Owen Wyn rebuilt a little bit of Welsh motor racing history ...
Welsh racing driver, Parry Thomas was killed on Pendine Sands in 1927 whilst challenging his own land speed record of 170.6mph which he'd set in 1926. 'Babs', Parry's car, was buried in the sands. There it stayed for 42 years, until Owen, a retired lecturer in engineering, motor historian and restorer of vintage cars, pursued permission to dig it up. It was a struggle; local people still remembered the day Parry died and there was some opposition to his car being disinterred. The go-ahead was eventually given in 1969.
Pinpointing the position of the car amongst the wide miles of sand dunes could have felt like a fool's task, but Owen found 'Babs' surprisingly easily. "Fortunately, in the local pub, I saw a photograph which had been taken looking inland from the sea, just before 'Babs' was tipped into the hole that had been dug..." Using the position of two houses in the photograph to calculate the position of 'Babs' grave, Owen knew where to start digging.
Owen’s brother-in-law, his son and a friend began work. "We gained a lot of volunteer helpers," says Owen. "We started digging Saturday lunchtime, and by Monday lunchtime we had the car dug out!" It was more or less in one piece as it was pulled from its sandy grave.
It took Owen ten years to restore ‘Babs’ chassis and the monster 27 litre engine. He and his son tour the country with the car, but it returns to Pendine every July and August. "'Babs' is a bit of Welsh history," says Owen.
