How eBay brought feel-good fixes to Goodwood

Goodwood Festival of Speed is an intoxicating cocktail of heritage and high performance, plus it offers the rare chance to get up close to some of the most iconic machines ever made. In short, it’s a car lover’s paradise.

No doubt, over the years your cars have punctuated significant moments in your life, while also being your gateway to adventure. For every humdrum commute, there’ll have been an unforgettable family road trip to the Norfolk Broads or the West Wales coast. eBay understands the importance of those precious motoring memories to you, along with that personal connection you feel with your cars.

That’s why its parts and accessories offering is helping drivers up and down the country find the right parts to help them fix or improve their cars for less money. And at this year’s Goodwood, the eBay Garage came along for the ride, with a whole host of items of interest and challenges to celebrate everything that’s great about cars and the parts that make them.

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Despite one day lost to unruly high winds, nothing was keeping eBay away from Goodwood for long. Its garage played host to plenty of fascinating exhibits, including unique vehicles such as Porsche Speedsters, modded BMWs, and even kit cars built from scratch.

To celebrate 30 years of the Festival of Speed – and 75 years of Goodwood’s motor circuit – the eBay Museum curated iconic and innovative car parts and accessories over the last 75 years, from 1948 Morris Minor speedometers to the iconic fluffy dice – a 1970s rear view mirror staple.

And for those who enjoy a tinker on their driveway, there was an opportunity to talk to eBay experts about finding the rights parts and accessories for your vehicle (a kind of real-life version of the site’s My Garage function), as well as a speed challenge to see who could put an engine back together the fastest.

The space was brought together with a full rota of fascinating speakers across the week, hosted by Gadget Show presenter, Ortis Deley, including TV and film stunt driver Tessa Whittock and racing driver Seb Melrose.

Ortis was seriously impressed by the sheer scale of the event. “This was my first Goodwood, and I had no idea how huge it was. I knew there’d be some spectacular cars to see, but I think I underestimated quite how strong the culture of tinkering, making modifications and restoring shells of motors to their former glory was, and I’ve really got a new-found respect for it.”

By his own admission, Ortis isn’t the world’s biggest petrolhead, but like all of us, he’s had his heart stolen in the past. “I have had three cars that I adored owning – an Audi S5 and a VW R32, which was an absolute joy. But I think top of the pile was my VW Corrado,” he says. “I have been in love with that car since I was about 16, and to own one was the realisation of a childhood dream.”

Ortis is fronting a new mini-series called The eBay Fix Up, in which a family restores their classic 80s camper van themselves with parts sourced on eBay. So, will he be getting his hands dirty? “I’ve done bits and pieces of car maintenance here and there – I’ve replaced dust caps and centre caps and windscreen wipers. I’m not sure where I’d go for those parts if not eBay – it’s just the natural fit,” he says. “Now I know you can type in your licence plate to make the search easier, I’ll definitely be doing that in future!”

eBay allows you to choose from millions of car parts and accessories from original equipment manufacturers you can trust. Simply input your number plate into eBay’s My Garage function to narrow your search down to parts that’ll fit your make and model, then away you go!

Ready to start your own Fix Up?

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