• 20 hours ago
A wacky great-grandfather has spent three months converting his mobility scooter into a 8mph replica of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.

Vin Wardman, 92, worked for eight hours a day in his garden shed to construct the stunning model of the magical flying car from the classic children's film.

The retired railway worker painstakingly constructed the famous vehicle from household items and a scooter bought from eBay for under £300.

The wheels are from a pushchair he found at his tip, while the front bonnet is a discarded pedal bin and the windscreen is a picture frame from a charity shop.

Vin, of Craven Arms, Shrops., has been making models for mobility scooters for several years - but believes his latest creation is his best yet.

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Fun
Transcript
00:00My name is Vin Wardman and I make all my models out of plywood and pedal bins.
00:14The front on there is a pedal bin which came from the tip of the recycling place and the
00:21wheels are off a push chair.
00:23The windscreen is a brass picture frame out of a charity shop.
00:26The scooter I bought in Shrewsbury, it's a shop rider which is the best for making models
00:31on.
00:32The plywood, I cut a template in cardboard, took it up to the van people up the road,
00:39commercial people who line vans and he kind of cut out the shape of my template to do
00:46the plywood sides.
00:48My mate does all the vinyl work for me, I put them on but he had to do 70 odd lines
00:54for the side.
00:55We had to stain the white plywood and get it the right colour.
01:00The seat I went to Minsterley and bought a large red tub chair which was four inches
01:06too wide.
01:07I had to cut all the centre out of it, bring it down narrow enough to put on here and I
01:13got a mate up the road there and he welded a stand onto this seat.
01:18First I jumped it together on a bit, I upholstered it after I cut it down and the neighbour up
01:24there made an iron pedestal to hold it there instead of the original seat.
01:31Most of the bits come from a charity shop but my friend who runs the sign workshop supplies
01:38me with all the vinyl.
01:40He made the lights on a 3D printer and he supplies me with bits of metal to make my
01:47mud guards and any vinyl that's required.
01:52I made the bits of wings myself and I bought a basket which was too big so I cut them in
01:58half and made two baskets and the front was a kitchen strainer and a cake tin like a utensil.
02:07That's all part of a cake tin and something on the front of there.
02:11The exhaust was on the side of your copper, it was made by a retired plumber from Kempton,
02:16Gary, because it's a bit awkward that I couldn't do that so he sold it and I put it on.
02:23The idea came really from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang came to Ladlew in August, two men had
02:30made it and it's got on tour around the world now, you've probably seen it on the Midland
02:35News to raise money for prostate cancer.
02:40They're coming back a week next Saturday on the 23rd and I shall take this down to show
02:45alongside their real one and it's the Christmas lights going on as well at two o'clock a week
02:52on Saturday.
02:54So that's what gave me the idea when I saw theirs I came back home and I started on the
02:591st of September and I finished on the 5th of November which is only just over eight
03:05or nine weeks.
03:06Well everybody tells me it's a wonderful model, I can't say that myself can I?

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