A magical flying car which has captured the imagination of film-lovers since 1968 is set to fetch the “fantasmagorical” price of $2 million at an auction in Hollywood this weekend.

The south Warwickshire owner of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is reluctantly selling the iconic auto and will be in Los Angeles on Sunday to hand over the keys to the highest bidder.

Pierre Picton, aged 76, who lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, said he hoped the three-litre V6 roadster would “go to a wonderful home.”

He added: “I’m very sad, it’s like losing a child.

“I’m getting old and I love the car dearly, but I think it’s time. I’ll miss it terribly.

“It really is a magical car. You feel like a king with something that everyone wants to see.”

Pierre maintained the car during filming in England, France and Bavaria and was at the wheel for some of the driving sequences as a double for Dick Van Dyke.

The car, built by James Bond set designer Ken Adam, goes up for auction at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

The model, one of seven Chittys built for the film, is the only original road-going vehicle left, and was used in the principal photography, and the publicity campaign.

It made its final UK appearance in Henley Street, Stratford, in November, after being involved in numerous charity races and events in Coventry and Warwickshire, and across Europe.

The additional Chittys were mostly incomplete and used for stunts, such as the floating Chitty, which was fixed to the top of a motorboat.

Another, built with a more muted silver hood to accommodate lighting, was used for the close-up flying sequences.

Van Dyke, in his recent memoir, recalled that the car was difficult to manoeuvre and had the “turning radius of a battleship.”

The film is based on a book by 007 author Ian Fleming and tells the story of Jeremy and Jemima Potts who live with their widowed father Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor, and his equally peculiar father, who rebuilds and restores a wrecked old racing car.