At home with the Speed King: inside the Campbell cave

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There's a lot to see in this enchanting shot. We're inside Malcolm Campbell’s workshop in Surrey in 1928, with the man himself proudly leaning on the workbench in full knickerbocker glory. Campbell was London’s Bugatti concessionaire, so he must have driven quite a few examples of France’s finest in England. Is this the 1926 Type 35 he is said to have owned privately? And can anyone who can make an educated guess at the other vehicle, of which we can only see a glimpse in the right-hand corner of the photograph?

Interestingly, the picture was supposedly taken near Horley, at the Campbells' home at Povey Cross Cottage, but according to the local historical society the land speed record holder only moved to that house in 1931, the year he was knighted. We found that the garage adjacent to the house had been turned into a guest house by 2022 (when Povey Cross Cottage made it to the market), so there's no tinkering on cars anymore.

Anyway: apart from the cars there is an eclectic mix of parts and tools to maintain and work on them and wonder about for us almost a century later. Steering wheels hang on the top beam, a great number of jacks are stored under the bench and there is definitely some interesting machinery at the back. There's even a ghost beside the Bugatti—that has to be someone who moved too much while the photograph was taken...

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: archive
 

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