The Story of John Parry Thomas of Bwlch-y-Cibau
75 years ago, a solitary Welshman, John Godfrey Parry Thomas, was preparing to become the fastest man on wheels, driving a secondhand car for which he had paid next to nothing. At that stage his target was the 150mph set by Malcolm Campbell in his 18.3-litre Bluebird. The setting for the attempt was Pendine Sands, the six-mile beach on the Welsh coast between Saundersfoot and Laugharne.
Born in Wrexham in 1885, Parry-Thomas went to Oswestry School and was nicknamed "Bullocks One" because at the time, his father was the vicar of Bwlch-y-Cibau. He became chief engineer at Leyland Motors and was given a free hand to create the world's finest car. The Leyland Eight was a technical triumph but too expensive to be anything other than a commercial failure. Parry Thomas left Leyland in 1922 and moved to the Brooklands racetrack. He quickly became one of Britain's most popular and successful racers.
Count Zborowski
Record-breaking made headlines in those days, when road-going cars capable of exceeding even 50mph were rare. British contenders who had dominated the "speed king" scene since the Great War included Malcolm Campbell and Henry Seagrave, whose 4-litre Sunbeam is still raced in Vintage Sports Car Club events. Determined to break the record, but lacking funds, Parry Thomas paid £125 for a colossus called the Higham Special. Renamed Babs, after a friend's young daughter, this was one of several monsters built for swashbuckling Count Louis Zborowski. Although it looked and sounded impressive, the Higham Special was little more sophisticated than a 19th-century combine harvester. The burly Welshman spent another £650 to make Babs a serious contender. He fitted four Zenith carburettors, improved the suspension and steering, and constructed a long-tailed body that resembled a giant insect.
The Rivals
Campbell and his Bluebird had proved Pendine's suitability, but the 152mph record attacked by Parry Thomas in April 1926 had been set a month earlier on the beach at Southport, Lancashire, by Seagrave and the Sunbeam. "Bullocks One" favoured the land of his fathers. The engine misfired and belched black smoke from its 12 exhausts, and patches of soft sand made Babs weave from side to side, but the record was hoisted up to 162mph. The car ran better the next day, leaving Seagrave, Campbell and other hopefuls to contemplate beating 171mph. Sure enough, Campbell and his new Bluebird inched the target up to 174mph the following February. Pressure on Parry Thomas was increased by the knowledge that Seagrave was heading for Daytona Beach, Florida, with a new twin-engined Sunbeam whose 22.5 litre engines combined to deliver almost 900bhp.
Parry Thomas was recovering from influenza when he trailered Babs to Pendine on 1 March 1927. He hit a bump at almost 180mph, was bounced out of his seat - there were no seat belts in those days - and nearly lost his goggles.
Triumph and Disaster
Conditions were far from ideal on 3 March, but Parry Thomas made four preliminary runs before being clocked at over 170mph. He had just completed the mandatory second run - then, as now, world records depended on the two way average - when the car went out of control, rolled over and virtually decapitated its driver. The cause of the accident is unknown, although there are several theories, and a broken timing wire made it impossible to tell if Parry Thomas had beaten Campbell's record seconds before his death. "Bullocks One" was buried in Byfleet churchyard, near Brooklands. The battered remains of his car were dragged to the dunes at Pendine and dumped in a pit.
Resurrection
In 1969, all of 42 years after the disaster, Babs was exhumed by Owen Wyn Owen, an engineering lecturer and a dauntless vintage car enthusiast from North Wales. He set about what must be the most audacious restoration project in motoring history. The great car now runs again, blasting flames from its exhaust pipes, and makes occasional public appearances. It delighted crowds at the Vintage Sports Car Club's hill climb at Loton Park, Shropshire. In the words of one spectator: "This is the greatest comeback since Lazarus."
