National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
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Babs Recovery 1927-1969
Exhumation of car – ‘Babs’ – which killed John Godfrey Parry Thomas 3/3/1927 when he attempted to beat the land speed record set by Malcolm Campbell in ‘Bluebird’ a month earlier.
From the collection of:
Overview
Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire: silent, colour footage shot by the MOD of the raising of 'Babs' - the car in which John Godfrey Parry Thomas (b. 1884, Wrexham) was killed on 3/3/1927 whilst attempting to beat the land speed record set by Malcolm Campbell a month earlier at 174.22 mph. After the crash, the car was buried in the sands and lay there until permission was granted in 1969 for Owen Wyn Owen, an engineering lecturer at Bangor Technical College, to excavate it.
The car was restored over the following 15 years by Owen Wyn Owen and is now housed in The Museum of Speed, Pendine. The footage shows men working to clear sand and debris from the rust-ridden car partly exposed in a deep, water-logged hole in the sand, and its eventual raising by crane. Police, cameramen, interested individuals and a party of schoolchildren are seen looking on and Owen Wyn Owen, wearing a yellow waterproof jacket, is interviewed. Owen became known as "Atgyfodwr Babs" (Resurrector of Babs) – this was inscribed on the Tom Pryce Trophy he was awarded in 1999 by the Welsh Motoring Writers group.
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