Ling's Cars
LINGsCARS.com is a car dealership in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The dealership is most notable for its peculiar website.
History
Ling's Cars was founded by Ling Valentine, a Chinese businesswoman. Ling was born in Chengdu, China, and moved to the United Kingdom during the 1990s. Ling best describes herself as a "scruffy Chinese girl". The company was founded in 2000 by Ling and her husband Jon out of their living room. By 2006, it was reported that they were doing more than £1 million a month in sales, with a profit of £100,000 for 2005. In 2007, Ling Valentine appeared on the BBC reality show Dragons' Den. In 2013, Ling Valentine moved to Grange Villa from her previous home in Low Fell. On October 21, 2020, Ling announced that she would be retiring from the motor industry as she plans to cycle around the world. At this time her staff took the reins and are still in business today.Website
The website of Ling's Cars has been dubbed "the weirdest website on the internet". The website featured karaoke and online games, as well as a shop and an FAQ. During a 2014 interview, Ling claimed that she wanted to "stand out in a sea of 'same again' car leasing websites".In February 2025, the website was redesigned, removing animated elements and subduing the background pattern. A cut-back version of the original website is now hosted at https://museum.lingscars.com/. Certain pages such as Scalextric have been removed from the navigation but can still be accessed via direct links.