Walt Disney’s Herbie Volkswagen Beetle

Herbie a Volkswagen Beetle magically endowed with a soul of its own. The vehicle can drive itself, reaches impressive top speeds on the road, scares its opponents with a wheelie and really likes to drain oil on indecent people .Used in the original films from 1968 to 1980.

History

 Walt Disney realized an idea for a comedy family film of a little VW.The first Love Bug was first leased in 1969 and was an instant success, with both-children and adults. Herbie built in 1963 with a soft top. In contrast to the current street model, the entire interior was kept in Gray because Gray caused fewer problems for the film recordings than white. Herbie’s license plate remained the same in all films: California OFP 857.The body is pearl white L87. Herbie's racing number is black 53 with a white background in a black circle producer of the first two films, Bill Walsh. He stated that at that time he had come across the number 53 very often and that his favourite baseball player

What we find are an innocent 1200 cc VW motor and Not believing that this little VW could be capable of such speeds. Yes, in reality, the powerful bug that was capable at least to seem wheelieing and wheel-spinning was actually powered by Porsche.

Briefly, in the first film the car belongs to a maid, but she returns it to the seller (Peter Thorndyke) due to mechanical problems. Seen Jim Douglas at the dealership, Herbie decides to follow him; Thorndyke, however, reports the man for theft and forces him to buy the Beetle. Thanks to Jim, Herbie begins a "career" as a racing car, achieving many successes; he also helps the owner court and then marry Carole Bennet. About 30 Beetles, ranging from 1966 to 1968 were required for the various Love Bug

stunts, which is a little confusing because the exterior of Herbie is very definitely pre-1967 model and with a keen eye you can see various different models used. much of the special modification work required was carried out at the VW Wolfsburg factory in Germany.

In the first of Herbie’s four adventures, he finds himself out on the race track his new owner, a small-time racing driver named Jim Douglas played by Dean Jones. As Herbie takes the chequered flag time and again, watch out for other rare cars along with Corvettes and Ferraris that fade into the distance as No. 53 goes hurtling past, Patrick Thorndyke.

Herbie's crazy antics include Herbie being driving unaided or this, a driver, hidden by lace curtains, sat right in the back of the car, his foot pedals being just behind the front seats, the rear bench seat having been removed. This enabled side and brief frontal shots to be taken with car appearing to drive by its self.  the two-wheel stunt driving (both rear and side); to the car lurching around, tyres heading in all directions, apparently drunk on Irish coffee to Herbie splitting in half at the end of the final race, the rear section over-taking the front portion to win, leaving the front half to come third. also, with the aid of a fork-lift hydraulic system, and carb dioxide bottleand a host of electric motorswith separate 26 levers and buttons which, among other things, opened and shut all the doors and bonnet.

The hydraulic Herbie was also used in some of the other love Bug sequels. The Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Herbie Goes Bananas also featured new stunts, which demanded more special VWs to be constructed.Nobody is really sure how many Beetles were used throughout the Herbie series, although theoriginal now proudly stands in the VW factory.

in Herbie Rides Again from 1974

The story is set in San Francisco During filming Herbie switches from a 1963 model to a 1965 one: this can be seen from the windows, which are different in the 1965 model (they have larger quarters). The broken-down Beetle featured in the final scenes already appeared in the first film in the role of Herbie; the car still exists today and has been restored, however keeping the dents.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo 1977

Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) must participate in the imaginary race "Trans-France" (Trans-France Race), accompanied by the faithful mechanic Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts) and driving the irreplaceable Herbie beetle. The race takes place between Paris and Monte Carlo. Some scenes were filmed at the Circuit of Laguna Seca. Numerous vintage sports cars were used in the film; the four cars used by the main characters are: Volkswagen Beetle (Herbie): year 1963, white, red and blue stripes on the bonnet, black number 53 inside a circle, sunroof. Lancia Montecarlo powder blue, white and yellow stripes, dark number 7, retractable headlights (not existing in the real version). De Tomaso Pantera: black, white stripes, black number 66 in a white circle; there are also other specimens. Porsche 917: red, black and yellow stripes, yellow number 17 in a black square.

Herbie Goes Bananas 1980

In Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, two young men, Pete Stanczek and Davy Johns are looking for a mechanic to take the race car that Pete's uncle, Jim Douglas, gave him.