All from Bits and Pieces (picture)

April 1969

South Yorkshire Times, April 12, 1969

All from Bits and Pieces

The Crazy-mobile is a cross between John Lennon’s psychedelic Rolls Royce, Dick Van Dyke’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the scrap heap outside the Ace car-wrecking plant, New York.

It is situated in the school hall at Balby Street Junior School, Denaby, guarded by Billy, the prehistoric monster. Don’t get alarmed, Billy is quite harmless. He’s made of old mattress springs, bicycle mudguards and a bucket for a head. And the Crazymobile? It’s the invention of Class 3 at the school.

Place Of Honour

Work on the building of the Crazymobile has just been completed and the finished product has left the assembly line to take its place of honour in the centre of the main hall. Built of old cardboard boxes borrowed from a nearby supermarket, around a broken down table loaned by the caretaker, the contraption has been painted by the children in weird, colourful patterns which can only be described as psychedelic.

It has all the fittings of a modem car . . . wheels, speedometer, sparking plugs, and the added bonus of two exhaust systems and two steering wheels. Front bumper, battered rear bumper, headlights, it has everything plus. And every piece was collected in the locality by the children.

Said Mrs. Iris Idle, who was in charge of operations with student teacher David Hoskins, “The pupils got the idea from Val Doonican’s song ‘Rafferty’s Motor Car’. They wanted to build it so we let them have a try. They have been out to all the tips and garages around looking for parts, and when it was built we had a vote to give it a name.”

She continued, “As we went along all the parts were explained to the children, so it has been a very rewarding and practical project.”