66 replies to this topic

[Tim Murray]

Reliant 3-wheeler owners are called "Rodneys"..............;)

"And the Rodneys are queing up"........Spent 30 years wondering what that line from The Stranglers song 'Duchess' meant, and now i know! Cheers.

I don't think you've found your answer yet, John. 'Duchess' was released in 1979, two years before the first episode of 'Only Fools and Horses' was screened.

[garyfrogeye]

Midgets & Sprites are collectively known as Spridgets and their owners are sometimes known as Spridgeteers

[kayemod]

"And the Rodneys are queing up"........Spent 30 years wondering what that line from The Stranglers song 'Duchess' meant, and now i know! Cheers.

Just been talking to a friend who is a walking encyclopaedia of slang terms in several languages, indeed he's written books on the subject. He's informed me that 'rodney' is a slang term for pillocks or plonkers, or alternatively though less commonly, an erection...

He also told me that 'Chitty' is the Navaho word for car, though presumably a relatively recent addition to their lexicon.

You read it here first.

[David Birchall]

Just to add to this tangent the thread has gone on---Chitty seems to derive from the 'Chit' that was required for a weekend pass away from active duty-usually the weekend was spent appreciating the attractions of Paris-hence the 'Bang Bang'.

Still looking for the words to the song....

[raceannouncer2003]

Still looking for the words to the song....

This one?

http://www.lyricsond...banglyrics.html

Vince H.

[Mal9444]

I was brung up on the story that, far from being a desciption of their sound effects, Count Z.'s cars were in fact named after a naughty Royal Flying Corps song, whose chorus went "And the cheeks of her arse went chitty chitty bang bang." Since I've never heard or read that anywhere else, I'm beginning to think it may have been a fabrication. Shame!

I wasn't in the RFC - but in my song book the song reveals to us that 'Sally's in the galley and she's makin' the duff (and we say so, and we hope so) and the cheeks of 'er arse is goin' 'chuff chuff chuff''. It's from a sea shanty known, from the last line of its refrain, as 'Poor Ole Man'.

As to the Count's Bentley having only one Chitty... I know a song about that, too...

Meanwhile, back - almost - on topic if not song, I have a friend who had one of those little flat (modern) Mazda sports cars. MX something or other. I drove it once and remarked it was like being on a skateboard - and The Skateboard it has been ever since.

[Wilyman]

I have been engaged in a friendly argument with a fellow Simca enthusiast about the preferred name for a group of such enthusists.
He has been using the term "Simcaite" in correspondence etc. Personally I find it a clumsy word. I have suggested he modify the word with a simple hyphen ie. Simca-ite. This at least removes the tendancy for some to say, "Simkates".

My preferance is for "Simcaphile".
Any Francophiles out there who can improve on this?

[D-Type]

This one?

http://www.lyricsond...banglyrics.html

Vince H.

NO! Those are the lyrics to the song in the Disney film based on the Ian Fleming book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". What David is referring to is the original RFC song that reputedly inspired Zborowski to name his car "Chitty Bang Bang".

Note the difference in the number of Chitty's.

Incidentally I have asked the question about the original song on an aviation forum I visit occasionalyy, but don't hold your breath.

Edited by D-Type, 29 May 2009 - 10:52.

[Sharman]

NO! Those are the lyrics to the song in the Disney film based on the Ian Fleming book "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". What David is referring to is the original RFC song that reputedly inspired Zborowski to name his car "Chitty Bang Bang".

Note the difference in the number of Chitty's.

Incidentally I have asked the question about the original song on an aviation forum I visit occasionalyy, but don't hold your breath.

Not even being old enough for WWII I cannot vouch for the veracity of a RFC Mess song but in the 50s the line was
"Mary in the kitchen pummeling duff and the cheeks of her arse went Puff Puff Puff"

[D-Type]

As they reputedly say in regions slightly East of Suez: "I am the only brother to the brother of an idiot"

I visited the Brooklands Society website and found a photo of one of the cars with the following painted on its bonnet:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (with two Chitties) .

So I was totally wrong to say the original had one "Chitty" and Ian Fleming's version had two.

[David McKinney]

Yes, a 2009 paint job will always be more accurate than a 1920s one

[D-Type]

It's a period photo

[David McKinney]

O

[D-Type]

The picture is this one, which is presumably Chitty 1 as the caption says Conan Doyle

Edited by D-Type, 05 June 2009 - 21:58.

[elansprint72]

Is this a thread or a confession?!?!
Obviously I'm a big Gerry Marshall-fan, no matter what car he drove, but that also makes me a English racer-car fan, as he only drove English cars (if anyone can mention a non-english racecar my Dad raced there's £5 in it - remember I have the same answers he did and there's not many, less than 50 nout of 1500!!), plus just to confuse you all my late step-grandfather (through marriage) was WO Bentley (yes, really!!) so Bentley is probably my favourite but I can't work out between the the '20s 3.5 litre Bentley and the early 1910s Prince Henry; which one has been the most tarnished!!

Well Gregor, I was about to claim the fiver but the Aussie/Holden poster beat me to it. One miserably wet, freezing day at Oulton I was plodding back from the bend I still think of as Esso during the lunch-time break, dragging cameras etc and seriously contemplating a change of career, when an Opel pulled up alongside and offered me a lift back to dryness and warmth. Imagine my surprise when, instead of Lanfranchi I was confronted by......
I have no idea why he was out there/in there after the race, no helmet, not racing, so just cruising around.... but you did say "drove" rather than "raced".

Looks like being a wet week-end, so I'll see if I can fire up the scanner for shots of the Nail, no promises mind... 'er indoors has plans for my "free" time.

[Tim Murray]

The picture is this one, which is presumably Chitty 1 as the caption says Conan Doyle

It's Chitty II - Chitty I was never kitted out for road use - so I don't understand the Conan Doyle reference. The Profile publication I referred to in post 41 has several artist's illustrations of Chitty II as she was in 1967 when owned by Peter Harris-Mayes, and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' is emblazoned on the bonnet as in Duncan's photo.

[Chezrome]

I had read that his real name was Penis Van Lesbian and his agent made him change it - but I was never sure if that was a true story

Originally, he's of Dutch ancestry. And he was called: 'Dik van Dijk.' Funny Dutch name, ofcourse.