Next up is a man I knew nothing about until a family holiday alerted me to his story, that man is J G Parry Thomas.
John Godfrey Parry Thomas was born in The north wales town of Wrexham on 06th April 1884 the son of the curate of Rhosddu and at the age of 5 the family moved to nearby Oswestry, Thomas continued his education at Oswestry school and then studied Engineering at the city & guilds collage London, Parry Thomas was always destined to become an engineer and in 1917 he was made chief engineer for Leyland Motors and the prospect for him to make luxury cars and along with his assistant Reid Railton the pair set out to make the Leyland Eight a luxury car to compete with Rolls Royce and in 1921 the Leyland Eight "Lion of Olympia" named after the 1920 motor show where it was first shown the Eight was finally made available to the public at a hefty cost of £2,700 for the imposing five seater tourer and it was the price that ultimately became its demise as only 8 cars were made, Parry Thomas tested every single car up to 100mph an impressive speed considering the WLSR (world land speed record) was a modest 124mph. One of the Eights was made for Michael Collins the Irish revolutionary leader and 2 for the Maharajah of Patiala, each car had a different body making each car unique. Parry Thomas started racing the Leyland's in early 1922 despite concerns from the Leyland board of directors Parry Thomas races an Eight at Brooklands’s Race track in Surrey England, the racing started to become an obsession for Parry Thomas and it wasn't long before it lead to him leaving Leyland to concentrate on racing full time although it's worth mentioning that the split was amicable with Leyland donating parts to Parry Thomas including chassis. Brooklands’s became home to Parry Thomas as he moved into a cottage on the grounds of the famous race track, Motor racing was going through a purple patch at the time and had many stars such as Englishman Count Zborowski who later was killed in 1924 at Monza Italy in fact J G Parry Thomas gained from his friends death when Zborowski's car the Higham special was put up for sale by the Counts estate, Thomas bought the car which feature a 27,059 cc Liberty Aero engin a Benz gearbox and featured a chain final drive which he christened "Babs" and in April 1926 Parry Thomas took Babs to Pendine sands in South Wales a 6 mile stretch of beach that was the scene of Malcolm Campbell's WLSR 24th September 1924, with a speed of 146.16 mph in a Sunbeam 350. On April 27th 1926 In poor conditions Parry Thomas took the record, unhappy with the conditions Parry Thomas took Babs back on the beach this time reaching 170mph a speed that remained the record until February 1927 when Campbell set a new WLSR in a car named "Blue Bird" at a speed of 174.88mph as a result Parry Thomas took the rebuilt Babs back to Pendine Sands on the 3rd March 1927 after complaining of the Flu Parry Thomas climbed inside Babs for the final time and after he had done some practice runs Parry Thomas set out on the timed race but tragically Babs skidded along the beach and rolled over before ending up in the edge of the Bristol Channel as a result of the crash Parry Thomas was killed.
Parry Thomas was buried at St Mary's Churchyard in Byfleet, Surrey close to the Brookland’s Circuit.
Parry-Thomas was a truly marvellous engineer and racing driver whose legacy will live on among his fellow engineers and racing drivers alike.
