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| Adam and I in front of Galileo |
As many of you know, Adam Schneider and I acquired the Galileo shuttlecraft full size set from the original Star Trek this past June in at auction. So I thought I would give a little history of the project and where it is going.
In June of 2010 I started hunting for the Galileo after reading a thread on a forum about it. My good friend Steve Thomas knew the parties who were the restorers and the last known owner of it. I asked Steve to make inquiries into it and see if we could find it. Unfortunately, the owner had disappeared and the last know location of the Galileo had been sold and the Galileo moved or destroyed.
I asked Steve to write up a history of the Galileo which he did and which we originally published on the Startrekprops.com, The Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Blog here:
http://www.propworx....galileo-part-i/
and here:
http://startrekaucti...eo-part-ii.html
They are also posted on the Galileo Restoration website that we have put together here:
http://galileorestoration.com/
As I am a regular blogger for StarTrek.com, the official CBS Star Trek website, I got these articles of Steve's published there last year when we were still looking for the old girl.
And here is an article on the restoration Lynn Miller undertook with the help of Bill Krause and his crew from the Star Trek fan club USS Lagrange.
http://startrekaucti...estoration.html
So when Lynn resurfaced with the Galileo and posted her intent to sell it, I started a dialog with her. A lot of fan groups wanted to get her, but Propworx and my role with the CBS Star Trek archive let Lynn know we had the ability to restore the Galileo the right way. Adam Schneider, who is one of the biggest collectors of Star Trek screen-used filming miniatures called me and said "What do we need to do to save her?" Adam, like I, strongly feels that Galileo is a piece of history and needs to be preserved. And Adam has the ability and connections to do this the right way. So we made an offer to Lynn, but she wanted to go the auction route and did.
Adam and I won it at auction and began the process of looking for restoration facilities and museums. The idea is for us to restore it to its full glory and then donate it to a museum for all fans to see. Adam has great connections with the two biggest museums we are thinking of donating it to, and we have hunted down a few others as well (more on this later).
A lot of my effort has been to getting the word out and getting Trek luminaries involved. Doug Drexler, Mike Okuda and John Eaves have all attached their names to the project. I sold both Doug and Mike's collections so they were only a phone call away. John Eaves, who I am a huge fan of, called me up and said he wanted to do whatever we needed to help.
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| Gene Winfield |
And then, after we moved all of the Galileo parts to its new storage facility, I got the contact info for Gene Winfield, legendary hot rod customizer and builder of the Galileo. He is located 2 hours north of me in Mojave, CA. So on my way to the Las Vegas Star Trek convention (The world's biggest Star Trek convention where Adam and I were speaking on Galileo) I stopped by and saw Gene. he was totally excited that we won the Galileo and committed to do anything he could to help. He even still had the molds for the seats they used as well as other parts we will need to refurbish her.
So that is where we are at the moment. Adam has been doing all the leg work on where to restore Galileo and it is on the move to a shop that will bring it back to its original condition that is near Adam.
More info and photos to come.
Alec
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| Brookes Ames (Auctioneer) and Lynne Miller (former owner) with Adam and I on the day we moved Galileo |