Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

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 WarI. 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. Novel and inspiration 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 with a bonnet long, finished in grey.