|INSPIRED by her daughter’s favourite movie, Parkerville resident Yvonne Blyth is busy creating a replica mini Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the inaugural Hills Billy Cart Festival in Mt Helena next month.
Mrs Blyth said she had fond memories of growing up in the ‘80s and building billy carts with the kids on her street.
“As a kid I loved getting into my dad’s tool box and from a young age I knew I wanted to work on cars,” she said.
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READ NOW“As soon as I could afford a car I bought an HR Holden when I was 17 and started tinkering around on that. I couldn’t get a mechanical apprenticeship but I did get one working in vehicle upholstery.
“I now run Hills Trim and Upholstery and do up vintage cars in my spare time.”
Mrs Blyth said her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang billy cart was built on a shoestring budget using items in her yard.
“I have a yard full of items I’ve been collecting for the past 13 years for projects, including a dozen bikes I had planned to weld together for a garden art structure,” she said.
“The Billy Cart Festival inspired me to put all my bits and pieces together to create something with almost nothing to spend.
“It’s also a fabulous opportunity to be a big kid again and share the build with my daughter.”
Event director John Bell said the idea for the Festival was born at a Mt Helena Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Group meeting and he hoped the event would become an annual event.
“The feature of this event is a race of billy carts down the main street supported by a host of vintage themed attractions,” he said.
The Hills Billy Cart Festival is on October 28.