Babs - A car RebornBabs started life as Count Zborowski's Chitty Bang Bang 4 (aka The Higham Special) and was built by Clive Gallop in 1923, the car was still under development when Count Zborowski was killed at the 1924 Italian Grand Prix at Monza whilst driving for the Mercedes works team. Parry-Thomas made the decision that he wanted a higher profile than could be achieved just racing at Brooklands and the land speed record was the way to go, he therefore purchased Chitty 4 from the late Count Zborowski's estate for £125. Parry-Thomas modified the car chassis and engine and replaced the car's body with the land speed record in mind. A New Land Speed Record In April 1926 Parry-Thomas used the car to raise the Land speed record to 171.02 mph at Pendine Sands in Wales, although Babs had achieved a significantly higher speed than the existing record held by Malcolm Campbell in "Blue bird" the weather had not been ideal and Babs may have been capable of even higher speeds. Malcolm Campbell fights back!Malcolm Campbell returned to Pendine Sands on the 4th of February 1927with his new Napier powered "Blue Bird" and raised the land speed record to 174.224 mph, only slightly faster than Babs had achieved and may not have been quick enough if Babs had been driven in similar conditions when she achieved her 171.02 mph record. Parry-Thomas returns to Pendine Sands with BabsParry-Thomas had been looking into several improvements to Babs including replacing the 1909 Benz chain drive system with a more modern prop-shaft but believed in the right conditions there was still more speed available in it's current configuration. Parry-Thomas returned to Pendine Sands with Babs although still recovering from flue and made a new attempt on the record on the 3rd of March 1927. Parry-Thomas lost control of Babs at about 100 mph, the car skidded, rolled and then caught fire. When Parry-Thomas's mechanics arrived at the crash site they found Parry-Thomas dead, partially decapitated, burned with both his legs trapped in the car, in a desperate attempt to recover to body from the still burning car they had to break both of Parry-Thomas's legs. Babs is buried and resurrectedFollowing an inquest into Parry-Thomas's death a decision was made to bury Babs in the sand dunes at Pendine Sands, here they car was to remain for forty two years at which time Owen Wyn Owen recovered the race car and spent well in excess of a decade re-building Babs to a fully working condition. | 
