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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car)
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the vintage racing car which is featured in the book, musical film and stage production of the same name. Writer Ian Fleming took his inspiration for the car from a series of aero-engined racing cars built by Count Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s, christened Chitty Bang Bang. The original Chitty Bang Bang's engine was from a Zeppelin dirigible. The name reputedly derived either from the sound it made whilst idling, or from a bawdy song from World War I.[citation needed]
Six versions of the car were built for the film and several replicas have subsequently been produced. The version built for the stage production holds the record for the most expensive stage prop ever used.
According to Fleming, the original Chitty Bang-Bang was built in 1920; it used a pre-War Mercedes chassis with a six-cylinder Maybach military aeronautical engine that was typically fitted to Zeppelins. The engine had four overhead valves per cylinder and twin Zenith carburetors; the car was more than 5 short tons (4.5 t) with a bonnet 8 ft (2.4 m) long, finished in grey.
In the novel, the car is described as "a twelve-cylinder, eight-litre supercharged Paragon Panther. They only made one of them and then the firm went broke." At the time the Pott family purchased it, the car was a long, low four-seater in wrecked condition, lacking a bonnet and with British racing green paint peeling off in strips. After purchasing the derelict racer, the children excitedly note the old registration tag, "GEN 11", could be construed as "genii", referring to the powerful magical servants. Caractacus Pott restored the car over a period of three months, and noted "certain modifications, certain changes, had, so to speak, taken place all by themselves during the night, when I wasn't there. Certain – what shall I say? – rather revolutionary and extraordinary adaptations" which turn out to allow her to fly (as a flying car) when stuck in traffic, and allow her to float (as a hovercraft) when the family is stranded on a sandbar by the rising tide.
For the 1968 film, at least eight cars were created, with two built as the Paragon Panther prior to its crash:
Only the main road-going version used the registration GEN 11 legitimately until this car was sold in 2011 and it was owned by Pierre Picton of Stratford upon Avon. The other film cars were fitted with engines after filming was complete (except the other road-going car) and were used to promote the film throughout the world. The original racing variant with the British racing green livery and prominent Number 3 shown winning and crashing during the opening credits montage was converted some time after 2010 into a Chitty replica by Gordon Grant.
One of the original cars appeared in a humorous Public information film (PIF) by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency aimed at British motorists, reminding them to pay their Vehicle excise duty. Ironically, there was criticism as all cars built before 1 January 1973, including the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang model, are exempt from vehicle excise duty in the UK. The PIF was a parody of the MGM film.
The primary "Chitty" used to photograph most of the driving sequences in the film is a fully functional road-going car with New Zealand registration GEN 1I (formerly UK registration GEN 11). This car was designed by the film's production designer, Ken Adam, and cartoonist and sculptor Frederick Rowland Emett, built by Alan Mann Racing in Hertfordshire in 1967, fitted with a contemporary Ford 3000 Essex V6 engine and automatic transmission and allocated a genuine UK registration. The wooden body was manufactured by ship builders. They employed Architectural Metal Workers, Leonard and Eric Harrington of Ware to manufacture the external metal components. Actor Dick van Dyke, who drove the car in the film, said that "the car was a little difficult to maneuver, with the turning radius of a battleship". Chitty prime is approximately 17+1⁄2 ft (5.3 m) long and weighs 2 short tons (1.8 t). Externally, the main road-going Chitty prime can be distinguished from the other filming models by the presence of small position lights atop the front mud guards to meet motor vehicle standards.
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the vintage racing car which is featured in the book, musical film and stage production of the same name. Writer Ian Fleming took his inspiration for the car from a series of aero-engined racing cars built by Count Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s, christened Chitty Bang Bang. The original Chitty Bang Bang's engine was from a Zeppelin dirigible. The name reputedly derived either from the sound it made whilst idling, or from a bawdy song from World War I.[citation needed]
Six versions of the car were built for the film and several replicas have subsequently been produced. The version built for the stage production holds the record for the most expensive stage prop ever used.
According to Fleming, the original Chitty Bang-Bang was built in 1920; it used a pre-War Mercedes chassis with a six-cylinder Maybach military aeronautical engine that was typically fitted to Zeppelins. The engine had four overhead valves per cylinder and twin Zenith carburetors; the car was more than 5 short tons (4.5 t) with a bonnet 8 ft (2.4 m) long, finished in grey.
In the novel, the car is described as "a twelve-cylinder, eight-litre supercharged Paragon Panther. They only made one of them and then the firm went broke." At the time the Pott family purchased it, the car was a long, low four-seater in wrecked condition, lacking a bonnet and with British racing green paint peeling off in strips. After purchasing the derelict racer, the children excitedly note the old registration tag, "GEN 11", could be construed as "genii", referring to the powerful magical servants. Caractacus Pott restored the car over a period of three months, and noted "certain modifications, certain changes, had, so to speak, taken place all by themselves during the night, when I wasn't there. Certain – what shall I say? – rather revolutionary and extraordinary adaptations" which turn out to allow her to fly (as a flying car) when stuck in traffic, and allow her to float (as a hovercraft) when the family is stranded on a sandbar by the rising tide.
For the 1968 film, at least eight cars were created, with two built as the Paragon Panther prior to its crash:
Only the main road-going version used the registration GEN 11 legitimately until this car was sold in 2011 and it was owned by Pierre Picton of Stratford upon Avon. The other film cars were fitted with engines after filming was complete (except the other road-going car) and were used to promote the film throughout the world. The original racing variant with the British racing green livery and prominent Number 3 shown winning and crashing during the opening credits montage was converted some time after 2010 into a Chitty replica by Gordon Grant.
One of the original cars appeared in a humorous Public information film (PIF) by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency aimed at British motorists, reminding them to pay their Vehicle excise duty. Ironically, there was criticism as all cars built before 1 January 1973, including the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang model, are exempt from vehicle excise duty in the UK. The PIF was a parody of the MGM film.
The primary "Chitty" used to photograph most of the driving sequences in the film is a fully functional road-going car with New Zealand registration GEN 1I (formerly UK registration GEN 11). This car was designed by the film's production designer, Ken Adam, and cartoonist and sculptor Frederick Rowland Emett, built by Alan Mann Racing in Hertfordshire in 1967, fitted with a contemporary Ford 3000 Essex V6 engine and automatic transmission and allocated a genuine UK registration. The wooden body was manufactured by ship builders. They employed Architectural Metal Workers, Leonard and Eric Harrington of Ware to manufacture the external metal components. Actor Dick van Dyke, who drove the car in the film, said that "the car was a little difficult to maneuver, with the turning radius of a battleship". Chitty prime is approximately 17+1⁄2 ft (5.3 m) long and weighs 2 short tons (1.8 t). Externally, the main road-going Chitty prime can be distinguished from the other filming models by the presence of small position lights atop the front mud guards to meet motor vehicle standards.
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