Sweet CHARIOT

“Accidental renovator” Cherie Barber usually makes over houses, but rescuing her 1956 Chevrolet Bel air was a total affair of the heart, writes motoring expert and WhichCar presenter Elise Elliott.

- Elise Elliott

Cherie Barber is a vintage vision in a 1950s-style heart-print dress made from repurposed bed sheets. The professional renovator and TV personality’s look is stylish, playful and romantic. Her car, a cherry-pink and pearl 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, is a perfect match.

Cherie’s classic Chevy, affectionately known as Mildred, is beautifully preserved with shiny chrome on the front fenders, fetching tailfins, two-tone body styling and period-correct whitewall tyres.

Shimmy behind the wheel and the Bel Air is a dream to behold. Despite her age and primitive drive train, the three-on-the-tree manual, coupled with a purring straight-six, delivers a smooth, head-turning ride.

Equally show-stopping is Cherie’s home in Sydney’s inner west, which she recently moved into with her 14-year-old daughter Milan, partner Matt, puppies Axel and Bella, and Snowball the curious cat.

Cherie, the founder of Renovating For Profit, bought the three-storey warehouse conversion in early 2020. It features soaring ceilings, a suspended fireplace, and a 5-metre-high library wall. Some of the internal walls are retractable, as is part of the roof. There’s even a rooftop pool. In its previous life, the warehouse was a lolly factory called the Oh Boy Candy Company. And boy oh boy, Cherie cannot wait to add her own brand of retro flair – once she fully unpacks, of course.