It’s the inventor’s curse, says Lindsay Wright, that ideas will just materialise whether you want them too or not.

And so it was, when Lindsay saw his father covered in oil after trying to do an oil change that an idea popped unexpectedly into his head.

“He had oil all over him and he was swearing and I thought how could I change the way people change oil? ... I know steel sumps! Magnets!” said Lindsay, who has spent the past six years perfecting his design for magnetic funnel that attaches to steel oil sumps, taking the mess out of an oil change.

“You can shove it up under there without having to hold it and so instead of holding a funnel for like 12 minutes, which is what a pour can take you just go click click and you buy back your time!”

Since the idea first tuck him, Lindsay has put in a lot of money, and lot of time and a lot of effort into getting his invention off the ground.

It has been a long road, but he says he is just about there.

“Twenty-three times I've had to change my design; it just doesn't happen overnight. People don't appreciate that this here comes over six years,” said Lindsay.

“But this will fit across most vehicle with steel sumps: trucks, heavy plant, small or large cars, mining equipment… It is unique and there is nothing like it.”

Even though many modern cars have oil pans made from non-ferrous alloys, Lindsay said his research has shown him there are still millions of vehicles on the road with steel oil pans that would benefit from his magnetic funnel.

It is what has kept him pushing ahead these past six years.

“People I know have told me I won’t do it, but it is about perseverance; I don't know anybody as stubborn as I am and who has the will to succeed,” said Lindsay, who has set up a GoFundMe page ‘Magnetic Funnel for Oil Change’ to get backing to bring his idea to the market.

“It will be available for purchase very soon,” he said. “It is all unique, I've got the design rights and it'll be the only one on the market.”

And it is not the last of Lindsay’s inventions we’ll be hearing about.

“I've still got plenty of ideas,” said Lindsay, who wasn’t willing to publicly divulge any details. “I haven't patented them yet, so no, I won't say, but I have about three or four other ideas. They just come to me, I don’t go out looking for them…

“You ask any inventor and they'll say ideas just come to them; they don't go out to seek the invention, inventions just come!”