Tin Toys
Schylling Bluebird Land Speed Car

In 1933, at Daytona Beach Florida, British driver Sir Malcom Campbell set a new land speed record in the 2,500 horsepower Bluebird.

The Schylling Bluebird Land Speed Car is a tin wind-up model of the original Bluebird that set a new speed record in 1933. On February 22 of that year, at Daytona Beach Florida, Sir Malcom Campbell drove the 2,500 horsepower Bluebird to a new land speed record of 272.463 miles per hour.

The beach was unusually rough during the run and was covered with a low-hanging mist that partially obscured the course and the Bluebird windshield. Sir Malcom noted later “Throughout the run each way I was bucking about like a pea in a pod, and more than once it seemed that I would go either into the dunes or into the ocean.”

The original Bluebird is now on permanent display in the Nascar exhibit hall at the Daytona International Speedway.