I’m really interested in amphibious cars, so I’ve had an idea to pull some thing together. Years ago, I did some work where I electrified some petrol amphibians and set a record there. But this will be an electric amphibian and there’s some new technology that’s come about so actually, all I’m going to say is watch this space!”
Edd has recently worked with BiGDUG, the nation’s favourite UK provider of garage shelving, storage and flooring.
