‘Highland cattle’ car voted best in show

Vehicle designed by Perthshire artist wins praise ahead of 10,000-mile trek

A car shaped like a Highland cow has been deemed udder-ly brilliant by bosses of an internationally-renowned rally.

The hairy Ford Fiesta is on the moo-ve after being entered in the Mongol Rally.

The car was designed by Perthshire artist Hilary Barker, who spent three weeks transforming the vehicle for a driving team, who are raising money for F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart’s charity Race Against Dementia.

And Hilary’s hard work paid off when her effort was named best in show – beating off competition from more than 300 cars at the Mongol Rally launch party at Goodwood race track.

Super creative Hilary – who runs Highland Cow Art from her Callander farm – said: “This has been a delightful challenge for me to take on and I’m thrilled that the cow car, who I have christened Morag, was named best in show.

“Now she can wear her rosette with pride as she makes her way to Mongolia.”

The artist was left stunned after being approached by fundraisers from Team Jackie Moo-art to turn a Ford Fiesta, supplied by Peoples Ford, into a Highland cow.

Morag left the UK on Sunday on a 10,000-mile trek to Mongolia via Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Hilary said: “I think this is definitely the weirdest commission I’ve ever been asked to do. I love Highland cattle. I have 23 cows on the farm and I love painting them, but I’ve never been asked to turn a car into one.”

Hilary said it was a real challenge turning a car into a Highland Cow.

“The whole thing has been sanded down,” she said.

“That was quite unnerving taking a piece of sandpaper to a nice shiny car and scratching it all over so I can stick the fur on.

“The biggest challenge has been fitting the horns on. They’ve been put together on my sewing machine then filled with fence wire up the middle so they are light in weight and shouldn’t offer too much wind resistance.”

I have 23 cows on the farm and I love painting them, but I’ve never been asked to turn a car into one.