Count Louis Zborowski, the millionaire racing driver son of a Polish Count and an American mother, designed and built three aero-engined cars with assistance from his engineer Captain Clive Gallop. These cars were all known as "Chitty Bang Bang".

Chitty I was a chain-driven Mercedes chassis fitted with a 23-litre six-cylinder Maybach aero engine. In 1921, on its first outing, it won two races. At this Easter meeting at Brooklands Zborowski won the 100 mph Brooklands Short Handicap a speed of 100.75 mph (161 kph). At later meetings the car was recorded at almost 120 mph (192 kph) on the straight.

By summer 1921 Chitty II was being constructed. This had a shorter wheelbase with a 18,882 cc 230 hp Benz BZ IV aero engine also based on a Mercedes chassis. Both Chitty I and II were run in the same races at Brooklands but this was Chitty II's only racing outing. It was later used as a road car and Zborowski and friends even drove it in the Sahara desert in January 1922.

Chitty I was last raced by the Count at the September 1922 race meeting at Brooklands as during practice he left the banking and crashed after shedding a tyre. Although rebuilt, Zborowski never raced the car again.

In 1924 Count Zborowski was invited to drive for Mercedes. It was while competing in a Mercedes 2-litre car at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza that the Count was killed after crashing into a tree.

At the time of his death, a fourth, much larger car was being built. This car was known as the Higham Special (later to be renamed "Babs") and was the car in which John Godfrey Parry Thomas died at Pendine Sand during his final land speed record attempt in 1927.

Chitty I was bought by the Conan Doyle brothers (sons of Sir Aurthur, writer of the "Sherlock Holmes" books) who ran it at a speed trial at Brooklands in the 1930's. The car was on display for some time but was eventually cut up for parts.

Chitty II, the only surviving car, was bought by Bill Hollis of Temple Ewell near Dover, Kent from a motor dealer for £300 and a Hillman Aero Minx. Hollis ran a fleet of motor coaches from his Orange Motors business in Dover and Chitty II was kept at his market Square premises. He used it regularly until the outbreak of war. During the war the car was moved to a barn on Hollis' farm at nearby Sutton but was later stored outside under a tarpaulin.

An American collector bought Chitty II in the 1960's for £16,500 and it eventually went on display at the Western Reserve Historical Society museum in Cleveland Ohio. Lord Montague of Beaulieu arranged for it to be loaned to The National Motor Museum in Hampshire and had Chitty II shipped to the UK in 1992. It was displayed alongside one of the 1968 Ford powered film cars that had been built by Alan Mann of Surrey.

The author Ian Fleming was inspired by the Count and his cars to write the children's novel "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" which was made into a successful film by MGM in 1968.

Although in the film the name "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" came from the noise the car made for the real cars it actually comes from the words to a World War I bawdy soldiers song about Officers based in France. Officers would obtain a weekend pass or "chit" so they could go to Paris to "enjoy the favours of the ladies". Hence "Chitty Bang Bang".

Originally the car was to be called "Cascara Sagrada" (a herbal laxative) but this was prevented by the Clerk of the Course at Brooklands.

E-Mail: history@britishmm.co.uk