The Amazing Bluebirds

I came across this picture by Jack Vettriano and whilst impressive in its own right, it relates to an individual and the cars that achieved an even more impressive feat - breaking the world land speed record on a number of occasions. The individual is of course Sir Malcolm Campbell and the picture represents the birth of the first of the amazing Bluebirds.

The story goes that after watching a play one evening by the same name, Sir Malcolm was inspired to christen his own land speed vehicle Blue bird by painting it blue and subsequently achieved a number of land speed records in successive Bluebirds (detailed below).

The first thing that strikes you about these cars is the sheer size of them. They look mighty and imposing even today and so you can only imagine what the impact of sighting one of these behemoths back in the 20s and 30s would have been. They are also quite beautiful in their own way and capture the spirit of a pioneering period where man was seeking to continually push back the limits of what was considered possible. An exciting time for sure, particularly in Britain, where we were determinedly aiming to catch and overtake our European counterparts in terms of motor sporting accomplishment.

What follows is a summary of the amazing Bluebirds:

Sunbeam 350HP - Blue Bird

Napier-Campbell Blue Bird II

Napier-Campbell Blue Bird III

Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird

Campbell-Railton Blue Bird