It is one of the 20th century’s most iconic automobiles and has been an inspiration to generations of automobile designers and enthusiasts; legendary movie car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has fueled childhood dreams for more than four decades. This is a rare chance to own a piece of fully functioning movie magic.
Though only six cars were designed and built for the legendary eponymous 1968 film and are exceedingly rare, this Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at auction is a fully licensed replica (with documentation from MGM Solicitors, Forrester Ketley & Co.). Begun as a labour of love in 2000 by its creator Tony Green, this magnificent car is true to the original in every way, including original period brass lamps and a brass snake horn that came directly from one of the original six film cars. The result of three years of painstakingly meticulous work, this car was built using the finest engineers and master boat builders who were tru e to the original in every way. The car will be sold with all history including photographic reference, all receipts, MOT’s and blueprint drawings.
Measuring in at 18 feet long, 6 feet wide and 1.5 tons this Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a large and impressive vehicle. The car is road legal, has the registration number ‘GEN 22’ and is registered with the DVLA as ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’. Power comes from a 3L V6 Ford engine with a BorgWarner automatic gearbox. It has not been driven in the last 18 months and could do with a service and sympathetic restoration, but it drives and naturally causes a stir wherever it goes!
One of the most coveted cars from the silver screen, the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang vintage racing car was designed by Ken Adam and built by Ford Racing Team. For the film version, only six cars were created, including one fully functional road-going car – which recently came up for auction with an estimate of $1,000,000 – 2,000,000.
Mr. Green owned and used the car until 2007, when it was acquired with finance by a private collector. In September 2005, Mr Green approached Bonhams for a valuation and they were quoted as saying that the “car has potential to raise considerable income” and features “coachwork of the highest quality”. They believed the car could reach £250,000 at auction. Mr Green decided to keep the car at that time and only parted with it in June 2007 for £250,000.
Once under new ownership, the private collector wanted to make some more improvements by taking the car to ‘Design For Sport’ – where they specially designed and custom built automatically opening wings, rising propellers and rotating blades. This involved fitting a microprocessor control unit with wireless key control in to the wicker picnic basket on to the back of the car. These striking components are beautifully integrated and truly add to the magic of this special automobile. The cost of these improvements totalled some £48,720.
The film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a true Hollywood classic, and has been a beloved part of many millions of childhoods for decades. Originally written by James Bond author, Ian Flemming, the 1968 film script was written by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes. Whilst the car was undoubtedly the star of the film, the lead character was played by Dick Van Dyke and the Director was Albert R. Broccoli – who was the co-producer of the James Bond series of films.
It is being offered for sale via an online auction starting on Sunday 4th September to coincide with the cars appearance at the Chelsea Auto Legends Show on the same day.
The auction is being run by auctioneers Robson Kay via bidspotter.co.uk and ends at 14:00 Friday 14th October. For more information on how to bid or how to view the car after it’s appearance at Chelsea Auto Legends, visit www.robsonkay.co.uk
Sale Estimate:
£150,000 – 250,000
www.chittychittybangbangcar.com
| Robson Kay
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