Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: A Timeless Christmas Classic

The iconic film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a timeless Christmas tradition that generations of children have enjoyed since its release in 1968. A musical fantasy tale set in rural England in 1910, it revolves around a flying car that doubles as a boat, to the amazement of the Potts family, who save the automobile from the scrapyard.

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American actor and dancer Dick Van Dyke, who celebrated his 99th birthday last week, plays madcap inventor Caractacus Potts, who buys and restores the old racing car to her former glory. His children, Jemima and Jeremy, beg him to save Chitty from being crushed, spurring a series of incredible adventures.

You may wonder why it’s a festive classic – after all, the action doesn’t take place at Christmas. However, the film’s nostalgic appeal, fairytale scenes and happy ending keep it relevant year after year.

Chitty Bang Bang car

The plot revolves around the spectacular car, who wins every race for two years, starting with the Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1907. However in 1909, she crashes out in a ball of fire and is abandoned in a garage.

Jeremy and Jemima find her a year later and their widowed father doesn’t want to disappoint them, even though his unsuccessful inventions have left him with little money. The way forward seems to be Caractacus’s Toot Sweets, resembling sticks of rock that double as whistles, so he tries to sell the design to the Scrumptious sweet factory. His sales pitch goes disastrously wrong when the high-pitched whistle attracts all the neighbourhood dogs! Amid the chaos, he meets beautiful Truly Scrumptious, heiress to the business, who joins the Potts family on their adventures in the refurbished car.

Nicknamed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the noises she makes, the iconic automobile becomes the star of the film, which mixes fantasy with reality.

Memorable moments

Enjoying a picnic on the beach with the children and Truly, Caractacus tells the whimsical story of Baron Bomburst, the evil ruler of mythical Vulgaria. Becoming engrossed in the tale, they don’t notice the incoming tide has cut them off and they’re under attack by Bomburst’s pirates.

Chitty saves the day by transforming into a boat and ferrying them to safety. This leads to Bomburst trying to steal the unique car and the fairytale turns into a nightmare as his ally, the creepy Child Catcher, kidnaps Jemima and Jeremy and carries them off in a caged lorry.

The Child Catcher was one of the scariest villains in children’s films, thanks to his huge prosthetic nose, wizened white face, dour black clothing and tall stovepipe hat. Played by Australian ballet dancer and actor Robert Helpmann, who won the role as a result of his athleticism, according to Van Dyke, he could leap out of the wagon and skip across other cars!

What kind of car was Chitty?

Based on Ian Fleming’s novel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, from 1964, Fleming was more famous for his James Bond 007 books; the English author turned to children’s literature while convalescing from a heart attack.

He based Chitty on a hybrid of a customised 1920s Mercedes racing car with a 23-litre engine from a World War I Zeppelin aircraft and his own car, a Standard Tourer, from his younger days.

Six different cars were built for the film, with the first one having to be scrapped afterwards, having been crashed and set alight. The remaining five are still in existence, including the Original GEN 11 Road Car used in the driving scenes, which promoted the film and was later sold to New Zealand filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson.

The other four cars belong respectively to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire; billionaire British businessman Lord Anthony Bamford; the Dezer Auto Museum in Florida; and a private auto enthusiast in Florida, who owns the flying version fitted with wings and propellers – probably the most famous, as it features in the iconic final scene, when it flies off into the sunset after Caractacus proposes to Truly and finally sells his patent for Toot Sweets to ensure the family’s future.

There was quite a lot of crossover between the James Bond films and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as famous 007 stuntman Vic Armstrong performed many of the hair-raising stunts for Dick Van Dyke. Actor Gert Fröbe, who played chilling Bond villain Goldfinger, portrayed Baron Bomburst, while his screen wife the Baroness was played by Anna Quayle, who was secret agent Frau Hoffner in Casino Royale in 1967. Desmond Llewellyn, who played 007’s famous gadget inventor, Q, also popped up in Chitty as a scrap dealer!

How did the cars survive?

Filming in the sea for the scene where Chitty transformed into a boat could easily have taken its toll on the car, so the crew took every precaution to ensure she didn’t corrode. As well as using rubber car mats to protect the floor, they reportedly put rubber seals around the doors as the car was driven onto an underwater ramp, giving the impression of floating, so that seawater didn’t seep through to the interior.