Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – British

Author Ian Fleming, creator of the immortal James Bond, also wrote a children’s book about a magical car. The story was later turned into a popular film by United Artists. It was a musical extravaganza starring Dick Van Dyke as the inventor Caractacus Potts.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a car capable of skimming across the sea in the form of a hovercraft or sprouting wings and flying. At the flick of a switch, one of the rear seats could eject unwelcome guests.

Albert Broccoli, the films director, commissioned Alan Mann to build six versions of the car including two built in its supposed original racing form. Each one measured around 18 1/2 feet long and just over 6 feet wide. At 5 1/2ft high and weighing 1500 kilos (1 1/2 tons), they were powered by V6 Ford Zodiac engines with automatic transmission. The cars were road tested up to 100mph before Broccoli’s technicians wings and propellers to one and a hovercraft skirt to another.*

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

*From an information plaque next to the car.

8 Comments CherryPie on Oct 28th 2014

8 Responses to “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”

  1. james higham says:

    Being a fan of wooden anything, these are a sight for sore eyes.

  2. It’s about time ‘ABAB’ featured a visit to Beaulieu – can’t remember when I last visited! Great photos. I remember being amazed when I found out that Fleming had written Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; he was an interesting character. You’d probably like ‘The Cars of the Stars’ in Keswick.

    • CherryPie says:

      i would be great to see a post from you on Beaulieu :-) It was a surprise to me too that Fleming had written Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

      Many years ago I visited ‘The Cars of the Stars’ but I can’t remember much about it.

      I really enjoyed Beaulieu, because it tells the story of the motor car.

  3. wiggia says:

    Alan Mann Racing who built the cars were from ‘64 to ‘69 the official arm of the Ford Motor Company and raced Escort twin cams, Ford Lotus Cortinas, Mustangs, Falcons and GT40s under the red and gold colours very successfully , they built six of the Chitty Chitty cars.
    The cars used in the film ran a Ford Zodiac V6 and auto transmission underneath .

  4. I was amazed when I learned that Fleming wrote the children’s book… and how very wonderful to see the car in person!