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TOS shuttle model destroyed within the last 3 years?

J

jayrath

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Please tell me this isn't true. I find it hard to believe that such an iconic television model has been destroyed so recently. From the Memory Alpha website:

While still in the process of being restored, the mock-up made an appearance at the "LagrangeCon '91" in November 1991 near Cleveland, Ohio. Reportedly a disagreement between owner and fanclub, caused the cooperation to cease in or shortly after 1993 and the owner had the craft moved to an industrial site for again open storage near Akron, Ohio where it has been spotted until 2008. The owner of the site lost contact with the owner of the mock-up, shortly after it was stored there and when the site went bankrupt in 2008, the mock-up was most likely destroyed during clearance of the terrain.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Class_F_shuttlecraft
 
There are some indications that the mockup actually survived the clearing of the lot (pictures of the lot after the clearing show what is presumed to be the shuttle under a tarp, still on its trailer), only to disappear again. There's quite a lengthy thread on Doug Drexler's blog on this subject.

Finding out what happened to the ol' girl has become a bit of a minor quest. I'll never understand people who acquire major items like this and promptly go underground with them. What's the frelling point if you're not going to show it off (or, when things go sideways, send out a distress call so someone can chip in and keep a priceless tv artifact from becoming an afternoon snack for a bulldozer)?
 
If it is found to still exist, it needs to be donated to a museum. Count me in for a donation if anyone needs help to make it happen.

Just to clear things up :

-Guy buys it years ago, stores it at a storage lot then shortly after this, he disappears off the face of the earth.

- Owner of storage lot looks after it for years, but in the face of going broke, decides to let it be bulldozed rather than sell it?

Doesn't make a lot of sense :confused:
 
It was almost destroyed once before. I recall an issue of "Enterprise Incidents" in the 80s, which had photos of a barely-more-than-skeletal remains of the rusted shuttle after it had spent many years in the grounds of a pre-school to which it had been donated after the end of TOS.
 
Oh, so it's had a fan give it a major overhaul I guess.

Still, a shame to see it lost, even if it was only the original skeleton that remained.
 
My grandmother's favourite b/w television was like that. It had two new cabinets and three new picture tubes over several decades, but godamn it was a reliable ol' TV. ;)
 
I still believe that somebody has it, whether the last owner of record or somebody who recognized what was under that tarp and got it the hell out of there. It's too damn big to be bulldozed by accident, so they'd have to at least look under the tarp beforehand.
 
I'd like to think so.

Surely someone who reads this forum must know the last owner, or have a connection to him/her.

I need to know now!
 
Agreed! Surely the Seattle sci fi museum would want it. (The Smithsonian allegedly turned it down.) If nothing else, Paramount should want to warehouse it as a setpiece. Heck, if it's demolition and nothing else, I bet we'd all pay to jointly own it somewhere, even in a storage locker.
 
From this month's Star Trek Magazine...

TrekLife.jpg
 
It makes me cry when unique objects are destroyed or lost forever. I still get teary-eyed when I think of extinct languages and films of which no copies exist.

:wah:
 
jayrath said:
If nothing else, Paramount should want to warehouse it as a setpiece.
Click to expand...

To do what with it?

Paramount sold off thousands of items, large and small, a few years ago so they wouldn't have to keep using valuable space for storage. If they warehoused this rusting old hulk (and it was hardly recognizable in the 1980s, barely more than framework), what would they do with it? "As a setpiece" suggests it would be somehow useful to them?

Should they also keep the TMP orbital shuttle, the ST V shuttlecraft, the various TNG shuttles, the DS9 runabout, the VOY Delta Flyer and the ENT Shuttlepod?
 
itisnotlogical said:
It makes me cry when unique objects are destroyed or lost forever. I still get teary-eyed when I think of extinct languages and films of which no copies exist.

:wah:
Click to expand...

:( Crimean Gothic: antiquity-1700A.D. RIP NEVER FORGET


i was very sad thinking i would never see mystery science theater 3000 again after my source got shut down leaving me with only the first 3 seasons on dvd, then the pirate bay came into existence, now i have them all

lesson is there is always hope
 
Anybody seen the "Star Trek Phase II" episode entitled "In Harm's Way"? There's a scene with the TOS shuttle appearing in a garage. (See forum link for some discussion). I know it wasn't the real thing, but in light of the mystery surrounding the original, it's a funny sight.

Here's what Greg Schnitzer said back in 2008 about it:
Greg said:
Lynne Miller purchased the poor, rundown Galileo in 1989 for $3000 and had it trucked from Southern California to the Akron-Canton airport where restoration efforts began. The progress of restoration efforts was fairly public and there are pictures of the Galileo from 1991.

After that, the trail becomes a bit cold. Either Lynne Miller still owns it and wants to keep a lower profile now--or she sold it to someone else. Either way, Star Trek fan Greg Tyler indicates on his Trekplace web site that he has been in contact with the current owner, the owner wishes to remain private, and, as of December 2005, the Galileo was still in Ohio (possibly in Youngstown) and was nearly fully restored.
Click to expand...

In case some of you haven't seen it, here's a video (14.5mb) from 1991 when the shuttle is captured sitting in a dirt lot, loaded onto a flat bed for moving, and then experiencing partial renovation. The intro part is a bit long and uninteresting, so advance to 00:35 for the start of the footage.
 
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I saw the Galileo on display in a semi-restored condition at a convention here in L.A. in 1982. Looks like it suffered a bit more wear and tear between then and when that video was taken.
 
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