For my eighth birthday, I was given the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack. I loved the movie so much that my mom got it for me. The movie is a classic…and what’s not to like… a flying car…that is all it took to get my attention and the catchy theme song.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang found fame in the 1968 children’s movie of the same name starring Dick van Dyke. The magical car not only traveled on land but could fly and also float on water. The car was designed by the film’s production designer, Ken Adam.
The original driving car that was used in the film and the final product weighed approximately 2 tons, was 17 feet long, and built on a custom made ladder frame chassis.
The alloy dashboard plate was from a British World War I fighter plane. All of this was built around a modern Ford V6 engine with Automatic transmission. Chitty rolled out of the workshop in June 1967 and was registered with the number plate GEN 11 given to her by Ian Fleming in his novel.
For the 1968 film, six cars were created, this one was the fully functional road-going car.
From 1970 to 2011, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car was owned by a man named Pierre Picton, who toured in the car, taking it to various auto shows around the UK. In 2011, the car was auctioned for $805,000.
The acclaimed Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson purchased the car. Jackson has since used the vehicle to raise money for charities in various capacities. The car is kept in New Zealand where it is registered as GEN 1I, because the original Gen 11 Plate was already taken.
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I thought when I started reading that I had seen it, but I can’t have because I would have to have seen it BEFORE Jackson bought it. Then I realized I was getting muddled with a machine from Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines- a couple (I think a couple) of which are in New Zealand and I saw way back.
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Jackson is trying to get a movie museum together there…I hope he pulls it off. I would love to see some of those cars from that movie.
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Yes – Jackson is having trouble at present with the city’s mayor and councilors. So everything’s up in the air.
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Fascinating, Max! Your post reminded me of something that you can (if you want) write about in another post in your ‘where is it now’ series: The Gnome Mobile! I’ve actually seen it and have been to The Gilmore Car Museum several times. It’s a couple of hours from here. From the website: ” Only at the Gilmore Car Museum can you see the only movie set to ever leave Walt Disney Studios – the one-of-a-kind studio set and car from the 1967 Walt Disney film, The Gnome-Mobile.” https://www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/
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That is a cool car! I forgot about that movie. That museum looks really cool. It makes me want to go to a car museum we have here that I haven’t gone to in a while. I would love to drive one of those cars…once.
Thanks, I’ll put it on my list.
Last night I heard the Chitty Bang Bang song and I thought of this.
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The best part of the exhibit is that it has a giant seat, so when people sit on it they look very small.
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That sounds really cool. If I could travel that much… I would love to go around and go to these kind of museums all over America.
That would be a cool vacation.
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Weren’t Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in CCBB?
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Dick Van Dyke and a lady named Sally Ann Howes. I too thought it was someone I heard of before.
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OMG, I loved this movie. I’m so glad the car is still around.
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I was infatuated with this movie when I was a kid. I wanted that flying car.
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I don’t know if I ever saw the movie, but I had a toy version of the car, with wings that came out, and thought that was extra-cool.
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I’m jealous now…all I had was the record!
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