Memories presents the second in our series on the legendary Chitty Bang Bang, compiled from readers' information by Martin Shearsmith. The third and final instalment will deal with the fate of the cars.
followed a short spell in the workshop as Zborowski and Gallop made some minor improvement to the car. In the earliest photographs of . the car, taken in the summer of 1921, Chitty is pictured with a body with
steel tube, on several men while another a starting mag
huge machine was doomed to failure. Ironically the 29-year- old Count was driving another car when he met his death at Monza on October 19 1924. On the 43rd mile of the Italian Grand Prix, the brakes apparently failed and his Mercedes left the track at immense speed, went over some banking, hit a tree and came to rest on its side, with mechanic Len Martin trapped underneath and the Count fatally injured. Louis was wearing the same gold cuff links his father had been wearing when he died in a car crash 21 years previously.
Not actually one of the Chittys, but a fascinating picture. This 1908 Charon Laundalette was owned by a very young Count Zborowski before being sold to a Shepherdswell wheelwright and carpenterbuilder in 1911. This photograph of the Charon, converted into a builder’s run-about truck, was sent in by the carpenter’s son, Mr Leslie Wooldridge, husband of our sister paper, the Kentish Gazette’s, Shepherdswell correspondant.
She was an ideal tourer though, and took Louis and his new wife, a dancer called Violet, all round Europe and by one account, across the Sahara desert. Chitty 3 was of similar mould and was often called The White Mercedes because of its Mercedes chassis and white bodywork. She too was ideal for touring and often accompanied Chitty II as the baggage car. Zborowski loved the big cars but more importantly he loved racing and with that in mind The Higham Special was unveiled in early 1923. Built from scratch by Gallop^and Zborowski ___ ___ she was the largest car only five inches wide, the • To be continued
To look at, she was crude, and one contemporary dubbed her “a monster”. To Louis she was more than that and reaching speeds of up to 120 mph soon made her presence felt on narrow country lane around Bridge, a memory shared by many Extra readers who answered our request for information. Primarily, Chitty I was a racing car and as the first three, was to all intents and purposes a prototype model. On her first appearance at the Brooklands Race Track at Weybridge, in Surrey, Easter 1921, she easily out-performed her rivals, winning all three of her races. The secret of her success was under the bonnet. For technical buffs, the Maybach engine, with cylinder dimensions of 165mm and 180mm, developed 305 bhp at 1,500 rpm. The four overhead valves per cylinder were operated by exposed push rods and rockers
from a camshaft on each side of the crankcase and two Zenith carburettors were fitted on each end of a long induction manifold on the off side. Feed to the oil pumps was a huge flared oil tank slung on the off side to get sufficient ground clearance. A large fuel tank was mounted behind the driver and passenger. The exhaust system was primitive — a single pipe taking a sharp right hand bend, where it left the side of the bonnet on the left hand side, before continuing to the rear of the car. It was from the exhaust system that the car gained its name, “Chitty” being the valve clatter and “Bang Bang” the exhaust as the engine was started. Starting the enormous engine was a job in itself and consisted of special starting crank fitted with a long which heaved wound neto. With each new win at Brooklands, there
CHITTY Bang Bang — the first of the legendary Zborowski cars — was very much a product of World War I. The chain-driven Mercedes chassis was of pre-war vintage and the 23 litre, six cylinder Maybach aero-engine had been taken from the Zeppelin LI 7, shot down in late 1917. During the war, Bligh Bros Coachworks, in which Louis now had a controlling interest, had been re-equipped to handle the manufacture of artillery wheels. By 1919, however, the company had returned to building quality automobile bodies, among them the grey, fourseater designed for Louis’ huge creation. The war also reunited the Count with Clive Gallop, an old friend from his days at Canterbury’s King’s School, a fellow racing driver and a superb mechanic. The emergence of Chitty I from the Count’s Higham workshops in March 1921 owed as much to Gallop’s skill as an engineer as it did to Louis’ passion for fast cars.
two seater duck’s back. Chitty I’s of motor Brooklands over a year. As was prone to happen with large, fast cans, as the Count was lapping Brooklands in a practice run in Autumn 1922, the off side front tyre came away from the rim. Chitty went out of control, struck the parapet at the top of the banking, slewed round and then slid backwards down the concrete, went, clean through the timing box and finished up on soft ground with the front axle tom off and the offside tyre wrapped round its rim. Miraculously, Zborowski survived without a scratch. Un-' fortunately the same could not be said for Chitty and though later repaired, she never raced again. With the desire to race even stronger than before immediately on a successor.


CHITTY Bang Bang — the first of the legendary Zborowski cars — was very much a product of World War I. The chain-driven Mercedes chassis was of pre-war vintage and the 23 litre, six cylinder Maybach aero-engine had been taken from the Zeppelin LI 7, shot down in late 1917. During the war, Bligh Bros Coachworks, in which Louis now had a controlling interest, had been re-equipped to handle the manufacture of artillery wheels. By 1919, however, the company had returned to building quality automobile bodies, among them the grey, fourseater designed for Louis’ huge creation. The war also reunited the Count with Clive Gallop, an old friend from his days at Canterbury’s King’s School, a fellow racing driver and a superb mechanic. The emergence of Chitty I from the Count’s Higham workshops in March 1921 owed as much to Gallop’s skill as an engineer as it did to Louis’ passion for fast cars.
