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.*

*From an information plaque next to the car.