From his workshop at the foot of Bulli Pass he made everything imaginable from a kettle for his wife to false teeth and car parts.

Born in 1888 Cecil Caleb Bunker became the legendary Bulli service station proprietor whose antics have become entrenched in local folklore.

The Bunker family shifted from Crookwell to Woonona in about 1905 in search of work. Industries such as coal mines, coke ovens, brick factories and railway yards dominated the landscape and work was plentiful in the region early last century.

Ivo, nicknamed after the famous English cricketer Ivo Bligh, developed an interest in engines doing odd jobs in a large shed behind their Liddle Street home. 

After his marriage he and his wife Alma opened a garage and mixed business near the corner of Railway St and the highway at Bulli in 1918.

The garage was the first in the district and within two years, as his business expanded, he relocated to larger premises opposite the Bulli Hotel.

Another first for Ivo was establishing of a bus run for the district. He fitted an open lorry in 1920 with wooden stools and later a steel frame with canvas cover exclusively for South Bulli miners but later expanded the service for the public.

His skills manufacturing purpose built vehicles resulted in a Bulli Shire Council contract to replace their horse drawn sanitary vehicles with two motorised vans in 1926. Ivo can be credited with building the region痴 first 租unny-trucks�.

The enterprising engineer also pioneered the local tourism industry when he started motorised tours to the famous Loddon Falls and the Bulli lookouts.

Bulli Pass was becoming increasingly popular with touring vehicles in the mid 1920s and as the popularity of the Pass grew so did the amount of break-downs.

Ivo was already repairing vehicles that had over-heated on the steep mountain pass and in a shrewd move he purchased a block on the Thirroul side of the foot of Bulli Pass in 1926. He built a shed, repairing vehicles on weekends and holidays.

Mounting debt as a result of the main road detouring around Bulli shopping centre for six months during paving work forced Ivo to move his business to Bulli Pass in 1929.

Stranded motorists could wait days for parts from Sydney so Ivo began making car parts himself. Constructing a mould from old parts with Plaster of Paris he poured melted metal into the moulds finishing them off with a lathe. Customers would be on their way within a few hours.

When Ivo wanted new teeth during the depression he made an impression of his upper and lower teeth from wax and made a mould and poured in aluminium. The teeth and plate were all one piece and it was said he could bite a horse-shoe nail in half.

Possibly Ivo痴 most notable feat was in answer to a challenge to make a two shilling coin. As a result he fronted Bulli Court House in 1930 on a counterfeiting charge, which was dismissed by the Magistrate after Ivo explained how the coins were not to be circulated and they contained more silver than the real thing. The story goes the entire Bulli Court House (including the Magistrate, police and solicitors) later met at Ivo痴 garage for a celebration party.