A chit for a bang-bang
December 18, 2010 11:10 AM Subscribe
In the 1920's, there was a series of race cars developed by Count Louis Zborowski, Chitty Bang Bang I through IV. Though in the film version of Ian Fleming's book the name came from the sound the cars made, there is some conjecture that the name is based on a bawdy WWI song. Zborowski died before finishing Chitty Bang Bang 4, (also known as the Higham Special). The car killed its next owner in a particularly grisly fashion and was buried on the spot by his horrified friends.
J G Parry-Thomas purchased Chitty Bang Bang 4 and renamed the car "Babs". In 1927 he set the world land speed record at 174 mph on the sand at Pendine Sands, Wales. On the next attempt however:
"The car skidded, turned over and over and then slewed round to face the sea. The scene for those first to arrive was not pretty, Parry-Thomas was still in the car, partially decapitated and burned. the car was on fire and in order to retrieve the body from the blazing wreck two of Parry-Thomas's crew had the unpleasant task of breaking the legs of the corpse before the fire prevented them reaching it. "
The car was buried in the sand on the beach where it remained for 42 years. In 1969, Owen Wyn Owen dug up the car and started a restoration that would take 15 years. Babs is currently on display at the Museum of Speed at Pendine.
The sound of Babs.
Some Video of Babs running (starts about 2 min in).
Babs warming up.
J G Parry-Thomas purchased Chitty Bang Bang 4 and renamed the car "Babs". In 1927 he set the world land speed record at 174 mph on the sand at Pendine Sands, Wales. On the next attempt however:
"The car skidded, turned over and over and then slewed round to face the sea. The scene for those first to arrive was not pretty, Parry-Thomas was still in the car, partially decapitated and burned. the car was on fire and in order to retrieve the body from the blazing wreck two of Parry-Thomas's crew had the unpleasant task of breaking the legs of the corpse before the fire prevented them reaching it. "
The car was buried in the sand on the beach where it remained for 42 years. In 1969, Owen Wyn Owen dug up the car and started a restoration that would take 15 years. Babs is currently on display at the Museum of Speed at Pendine.
The sound of Babs.
Some Video of Babs running (starts about 2 min in).
Babs warming up.
Hot damn, cool stuff, thanks!
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 12:06 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 12:06 PM on December 18, 2010
Well, that takes me back ...
I grew up in a sportscar oriented family and have worked in and around racing for a while now. I was also the go-to guy when it came to writing LSR-oriented articles when I work as an auto writer, so I remember hearing and reading about these cars and Count Zborowski and Parry-Thomas from a fairly young age.
What you didn't mention about the Babs accident on Pendine Sands was the cause of it coming unstuck. Babs was a chain drive car, it didn't use a driveline and differential like a modern car. Most race cars of the era, and especially LSR cars used chain drives. It was the only way to transmit all that power to the drive wheels. 90 year old metallurgy and casting techniques and machining methods couldn't take the stresses the way a chain and ring could.
Anyway, for whatever reasons, the chain on Babs snapped while the car was at speed. Which, as you would imagine, unsettled the balance right in the middle of an already tenuous situation as concerns to grip and stability.
So, the car came unglued and went into a hell of a tumble, but by then it was kind of beyond the point for Parry-Thomas. When then chain snapped, it whirled around and sliced off a chunk of his skull from just below his right ear up to more or less the crown. That's the "partially decapitated" part that you mentioned. He was dead before Babs even started to roll.
Land speed record types are an odd sort, even for race car drivers. They seem to have as much in common with big wave surfers and test pilots as they do with people like Mario Andretti or Tazio Nuvolari.
posted by Relay at 12:49 PM on December 18, 2010 [4 favorites]
I grew up in a sportscar oriented family and have worked in and around racing for a while now. I was also the go-to guy when it came to writing LSR-oriented articles when I work as an auto writer, so I remember hearing and reading about these cars and Count Zborowski and Parry-Thomas from a fairly young age.
