Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

About Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car is a children's novel written by Ian Fleming for his son Caspar, with illustrations by John Burningham. It was first published in 1964 by Jonathan Cape in London and Random House in New York, and later made into a successful film.

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 at Higham Park, christened "Chitty Bang Bang". Fleming had known Higham Park as a guest of its later owner, Walter Wigham, chairman of Robert Fleming & Co.

Commander Caractacus Pott (changed to "Potts" in the 1968 film) is an inventor who buys and renovates an old car after gaining money from inventing and selling Whistle-like candies to Mr. Scrumptious, wealthy owner of a local candy factory. The car which was known then as the Paragon Panther, was previously a three-time Grand Prix winner, and had been damaged in an accident.