Nauticalia

Donald Campbell was the first, and remains the only, person ever to have set both land and water speed records, in the same year. Son of Sir Malcolm Campbell, the holder of several speed records in the 1920s and 30s, Donald began his own attempts in 1949, aided by his father's engineer Leo Villa. Between 1955 and 1964 he set no less than seven water speed records in the jet-powered hydroplane - Bluebird K7 - he had developed, peaking at 276.33mph on 31 December 1964. Meanwhile he had also built Bluebird CN7, a turbine-powered four wheel "car", in which he set a new world land speed record of 403.1mph (17 July 1964). Tragically he was killed at Lake Coniston on 4 January 1967, in a modified K7, during a further attempt on the water speed record. In his first run he had achieved 297.6mph, and his speed on the second run peaked at over 320mph before Bluebird flipped over and broke in half. Campbell's land speed record attempts were beset with problems and CN7 never really fulfilled its potential (thought to be 500mph). They did hold the record for a few months in 1964, and remained the fastest ever wheel-driven vehicle until 2001 (after CN7 the records were held by pure jet cars).
 
Bluebird CN7 is now on display at the National Motor Museum. This exceptional quality model is made from kiln-dried mahogany, carved, joined and sanded by hand. The secret of the amazing finish is the application of 35 coats of enamel, after which the artist paints the remaining details by hand.

Each model comes supplied with a free copy of the Bluebird book (see 97574 below).

Model length 13.5", height 4".