What you didn't mention about the Babs accident on Pendine Sands was the cause of it coming unstuck. Babs was a chain drive car, it didn't use a driveline and differential like a modern car. Most race cars of the era, and especially LSR cars used chain drives. It was the only way to transmit all that power to the drive wheels. 90 year old metallurgy and casting techniques and machining methods couldn't take the stresses the way a chain and ring could.
Anyway, for whatever reasons, the chain on Babs snapped while the car was at speed. Which, as you would imagine, unsettled the balance right in the middle of an already tenuous situation as concerns to grip and stability.
So, the car came unglued and went into a hell of a tumble, but by then it was kind of beyond the point for Parry-Thomas. When then chain snapped, it whirled around and sliced off a chunk of his skull from just below his right ear up to more or less the crown. That's the "partially decapitated" part that you mentioned. He was dead before Babs even started to roll.
Land speed record types are an odd sort, even for race car drivers. They seem to have as much in common with big wave surfers and test pilots as they do with people like Mario Andretti or Tazio Nuvolari.
posted by Relay at 12:49 PM on December 18, 2010 [4 favorites]
I've been spelunking through Google Books trying to confirm the "bawdy WWI song" thing with no luck, but I did confirm "bang" as a sexual euphemism historically, going (at least) all the way back to a 1677 play The Rover by Aphra Behn:
Also came across a 1939 claim saying that decorated Anglo-Irish WWI (and WWII) hero Lord Gort owned a car that was named Chitty-Bang-Bang in 1919 when he attended the British Army's Staff College at Camberley, which would make the name pre-date the Zborowski cars. ("Britain's First Soldier: Gort of the Guards", The Argus Oct. 28th 1939)
posted by XMLicious at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2010
We'll both lie with her, and then let me alone to bang her.
Also came across a 1939 claim saying that decorated Anglo-Irish WWI (and WWII) hero Lord Gort owned a car that was named Chitty-Bang-Bang in 1919 when he attended the British Army's Staff College at Camberley, which would make the name pre-date the Zborowski cars. ("Britain's First Soldier: Gort of the Guards", The Argus Oct. 28th 1939)
posted by XMLicious at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2010
The part of the accident that the chain played is not totally clear. Evidently he had to lean his head out the right side of the car to see past the 27 liter engine. However:
"Babs when last seen exhibited carried none of the streamlined chain covers it was wearing when it crashed & the right side one was damaged & missing along with the chain after the fatal crash itself.....the angle & distance required for the chain to have actually reached Parry Thomas is hardly possible & would require further study." (story interspersed from about 1/2 to 3/4 down the linked page. Has pics of both the intact and missing chain before and after burial).
posted by 445supermag at 2:48 PM on December 18, 2010
"Babs when last seen exhibited carried none of the streamlined chain covers it was wearing when it crashed & the right side one was damaged & missing along with the chain after the fatal crash itself.....the angle & distance required for the chain to have actually reached Parry Thomas is hardly possible & would require further study." (story interspersed from about 1/2 to 3/4 down the linked page. Has pics of both the intact and missing chain before and after burial).
posted by 445supermag at 2:48 PM on December 18, 2010
IIRC, in Jasper Fforde's Bookworld novels, Miss Havisham drives "a" Higham Special, which she races on the Pendine Sands against Mr Toad. I hadn't realised until now that this was another of Fforde's nods to historical curiousities.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:08 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:08 PM on December 18, 2010
Kind of stunning to consider how much these things weighed, too. The racingcampbells.com link indicates "Babs" weighed 35cwts, which converts to about 1.75 tons. The booklet included with the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang DVD says that car weighed five tons. (I'm not sure how reliable that is, but even if it's half wrong, it's still incredible.)
posted by fartknocker at 3:23 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by fartknocker at 3:23 PM on December 18, 2010
fartknocker: according to Wikipedia, a Liberty V12 weighs 383 kg on its own. It's not hard to imagine a 1920's chassis and bodywork accounting for the rest.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:38 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:38 PM on December 18, 2010
I once drove a 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood, which was probably lighter than Babs. It weighed almost exactly 5,000 lb, not including passengers. Considering differences between 1920's and 1960's car building techniques 10,000 lb is not unbelievable.
posted by localroger at 4:46 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by localroger at 4:46 PM on December 18, 2010
Even modern cars weigh that much. A Cadillac Escalade is 5,800lbs curb weight, almost 3 tons without a payload.
