‘Most people think that I’m a raving nutter’ says car enthusiast Perry Watkins.
Not for a second would the custom car world record holder of Wingrave dare to correct you, though.
Perry, 50, got into his slightly unusual hobby of modifying cars back in 1985 when he created a fully road functioning nine foot Dalek from Doctor Who, which could shout ‘You will be exterminated’.
“That was certainly the weirdest and the most fun,” he said.
“It used to cause minor accidents. People looked and looked and then went into the back of somebody.”
The Dalek came about after Perry was inspired while at a Belgian custom car show where he saw a car in the form of a church bell.
Over the past three decades numerous world records have fallen as Perry has travelled the world with his wacky creations. He has even starred on Top Gear and met the likes of Sebastian Vettel.
But, his journey will take another turn when his remaining three custom cars, the Flatmobile (opposite bottom), Wind Up (opposite top) and Fast Food, go under the hammer at Bonhams, London, on Monday with a target price of £50,000. All three cars have broken street legal world records. The Flatmobile for being the world’s lowest, Wind Up as the world’s smallest and Fast Food as the world’s fastest furniture, with a top speed of 113.8mph over 500 metres.
And the Timpson sales director says he is only selling the trio of creations so he can get to work on a new project.
“Only a small part of me (is sad to see them sold),” he said.
“I enjoy building them more than driving them. Usually my ideas are formulated in the pub. People will say something like ‘it’s ridiculous you could never do that’.
“And usually that’s the cue for starting something.”
It is all a long way from when Perry was building cars from cardboard boxes and making robots as a child.
But he is delighted to see just how much milage his wacky vehicles have had.
“You never know where you are going to end up. You just go with the flow,” he said.
Going with the flow is something Perry’s wife, Angie, has become very adept at during their marriage as she has seen her husband build his cars in the evenings and at weekends.
He said: “She would probably like to see more of me and I’m sure she would rather I take up golf or something.”
Angie often accompanies Perry on his trips around the world, which has seen him showcase his inventions to 120,000 people at NASCAR races in Charlotte, America, and on German TV for nine million viewers.
And Perry is certainly not about to slow down.
He added: “There’s no reason to stop, I suppose.”