The Return of Blueb...
 

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The Return of Bluebird

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 P20
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Lots of social media coverage and people very happy that Bluebird has returned to Coniston.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cumbria-68527144

The back story however is quite sad

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-68434707

The parties involved had different ideas. Smith making comments like wanting to offer a piece to the family or cutting the tail fin off as a souvenir aren’t great. I don’t know how much the museum or the family have contributed to the recovery and/or rebuild but it reads like they just felt it was their right to have it back at the museum as opposed to Smiths plan to tour it as a running exhibition.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 11:45 am
 csb
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Reads to me like they are a bunch of unreasonable people fighting to own a money making opportunity.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 11:57 am
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Interesting story, sounds like everyone involved has been unreasonable at some stage. Glad that Donald Campbell's body was recovered and properly put to rest as well as Bluebird being restored and being put on display. So it all turned out ok in the end.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 1:21 pm
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Its not really restored is it?  How much original is actually used.  Its a replica

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 1:24 pm
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I thought the normal convention was that if you started with the original and used some of it then its restoration. Based on watching a program about spitfires

For reference there is now apparently no piece of wood or rope in the HMS victory that was in the original.

I have to say I shall enjoy popping in too see Bluebird in the summer

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 1:55 pm
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Mixed feelings - I think if I was the family I'd have preferred if he and has boat had not been recovered in the first few weeks/months after the crash, to stay where it was.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 2:01 pm
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Its not really restored is it?  How much original is actually used.  Its a replica

Tally hoed

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 2:05 pm
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 if you started with the original and used some of it then its restoration.

That's my understanding also. By all accounts Donald was a bit of an arse, and his dad Malcolm dabbled a bit in Fascism, so this bitter legacy sounds suitably on point for the family as a whole.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 2:14 pm
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I've been watching the restoration on and off for years and my eldest has been a big fan since very young (land and water speed record vehicles in general, in speechless awe as a youngster meeting Richard Noble and Andy Green, staying up "late" on a Sunday to watch Bill Smith on Scrapheap Challenge etc).

It is good that the thing has finally ended up in Coniston, but very difficult and complicated circumstances that have led to this point.

Anyone who argues that it isn't "original" have clearly not been watching the restoration. They have somehow saved and repaired many pieces that have literally been tattered fragments of mangled scrap. Any bits made from new have been because nothing usable was left, and they used authentic techniques, materials plus advice and skills from people involved with the original project.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 3:32 pm
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We did the Coniston boat trip on Thursday and got all the Bluebird details from the commentary. If you start the boat trip from the Coniston pier the boat stops on the other side of the lake where you can take a short walk to the Ruskin museum to see Bluebird from March 19th.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 3:48 pm
 Spin
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Its not really restored is it? How much original is actually used

Trigger's broom?

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 3:50 pm
 jimw
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For reference there is now apparently no piece of wood or rope in the HMS victory that was in the original.

Not according to the Navy museum website. About 20% of her structure is from launch, more from 1805. She was extensively modified before Trafalgar

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 3:57 pm
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they've been milking this for years

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 4:32 pm
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Who has?

My cousin is one of the original dive team, originally a wreck diver he then got fascinated by the engineering of it all. >20 years of work to get it back to where it is now, using as much of the original as they could, is some feat whether you believe it should have been done or not.

 
Posted : 10/03/2024 5:06 pm
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Its not really restored is it?  How much original is actually used.  Its a replica

No. It isn’t. Looking at the photos of K7 as she was lifted out of the water, there’s over half of the main fuselage/hull, and I think a fair amount of the cockpit was found, because Cambell’s shoe and his teddy bear mascot were found, and I think some of the sponsons were found as well.

In historic car and aircraft restoration, as long as the original VIN or other identification plate is there, plus other frame or mechanical components are available, what is finished is officially classed as a restoration.
Don’t try arguing about it, that is the official position when any wrecked vehicle, aircraft, boat or whatever is re-built. Irrespective of who was involved in the recovery and rebuilding of K7, the boat is the property of Campbell’s family, no argument.
Also comments about any sympathies for the Nazi Party before the war are being disingenuous - a very large part of the British people and government were sympathetic towards them; up until they started invading Poland, closely followed by much of the rest of Europe.

Just because someone drags something off the bottom of a lake doesn’t make them the owner, especially when the actual family of the person who built it are still alive. I’ll just point in the direction of metal detectorists who go out on someone else’s property, find something valuable, and then try to claim ownership and sell it…

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 12:17 am
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I have a 1960 bsa twin that is having an engine rebuild right now.  All 1960 parts bar con rods oil pump and generator and i would never claim it to be original or restored.  Because it is not.  Its a rebuild.   Its a bitsa.  It didnt come out of the factory with the crankcase crank head  barrels pistons etc so it is not original despite everything being period correct

What the count says is very much disputed in the old vehicle world

A vehicle is only orginal once.

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 2:57 am
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Also comments about any sympathies for the Nazi Party

Who mentioned the Nazis? Malcolm was linked to the British Union of Fascists.

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 6:52 am
 Spin
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Philosophy to the rescue!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Maybe...

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 7:01 am
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Mark E Smith, and latterly David Gedge have definitely answered this.

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 7:06 am
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snip...and i would never claim it to be original or restored

Service, change filters. Change 65 year old tyres, it's not original but it's definitely on the spectrum.

It's a matter of opinion where it falls and you have high standards 🙂

EDIT "DVLA can only recognise your vehicle as a reconstructed classic vehicle if it meets certain criteria. It must be:

  • built from genuine period components from more than one vehicle, all over 25 years old and of the same specification as the original vehicle
  • a true reflection of the marque"

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/reconstructed-classic-vehicles

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 7:12 am
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Given that the average life span of a human cells is about 7 years, does that make you a restoration or a rebuild @tjagain? If you consider yourself to be the same person, I think we can probably allow a bit of leeway for boats.

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 7:34 am
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A vehicle is only orginal once.

Your the first person to say original, the boat is restored

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 9:00 am
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A vehicle is only orginal once.

Your the first person to say original, the boat is restored

Is your motorbike now a replica? No it’s restored

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 9:02 am
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I'm not sure I'm restored as my body is definitely not in the same working order as it was when I was born...I think it would be closer to 'inferior replacement'...I'm glad to say the restoration stuff I've seen, all appear to not be like that but are either manufactured new bits of the original stuff or replaced with parts from a same-aged model.

 
Posted : 11/03/2024 9:59 am

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