Teenager sells 'banger' car to Banksy show

A teenager has sold her Nissan Micra car for £400 to the organisers of an exhibition who are using it to replicate an original Banksy work of art.

Matilda had advertised her 25-year-old car which was "missing a few bits" online and thought someone was pranking her when they said they wanted to buy it to recreate Banksy's famous work of a rhino mounting a Micra.

The 17-year-old, from Lancaster, said she asked them to "pay a bit up front" in case the call was a fake, but she was "really excited" to find it was genuine, adding: "What a name to be involved with - Banksy".

The exhibition, which runs at Depot Mayfield in Manchester, opens at the weekend and runs until July.

Matilda's brother had bought her the car for her to learn to drive in.

"Obviously it's a classic so it's not really an everyday car so that was the plan.

"We have quite a lot of vehicles, my brother collects a lot and we have a lot and we just sort of got to the point where we just had too many and we thought something needs to go so we thought we'll advertise it," she said.

Annoyed by previous "time-wasters" she created an unusual online advert.

"I basically just put, 'Look, we're not friends. You're not coming here to have a day out.

'You're buying a car, it's not in excellent condition whatsoever'," she said.

"And, well, it sold."

When she first heard it was wanted for an exhibition, she said she "thought it was a bit strange" and she was amazed to learn the car would recreate the "very famous" piece by the mysterious artist.

She said: "The funny thing is most people when you sell a car they want it running well they want the opposite they want the fuel tank taken off it and they don't want it running at all."

Matilda said she had already seen the beginning of the process of setting up the exhibition and "it's great".

"I'm also going to be able to see the actually painted rhinoceros on the car, so I'm going to see the full thing, which is just really exciting and an amazing thing to be part of," she added.

John Carrigan from promoters Events Cartel said: "We decided very late on into our planning and literally a couple of weeks ago that if we could find a Nissan Micra of that right year and the right colour we could recreate the rhino."

He added: "We literally got on the internet and and came across this one.

"It was just the perfect sort of location, perfect car, and what turns out to be a lovely story behind it with the family."

Events Cartel is promoting the international exhibition's UK debut - The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind.

The Rhino piece was one of a series the elusive artist revealed in London in the summer of 2024.

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