A picture of a little boy in a blue model car is one of Collin Rich’s most prized possessions.

In the photo, the boy looks up at the camera and frowns. The resemblance between him and the 87-year-old Collin of Burrfield Drive, St Mary Cray, is not immediately obvious. But this was Collin many years ago.

The model is a copy of ‘Blue Bird’, the car that Sir Malcolm Campbell drove to break the land speed record in 1927.

Collin’s late father built the model. He spent hours and hours working away on it. Whilst the minute details of the car have not been copied exactly, it is a beautifully made miniature of the iconic vehicle.

After the Second World War, Collin’s father left him and his family. But Collin and his mother kept the photo safe over the decades, even after the car was lost.

Collin's father, Frederick Rich, was an Orpington-born plasterer and an obsessive Meccano fan.

He became an expert at building models and would often win competitions by sending his work into magazines.

But Frederick did not involve his son with his hobby and could be cruel.

Collin said: “One of the things that I remember very vividly was my father making a Meccano steam engine. He played with it in the kitchen but he wouldn’t let me anywhere near it.

“I had to look through the keyhole to catch a glimpse but then he put a tea towel over the handle to stop me looking in.

“I used to say to my mum: ‘when I grow up I’m going to buy the giant model steam engine, put it in the kitchen and then bring my dad around and make him sit in the other room so he can’t see it.’”

The model car was an exception.

Collin says that before he was born, his father got a plastering job in at the Chislehurst home of Sir Malcolm Campbell.

Sir Malcolm showed Frederick the plans for a racing car he was working on. Frederick explained that his son was going to be born and he asked if he could make a model of the car for him. Sir Malcolm agreed.

The two men became friendly and when Frederick built the model he showed it to Sir Malcolm. According to family legend Sir Malcolm asked Frederick what the model was called and Frederick told him that he was going to call it ‘Blue Bird.’

A week later Sir Malcolm apparently asked Frederick if he could use the name ‘Blue Bird’ for his car.

It is difficult to know how much of the story is true as Sir Malcolm was using the name ‘Blue Bird’ for his cars long before Collin was born.

But Collin still tells the story and it has become a part of why the photograph is so important to him.

Collin says that his father lost contact with Sir Malcolm during the War. It wasn’t just Sir Malcolm who lost contact with Frederick.

Frederick met another woman and left his family. It would be 50 years until Collin next saw his father. When the two finally met, Frederick was on his death bed.

Collin said: “When I look at the photo of the car it makes me think about what I missed. I never had a father to bring me up. My mother lived alone and she brought me up on her own.

“My dad was a real husky man. He could do anything and was amazing but we never had that father-son relationship.

“I was with him when he died. That was the only emotional bit that I had with him. It was a happy reunion, when I think about it, there is more I could have done but I just couldn’t get close to him at all."

Collin will be 88 years old in October. His father, mother and brother have all passed away. But he still has the picture of the car and it reminds him of happy memories from his childhood.

Collin said: “There were occasions when we went out together. I wasn’t allowed to play with the car by myself. I could only play with it with him so people could be impressed.

“They are still are fond memories. I can remember quite a few times when we went out on a Sunday morning. They were kind moments but that was as close as we got.

“Everybody who sees the photo says, ‘wow was that built by your father?’

“I look at the photo and think how could my father have made it? It really is beautiful.

“I had a father who did not care but I suppose he cared enough to build me the car.”