Collecting Bluebird Models and Toys

It took Malcolm Campbell’s 1928 Land Speed Record at Daytona Beach in the USA to capture the attention of the toy manufacturers. His previous exploits and records established in Europe didn’t get modelled until the 1970s when artisans started producing collectible scale models of Campbell’s earlier record holders, about which, more later.

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Quite what Nelson Lee's young readers thought of the accuracy of this "real metal model" of the 1927 BB, shown immediately below, is hard to know. Boys had to bend a flat sheet of lithographed "Tinplate" to make this model. Clearly the results were not highly valued by young boys and these are now very hard to find.

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The 1928 LSR holder was modelled in both slush molded and diecast lead as well as Zamak and cast iron - mostly in small scales. Kingsbury produced a beautiful 19 inch tinplate (actually pressed steel) in 1928. With a clockwork motor and produced with Campbell’s approval . Tootsietoys didn’t get their small lead and Zamak Models to market until 1932 but there were a variety of slush molds produced around the same time and for some years afterwards mostly in the USA. I also have a couple of small Danish ones.

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There were plenty of models of the 1931 to 1933 record holders in a variety of scales and materials as can be seen here along with some jigsaw puzzles, books and ephemera.

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It is the 1935 version which pushed the LSR to over 300mph that really caught the eyes of the world’s toymakers. I have versions in lead, Zamak, plaster, plastic, “flour and plaster” and tin, in sizes ranging from 6cm to about 30 cm and from about 20 different manufacturers in England, France, Germany, Japan and the USA.

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After the second world war Donald, Malcom Cambell' son took out...

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From the 1970s onwards collectors’ 1/43 scale models were available in resin and white metal. Artisan producers took advantage of resin molding and low temperature, white metal, centrifugal casting in rubber molds to produce small runs of models for niche collectors. Western Models produced a series of white metal LSR holders and these were quite widely available as compared to many of the smaller artisan’s productions which were quite hard to obtain even contemporaneously. Quality varied amongst these early manufacturers. People like Ugo Fadini in Italy, John Shinton and Ralf Foster (Pandora) produced some of the finest series of Bluebirds and other LSR cars. For the first time collectors could realistically aim to collect all the Land Speed Record holders from 1898 to the present day in a constant 1/43 scale. The very few early cars that have not yet been produced will most likely be available in coming years from the handful of specialist/enthusiast producers such as Touchwood Models who specialise in supplying LSR collectors.

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It is also fair to say that with the passing of time production techniques have improved and new brands have grown up to exploit the possibilities of photo etched steel, tampo printing and 3D prototyping. Amongst these Bizarre and Spark (brands with which the we are associated) have consistently improved on models previously issued by other manufacturers in years past as well as bringing out new exclusive models.

Paolo Rampini of Italy produced some of the very earliest resin models. These appear to have been scaled to sit alongside models by Britains, Johillco, Dinky and Corgi. They are now very hard to find and valued by LSR collectors perhaps more for their rarity and charm, rather than accuracy or detail.

There were also small wooden hand carved models produced by RD Marmande and Mercator in France. While these were comparatively crude, they did capture the essence of the prototypes and today they have enormous charm.

The pictures here are marked as my own or else culled from the Internet.