Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
An ancient derelict racing car is discovered by Jeremy and Jemima who persuade their father, Caractacus Potts, to buy and restore her. After the car’s restoration they take her on a picnic to the seaside joined by Truly Scrumptious, daughter of Lord Scrumptious, the owner of a local sweet factory. While Potts tells a story about Pirates a nearby tugboat becomes the yacht of the evil Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria who has come to steal ‘Chitty’. The magical car takes them on an amazing adventure and transforms itself into a hovercraft and aeroplane.
When making a multi-million dollar production, film producers always make sure that they cover themselves should anything go wrong and hold up production. In the case of vehicles used in films, they always make sure there is at least one back up vehicle available should the main vehicle crash or fail to work. In the case of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the film was centred around the car of the same name and because that car transformed its self into so many forms during the film several vehicles were used. In fact six cars were used in this film. Two being the racing car, one in a dilapidated state and the other the racing car that crashes. At the end of the film neither of these versions survived. Four other Chittys were produced for various parts of the rest of the film. The hovercraft car, that transforms from car to hovercraft, and three other cars. The hovercraft car was made slightly lighter than the others by using aluminium instead of brass for some of the parts. It was also hung from a jig or helicopter for some of the flying scenes. Its engine was removed during filming to lighten the car further. It was later refitted with an engine and runs perfectly. It takes a very careful eye to spot the different cars used in the film but each one is minutely different and each can be identified if you know what to look for. ‘Cars of the Stars’ motor museum in Keswick, England owns the ‘hovercraft car’ and also the main road car used in the film and in fact this latter car is the most original and untouched of all the surviving Chitty cars with its original engine and interior.
