WHEELER Dealers star Edd China has built up a weird and wonderful car collection over the years – including an 87mph sofa.
The presenter, who left the Discovery show in 2017, is known for his love of classics as well as producing some whacky inventions of his own.
Edd owns a century-old Cadillac which, perhaps surprisingly, might be the most normal item in his garage.
The model was the first production motor to use a V8 engine and was described by Edd as “special”.
This particular car was featured in a 2016 episode of Wheeler Dealers, with Edd and co-star Mike Brewer planning to use it to complete the Peking-Paris Rally route.
In a video on his YouTube, he explained that they never actually got to make that trip, but he has since bought the Cadillac and is restoring it in preparation for a second attempt.
The antique rally car really is one of the less unique cars in Edd’s collection when its compared to models like this.
Known for his bizarre motoring inventions, making use of his degree in engineering and product design, Edd created the Trolleysaurus Rex in 2005.
As the name suggests, it was effectively a giant, driveable shopping trolley, which he displayed at an Asda branch in Watford, Hertfordshire.
Standing at 11ft tall and nearly 10ft long, it actually held the Guinness World Record for the largest motorised shopping trolley for seven years.
Sadly it was beaten by the Monster Kart, a 27ft long, 15ft tall trolley created by Frederick Reifsteck from South Wales, New York, in 2012.
Perhaps Edd’s most famous invention is the Casual Lofa, a motorised sofa he built while at university.
Amazingly, the sofa is actually road-legal and registered with the DVLA.
That’s despite the fact that it has no roof and has potted plants on the dash, a pizza pan for a steering wheel and a Guinness can for a throttle.
Then again, it is capable of reaching a stunning 87mph at full tilt.
Like the Trolleysaurus, it previously held a world record this time as the fastest vehicle of its kind.
Sadly, that too was broken when Marek Turkowski was clocked driving his sofa at 92mph in 2007.
Edd has previously spoken of his love for his uncle’s classic Bentley as a child.
In an interview with Hagerty, he recalled trips down to Bristol to see his relative and described how it helped spark his motoring interest.
He said: “What makes the appeal of a twenties Bentley endure is that they were beautifully built; they have such beautiful form and they can keep up in modern traffic at almost 100 years old.
“With so much class, people appreciate them for their gorgeousness and see them as a bit of a thoroughbred horse, but they have power and grunt.
“Driving one is like harnessing lightning.”
He added that he had discovered years later that the red and black roadster had been restored and sold in the US, referring to it as one of a selection of “ones that got away”.
That wistful list also included a 1998 Plymouth Barracuda he bought in his 20s and a Lamborghini Urraco he and Mike found while filming.
Edd was one of the main presenters on Wheeler Dealers, alongside Mike Brewer, between its inception in 2003 and 2017.
However, he left fans shocked when he announced his departure from the popular programme in a YouTube video.
He explained that he was taking the leap due to differences with showrunners at Velocity, the original channel that aired Wheeler Dealers, over its creative direction.
Edd said: ” Unfortunately, on Velocity’s first attempt at producing the show they found Wheeler Dealers ‘too difficult to make’, at least in its current format.
“In particular, the detailed and in-depth coverage of my fixes in the workshop, what I consider to be the backbone and USP of the programme, are something Velocity feels should be reduced.
“However, this new direction is not something I am comfortable with as I feel the corners I was being asked to cut compromised the quality of my work and would erode my integrity as well as that of the show, so I have come to the conclusion that my only option is to let Velocity get on with it, without me.”
Less than a week later, he uploaded a second video in which he claimed that Mike had called him and said that his wife and children were receiving death threats in the wake of the announcement.
His announcement was confirmed as Ant Anstead in 2018, who himself was replaced by former McLaren F1 mechanic Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley in 2020.
Back to the world of unusual inventions, Edd clearly figured he’d done a sofa, he’d done a shopping trolley so why not do a bed?
He rounded out a trio of world records with the Street Sleeper becoming the fastest bed in the world in 2009.
Although, like his others, this was broken later, with Tome Onslow-Cole reaching 51 mph in a bed in 2016.
Nonetheless, the driveable double bed remains one of Edd’s proudest designs.
Seemingly getting tired of driveable furniture, Edd instead turned to the fruit and veg aisle for inspiration.
Sitting on the base of a classic Mini 998, the body of this car has been replaced with a giant spherical frame.
The idea was to make the car look like a giant orange on wheels and the effect is pretty remarkable.
It was actually built in the ’70s by a company called Outspan to promote South African orange exports, from which Edd bought it before setting about a restoration.
He even had to remove a birds nest from it to get it up and running again.
It comes after Edd’s former co-star Mike Brewer was spotted taking a spin in his bright purple ‘dream car’.
