<P> Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the vintage racing car which features in the book, musical film and stage production of the same name . Writer Ian Fleming took his inspiration for the car from a series of aero - engined racing cars built by Count Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s, christened Chitty Bang Bang . The original Chitty Bang Bang's motor was from a Zeppelin dirigible . The name reputedly derived either from the sound it made whilst idling, or from a bawdy song from World War I. Six versions of the car were built for the film and a number of replicas have subsequently been produced . The version built for the stage production holds the record for the most expensive stage prop ever used . </P> <P> For the 1968 film, six cars were created, including a fully functional road - going car with UK registration GEN 11 . This car was designed by the film's production designer, Ken Adam, and cartoonist and sculptor Frederick Rowland Emett, built by Alan Mann Racing in Hertfordshire in 1967, fitted with a Ford 3000 V6 engine and automatic transmission and allocated a genuine UK registration . This car was privately owned by Pierre Picton of Stratford - upon - Avon from the early 1970s until May 2011 . Actor Dick van Dyke, who drove the car in the film, said that "the car was a little difficult to maneuver, with the turning radius of a battleship". Public appearances of the car in 2010 are listed on the GEN 11 official website, with a note that there will be no more as the car was sent to Los Angeles, USA, to be auctioned on 22 May 2011 . The auction price was expected to reach US $1--2m, but capped at $805,000 (£ 495,415) with the winning bidder New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson, who according to his spokesperson said he would use it as a charity fund - raising vehicle . It is registered in New Zealand as GEN 1I, as the registration GEN 11 had already been issued . </P>

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