TOURISTS taking photographs of the Ferraris, McLarens and Rolls-Royces parked outside the Casino de Monte Carlo did a double take when a Glasgow couple pulled up in an old banger with nearly 60,000 miles on the clock.

Dressed from head to toe in tartan, Steven Rooney and Amanda Weir had just arrived at the finishing line of the madcap Monte Carlo or Bust Rally - as the winners.

They took on the three-day challenge from northern France to the French Riviera, via Geneva, the Swiss Alps and Turin, to raise money for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice and couldn't believe it when they were first across the finishing line.

"It was a bit chaotic outside the casino - it was absolute pandemonium as there was another event on," remembers IT consultant Steven.

"It was really funny pulling up in our banger car when we were surrounded by all these top end cars."

When they left Glasgow, the couple from Shawlands hoped to raised £2000 for the hospice's Brick by Brick Appeal, backed by the Evening Times, for a new facility at Bellahouston Park.

They decorated the car with coloured bricks, which took them three days to cut out and stick on by hand. Supporters could donate £10 or more and write a message on their brick.

They smashed through that target and have now raised more than £3000, with donations still coming in on their Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/stevenandamanda.

Competing against more than 70 cars, all of which had to cost £250 or less, Steven and Amanda's challenge was to collect points along the route for taking photos of themselves in unusual places or doing weird or wacky things, all the time in fancy dress.

"We had to get a receipt for something that cost no more than two cents, which was about 1p, so we bought one grape at the supermarket," laughs Steven.

"We had to get other things like a travel brochure for the US, a Renault Clio brochure, one paperclip.

"Another one was to get a picture of someone in your team pumping petrol into a car that had nothing to do with the rally, then a picture of 10 people touching your car at the same time, again who had nothing to do with the rally."

Driving across the Alps, dressed in cat and tiger onesies, was also particularly memorable.

As was dressing up as the Prince and Princess of Wales, complete with a Wales rugby top, a prince's robe and a crown and a princess dress with blow-up whales for the drive through small French villages through the Champagne region to Dijon.

The reaction to the cars following in the wheel tracks of the oddball 1969 comedy film was fantastic, says Steven.

He added: "Everyone was just so friendly and encouraging, laughing at all the crazy cars and the fancy dress."

Some of the cars made their own way along the route, others travelled together in a convoy.

They included a jeep with a chill-out garden on the roof with garden chairs and an umbrella; a little Daewoo Matiz covered in cotton wool to make it look like a sheep, with five people squeezed inside dressed as shepherds; and a group of guys in a 1980s Royal Mail van they had turned into a shed.

"We were quite comfortable in our old banger in comparison to some," remarks Steven.

"Though it was 36 degrees some days and the air-con didn't work if we went over 60mph."

Glasgow's Central Car Auctions helped Steven and Amanda find their 2003 Mazda 323 Sport and it is still sitting outside their flat.

He added: "We thought about auctioning it off to raise more money for the hospice. There's no way we could have scrapped it after that journey.

"At the moment we're still and driving around in it."

Heather Manson, the hospice's fundraising manager, says everyone was delighted to have had the support of Amanda and Steven.

"It was such a unique way to fundraise for us and the icing on the cake was the fact that they also went on and won the race. To have had so much fun and raised so much for the hospice is superb and very much appreciated by everyone."

angela.mcmanus@ eveningtimes.co.uk

BRICK BY BRICK - HOW TO HELP

THE Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice's Brick by Brick fundraising appeal aims to raise the remaining £12.5m of a £21m project to build a new home for Glasgow's hospice.

To learn more or to make a donation, please visit: www.ppwh.org.uk/brickbybrick

Call on 0141 429 9861 or e-mail brickbybrick@ppwh.org.uk

Send donations, made payable to 'The Brick by Brick Appeal', to: The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, Freepost SCO1724, Glasgow, G5 9BR