BABS
After the inquest into Parry Thomas's death Babs was buried in the sand close to where he died at Pendine Sands, Babs remained here for 42 years when in 1969 in was controversially at the time dug up by another Welshman Owen Wyn-Owen an engineering lecturer form Bangor Technical Collage, Wyn-Owen painstakingly restored Babs back to its original condition before that tragic day in 1927, he started testing Babs at Helyg straight in the early 1970s after being towed by the local garage owner's Land Rover (Dafydd Hughes and his mechanic Allan Hughes), to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and then "Babs" was bump started. The gearing was so high that being towed was the only way to get "Babs" moving under her own power. The car was later successfully demonstrated in front of the world press and television on an air field near RAF Valley, Anglesey. Babs is now located at the Museum of Speed in Pindine Sands South Wales the home of its greatest and most tragic moment, if you are ever in the area of Pendine Sands I would defiantly advise you to take a visit there
John Godfrey Parry Thomas was born in The north wales town of Wrexham on 06th April 1884 the son of the curate of Rhosddu and at the age of 5 the family moved to nearby Oswestry, Thomas continued his education at Oswestry school and then studied Engineering at the city & guilds collage London, Parry Thomas was always destined to become an engineer and in 1917 he was made chief engineer for Leyland Motors and the prospect for him to make luxury cars and along with his assistant Reid Railton the pair set out to make the Leyland Eight a luxury car to compete with Rolls Royce and in 1921 the Leyland Eight "Lion of Olympia" named after the 1920 motor show where it was first shown the Eight was finally made available to the public at a hefty cost of £2,700 for the imposing five seater tourer and it was the price that ultimately became its demise as only 8 cars were made, Parry Thomas tested every single car up to 100mph an impressive speed considering the WLSR (world land speed record) was a modest 124mph. One of the Eights was made for Michael Collins the Irish revolutionary leader and 2 for the Maharajah of Patiala, each car had a different body making each car unique. Parry Thomas started racing the Leyland's in early 1922 despite concerns from the Leyland board of directors Parry Thomas races an Eight at Brooklands’s Race track in Surrey England, the racing started to become an obsession for Parry Thomas and it wasn't long before it lead to him leaving Leyland to concentrate on racing full time although it's worth mentioning that the split was amicable with Leyland donating parts to Parry Thomas including chassis. Brooklands’s became home to Parry Thomas as he moved into a cottage on the grounds of the famous race track, Motor racing was going through a purple patch at the time and had many stars such as Englishman Count Zborowski who later was killed in 1924 at Monza Italy in fact J G Parry Thomas gained from his friends death when Zborowski's car the Higham special was put up for sale by the Counts estate, Thomas bought the car which feature a 27,059 cc Liberty Aero engin a Benz gearbox and featured a chain final drive which he christened "Babs" and in April 1926 Parry Thomas took Babs to Pendine sands in South Wales a 6 mile stretch of beach that was the scene of Malcolm Campbell's WLSR 24th September 1924, with a speed of 146.16 mph in a Sunbeam 350. On April 27th 1926 In poor conditions Parry Thomas took the record, unhappy with the conditions Parry Thomas took Babs back on the beach this time reaching 170mph a speed that remained the record until February 1927 when Campbell set a new WLSR in a car named "Blue Bird" at a speed of 174.88mph as a result Parry Thomas took the rebuilt Babs back to Pendine Sands on the 3rd March 1927 after complaining of the Flu Parry Thomas climbed inside Babs for the final time and after he had done some practice runs Parry Thomas set out on the timed race but tragically Babs skidded along the beach and rolled over before ending up in the edge of the Bristol Channel as a result of the crash Parry Thomas was killed.
Parry Thomas was buried at St Mary's Churchyard in Byfleet, Surrey close to the Brookland’s Circuit.
Parry-Thomas was a truly marvellous engineer and racing driver whose legacy will live on among his fellow engineers and racing drivers alike.
BABS
After the inquest into Parry Thomas's death Babs was buried in the sand close to where he died at Pendine Sands, Babs remained here for 42 years when in 1969 in was controversially at the time dug up by another Welshman Owen Wyn-Owen an engineering lecturer form Bangor Technical Collage, Wyn-Owen painstakingly restored Babs back to its original condition before that tragic day in 1927, he started testing Babs at Helyg straight in the early 1970s after being towed by the local garage owner's Land Rover (Dafydd Hughes and his mechanic Allan Hughes), to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and then "Babs" was bump started. The gearing was so high that being towed was the only way to get "Babs" moving under her own power. The car was later successfully demonstrated in front of the world press and television on an air field near RAF Valley, Anglesey. Babs is now located at the Museum of Speed in Pindine Sands South Wales the home of its greatest and most tragic moment, if you are ever in the area of Pendine Sands I would defiantly advise you to take a visit there