To look at, she was crude, and one contemporary dubbed her “a monster”. To Louis she was more than that and reaching speeds of up to 120 mph soon made her presence felt on narrow country lane around Bridge, a memory shared by many Extra readers who answered our request for information. Primarily, Chitty I was a racing car and as the first three, was to all intents and purposes a prototype model. On her first appearance at the Brooklands Race Track at Weybridge, in Surrey, Easter 1921, she easily out-performed her rivals, winning all three of her races. The secret of her success was under the bonnet. For technical buffs, the Maybach engine, with cylinder dimensions of 165mm and 180mm, developed 305 bhp at 1,500 rpm. The four overhead valves per cylinder were operated by exposed push rods and rockers
from a camshaft on each side of the crankcase and two Zenith carburettors were fitted on each end of a long induction manifold on the off side. Feed to the oil pumps was a huge flared oil tank slung on the off side to get sufficient ground clearance. A large fuel tank was mounted behind the driver and passenger. The exhaust system was primitive — a single pipe taking a sharp right hand bend, where it left the side of the bonnet on the left hand side, before continuing to the rear of the car. It was from the exhaust system that the car gained its name, “Chitty” being the valve clatter and “Bang Bang” the exhaust as the engine was started.
s started. Starting the enormous engine was a job in itself and consisted of special starting crank fitted with steel tube, on several men while another a starting mag
huge machine was doomed to failure. Ironically the 29-year- old Count was driving another car when he met his death at Monza on October 19 1924. On the 43rd mile of the Italian Grand Prix, the brakes apparently failed and his Mercedes left the track at immense speed, went over some banking, hit a tree and came to rest on its side, with mechanic Len Martin trapped underneath and the Count fatally injured. Louis was wearing the same gold cuff links his father had been wearing when he died in a car crash 21 years previously.
Not actually one of the Chittys, but a fascinating picture. This 1908 Charon Laundalette was owned by a very young Count Zborowski before being sold to a Shepherdswell wheelwright and carpenterbuilder in 1911. This photograph of the Charon, converted into a builder’s run-about truck, was sent in by the carpenter’s son, Mr Leslie Wooldridge, husband of our sister paper, the Kentish Gazette’s, Shepherdswell correspondant.
She was an ideal tourer though, and took Louis and his new wife, a dancer called Violet, all round Europe and by one account, across the Sahara desert. Chitty 3 was of similar mould and was often called The White Mercedes because of its Mercedes chassis and white bodywork. She too was ideal for touring and often accompanied Chitty II as the baggage car. Zborowski loved the big cars but more importantly he loved racing and with that in mind The Higham Special was unveiled in early 1923. Built from scratch by Gallop^and Zborowski ___ ___ she was the largest car only five inches wide, the • To be continued
To look at, she was crude, and one contemporary dubbed her “a monster”. To Louis she was more than that and reaching speeds of up to 120 mph soon made her presence felt on narrow country lane around Bridge, a memory shared by many Extra readers who answered our request for information. Primarily, Chitty I was a racing car and as the first three, was to all intents and purposes a prototype model. On her first appearance at the Brooklands Race Track at Weybridge, in Surrey, Easter 1921, she easily out-performed her rivals, winning all three of her races. The secret of her success was under the bonnet. For technical buffs, the Maybach engine, with cylinder dimensions of 165mm and 180mm, developed 305 bhp at 1,500 rpm. The four overhead valves per cylinder were operated by exposed push rods and rockers
from a camshaft on each side of the crankcase and two Zenith carburettors were fitted on each end of a long induction manifold on the off side. Feed to the oil pumps was a huge flared oil tank slung on the off side to get sufficient ground clearance. A large fuel tank was mounted behind the driver and passenger. The exhaust system was primitive — a single pipe taking a sharp right hand bend, where it left the side of the bonnet on the left hand side, before continuing to the rear of the car. It was from the exhaust system that the car gained its name, “Chitty” being the valve clatter and “Bang Bang” the exhaust as the engine was started. Starting the enormous engine was a job in itself and consisted of special starting crank fitted with a long which heaved wound neto.With each new win at Brooklands, there
followed a short spell in the workshop as Zborowski and Gallop made some minor improvement to the car. In the earliest photographs of . the car, taken in the summer of 1921, Chitty is pictured with a huge machine was doomed to failure. Ironically the 29-year- old Count was driving another car when he met his death at Monza on October 19 1924. On the 43rd mile of the Italian Grand Prix, the brakes apparently failed and his Mercedes left the track at immense speed, went over some banking, hit a tree and came to rest on its side, with mechanic Len Martin trapped underneath and the Count fatally injured. Louis was wearing the same gold cuff links his father had been wearing when he died in a car crash 21 years previously.
Not actually one of the Chittys, but a fascinating picture. This 1908 Charon Laundalette was owned by a very young Count Zborowski before being sold to a Shepherdswell wheelwright and carpenterbuilder in 1911. This photograph of the Charon, converted into a builder’s run-about truck, was sent in by the carpenter’s son, Mr Leslie Wooldridge, husband of our sister paper, the Kentish Gazette’s, Shepherdswell correspondant.
She was an ideal tourer though, and took Louis and his new wife, a dancer called Violet, all round Europe and by one account, across the Sahara desert. Chitty 3 was of similar mould and was often called The White Mercedes because of its Mercedes chassis and white bodywork. She too was ideal for touring and often accompanied Chitty II as the baggage car. Zborowski loved the big cars but more importantly he loved racing and with that in mind The Higham Special was unveiled in early 1923. Built from scratch by Gallop^and Zborowski ___ ___ she was the largest car only five inches wide, the • To be continued