Dick Van Dyke was Caractacus Potts in the movie 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (1968).
It may sound Chinese to younger readers, but Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was it. a mass cinematic phenomenon in 1968. In fact, it was the first big blockbuster for children related to vehicles, four decades before the arrival of Lightning McQueen and his minions from Cars.
The story of inventor Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) turning a veteran race car into a magical vehicle capable of flying and sailing on water, with which he traveled dream universes of palaces and castles inhabited by pirates, together with his beloved Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), his grandfather and his children, he knew how to connect with children and adults who dreamed, from the seat of the cinema, of defeating villains such as Baron Bomburst ( GertFröbe) in a film very much in the style of the Disney stories of the time, not belonging to the powerful animation factory, but to United Artists.
The main song of the film, which shared the title with the tape, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, although it was finally won by The Windmills of Your Mind from The Secret of Thomas Crown.
Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) brings his Toot Sweet creations to Lord Scrumptious's (James Robertson Justice) candy factory.
A STORY WITH A REAL BASE
The plot of the movie was based on the book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, from James Bond creator Ian Fleming and it had a script by the brilliant Roald Dahl (author, among other stories, of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Matilda). Such a combination of talents could not fail.
Both the car and the story were Inspired by a real-life racing driver, Count Louis Zborowski, who designed and built four aeronautical vehicles based on Mercedes models. Zborowski, whose father had died in a Mercedes 60 on the climb to La Turbie (in French Provence) in 1903, was half Polish, half American and had been educated at Eton.
His collaborator in the development of a racing car was Clive Gallop, who had been involved in the evolution of the three-litre Bentley. Working together in a Higham workshop, they dared to fit a Maybach Zeppelin engine into a harmless pre-war Mercedes. The volume of the engine was 23 liters and the total weight was 415 kilos, while its excessive length of two meters was so deep that the oil pan had to be covered and the lubricant was transported in a shell-shaped tank located in the opposite side of the chassis, pressurized by a pump.
The Maybach engine had six separate cylinders of almost four liters of capacity each. The chassis was believed to be from a 1907 Mercedes , albeit in highly modified form. Peak power was developed at 1,500 rpm, a fairly ambitious crankshaft speed for such a large engine, which required a high final drive ratio, easily achieved with chain drive.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ready to fly.
Initially, a four-seat body was assembled, built by Blythe Brothers of Canterbury, a garage and car-building company in which Zborowski placed great trust. Once the car has been thoroughly tested, a more refined two-seater was installed on the body.
When asked to name the 'creature' to enter it in competition, Zborowski originally called it Cascara Sagrada, but the track authorities were not convinced by that name, so he opted for the onomatopoeic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the name was accepted. The name in question originates from the sound those cars made when they were idling. As we have explained, the original engine of the peculiar vehicle came from a Zeppelin airship...
Detail of one of the six original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang vehicles, at the 2017 Concours of Elegance display in London.
For the movie Six units were built including a fully functional vehicle with UK registration GEN 11. In 1967, a year before the film was shot, it was conceived by the film's production designer, Ken Adam, and built by the Ford Racing Team, who built it It was equipped with a Ford 3000 V-6 engine, as well as an automatic transmission.
As spare parts are always needed on filming for what may happen, the studio also built five other units of the same model: a smaller version, a transforming example, a hover car, a flying car, and a non-powered version for towing jobs. Some had engines added after filming so they could be used as a teaser to promote the film.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's car is considered to be one of the most expensive movie memorabilia sold at auction, as it the famous GEN 11 raised the figure of €710,000 in 2011, when it was sold along with the Wicked Witch of the West crystal ball from The Wizard of Oz, the tweed jacket worn by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, and John Lennon's original manuscript of Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds.
Original poster for the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang musical movie.