page_title: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car)
section_title: Replica cars
hierarchical_section_title: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car) / Replica cars
caption_attribution_description: English: Replica ("GEN 22") of car from film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (original had "GEN 11"). Made ca 2000 by Tony Green,[1] Ford 3-litre V6, certified by the MGM labs, used for commercial photography.[2] Sold for GBP 250,000 around 2007. Up for auction in 2011.[3]
context_page_description: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the vintage racing car which is featured 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 engine 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.
context_section_description: There is a MGM licensed replica in the United Kingdom, built for a commercial photography business. The car is roadworthy and has the registration number GEN 22. It weighs around 1.5 tons and is nearly 18 feet long and 6 feet wide. The brass lamps are all original period pieces and the brass snake horn came from one of the original Chitty cars. The engine is a 3L V6 Ford with a BorgWarner automatic gearbox. The vehicle currently resides at the Dundee Museum of Transport.
  Another Chitty 'copy' was built by Nick Pointing of the Isle of Wight after his wife Carolyn, a lifelong Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fan asked him to build her dream car. The car was built on a 1970s Land Rover chassis and engine and was driven 12,000 miles overland to Australia in 2007/8 to  raise money for charity. 
  A replica Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car built by Gordon Grant was sold at an auction held on 1 December 2011 at Bonhams at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey, UK. The car was later sold to broadcaster Chris Evans after the purchaser found it was too long to fit in his garage. The car, which is now registered as 772 YUJ, has erroneously been reported in a number of newspapers as the original GEN 11 film car.
  Another replica was built and finished in July 2014 by hospital worker and jeweller John Rothwell from Cambridge. It is based on a Reliant Rialto chassis and took approximately 3 years to build in a small garage rented from the local council.  Having a three-wheeler based chassis makes this car unique and also disqualifies it from being a genuine replica.  This version of Chitty was used by a local car insurance company for a promotion campaign and is frequently taken to local car shows where it helps to raise money for Addenbrookes Hospital Charitable Trust.
  A replica car built by retired NYPD police Sergeant, Tony Garofalo, of Long Island, New York, was completed in June 2015 after a 5-year build at a cost of over $100,000. The car is modelled on the original motion picture car, after Garofalo conducted a personal inspection of two original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars. Built on a vintage, road legal, 1914 Overland car, and a vintage Ford Model A Engine, the car has automated opening retractable wings and vintage brass adornments. All of the bright work is brass, aluminum, stainless steel and copper to prevent any corrosion. It is reported that over 90% of the car has been fabricated, although the original vintage chassis, drivetrain and rear axle have been retained, with an additional conversion to 12 volts. The car is finely detailed with all of the brass features of the original movie car, including a vintage serpent snake horn from an old Mercedes. Garofalo also owns the original Broadway Stage Production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car featured in the U.S. Stage tour.
caption: Tony Green's replica car GEN 22 on show at a Manchester Fire Service charity event
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