Even a Honda Civic weighs around a ton and a half, and some of the larger 4-doors from BMW and MB are over 2 tons.
27-liter engine... that's crazy. That's an aircraft powerplant. (checks Wikipedia link above) Yep, that's what I thought. What a monster!
posted by zoogleplex at 6:36 PM on December 18, 2010
Even a Honda Civic weighs around a ton and a half, and some of the larger 4-doors from BMW and MB are over 2 tons.
27-liter engine... that's crazy. That's an aircraft powerplant. (checks Wikipedia link above) Yep, that's what I thought. What a monster!
posted by zoogleplex at 6:36 PM on December 18, 2010
Even a Honda Civic weighs around a ton and a half...
Holy crap, I never realized that. I think it's the way the Big Three describe their trucks (Half Ton, Three Quarter Ton), maybe, that confused me.
Carry on.
posted by fartknocker at 10:14 PM on December 18, 2010
Holy crap, I never realized that. I think it's the way the Big Three describe their trucks (Half Ton, Three Quarter Ton), maybe, that confused me.
Carry on.
posted by fartknocker at 10:14 PM on December 18, 2010
That's payload capacity - even tho half-ton trucks can truck around way more than a half-ton these days.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:25 PM on December 18, 2010
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:25 PM on December 18, 2010
Does anybody even make half-ton pickups any more? The bottom line Ford, Dodge, and Chevy pickups are all 3/4 ton. However, the beds are now made of aluminum foil or something similar and if you drive them around fully loaded they will age quickly.
posted by localroger at 7:24 AM on December 19, 2010
posted by localroger at 7:24 AM on December 19, 2010
From what I've seen, most pickup trucks owned by Americans that are not "heavy duty" (F250 or Chev/GM 2500 or bigger) seem to have empty/near-empty beds around 75% of the time, and only rarely will be carrying a load that's even close to its weight capacity. I used to own a small Mitsubishi pickup and it was empty more like 90% of the time.
Anyway, I'm still boggled by the madness of putting a 1,650 cubic-inch aircraft engine in a car, although the Liberty was only rated about 400 horsepower which nowadays you can commonly get in V8s one-third the size. Contrast that to the WWII 1,650ci Rolls-Royce Merlin, which ran about 850hp without and 1,200-1,700hp (that's more than a megawatt!) with the supercharger (some applications going up to well over 2,000hp).
And of course, some seriously crazy people have put Merlins into cars: 1 2 *shakes head*
posted by zoogleplex at 10:44 AM on December 19, 2010
Anyway, I'm still boggled by the madness of putting a 1,650 cubic-inch aircraft engine in a car, although the Liberty was only rated about 400 horsepower which nowadays you can commonly get in V8s one-third the size. Contrast that to the WWII 1,650ci Rolls-Royce Merlin, which ran about 850hp without and 1,200-1,700hp (that's more than a megawatt!) with the supercharger (some applications going up to well over 2,000hp).
And of course, some seriously crazy people have put Merlins into cars: 1 2 *shakes head*
posted by zoogleplex at 10:44 AM on December 19, 2010
BMW Isetta with 2000 HP Allison aircraft engine
posted by 445supermag at 1:02 PM on December 19, 2010
posted by 445supermag at 1:02 PM on December 19, 2010
Wow, that's totally insane. Wasn't that one a Hot Wheels car? I can't find it but it sure looks familiar, I feel like I saw that one in the 1970s.
Just for funsies, here's a tiny little Nash Metropolitan with a 500+ci supercharged drag racing engine. I've actually seen this one in person up close! More, with video.
posted by zoogleplex at 7:28 PM on December 19, 2010
Just for funsies, here's a tiny little Nash Metropolitan with a 500+ci supercharged drag racing engine. I've actually seen this one in person up close! More, with video.
posted by zoogleplex at 7:28 PM on December 19, 2010
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posted by 445supermag at 11:23 AM on December 18, 2010