Herbie

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For other uses, see Herbie (disambiguation).


Herbie (born 1963 in Wolfsburg, Germany) is a fictional car character, a Volkswagen Beetle, which "stars" in several Disney motion pictures from 1968 onwards. The car has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself. His driving abilities far exceed those of other cars, making him a serious contender in auto racing competition. He is distinguished by red, white and blue racing stripes from front to back bumper and a racing-style number "53" on his front hood, doors, and engine lid.

The car is given its name by an enlightened mechanic named Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett) in The Love Bug after his uncle "Herb", who was a middleweight boxer. His uncle had a perpetually broken nose which resembled the front of a Volkswagen Beetle.

Herbie is "played" by an L87 pearl white 1963 Model 117 Volkswagen Type 1 Deluxe Sunroof with yellow-on-black California license plates OFP 857,for the action clips, Herbie is is fitted with a Porsche 356 engine.

The "53" logo was possibly chosen because it was Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale's uniform number. (This was mentioned by a member of the original film's production staff in a Volkswagen enthusiast magazine article circa 2001.)

Whilst the cars used in all the films were painted an original Volkswagen L87 Pearl white, the interiors of the cars (in all films bar from the 2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded) were painted in a non-reflective gray. This was to prevent the reflection of studio lights during filming. By 2005, reflections of studio equipment could be digitally removed in post-production.

Films

There has also been a TV series (of which only five episodes were made, each one hour long):

  • "Herbie the Matchmaker" - original air date: 17 March 1982 (also known as "The Love Bug")
  • "Herbie to the Rescue" - original air date: 24 March 1982
  • "My House Is Your House" - original air date: 31 March 1982
  • "Herbie, the Best Man" - original air date: 7 April 1982
  • "Calling Doctor Herbie" - original air date: 14 April 1982


The first Herbie film, The Love Bug, was inspired by the book Car, Boy, Girl written by Gordon Buford in 1961.

While the look of Herbie remained fairly consistent through out the films (with the exception being the 1997 TV movie and 2005's Herbie Fully Loaded")there have been many subtle changes that the casual moviegoer might miss. Many of these differences will be discussed below.

The Love Bug (1968)

In the original 1968 film, The Love Bug, the original stripes differ from those in later movies; the stripes do not cover the valances or louvers of the car and the blue is a lighter shade. Also, Herbie features color-keyed running boards, while in later films the running boards are standard black. During the film, depending on the scene, the wheels change from standard VW wheels (although fitted with plain hubcaps with no VW logo) to specially widened wheels on the racing Herbies. During one scene (when Tennessee is hanging out of the window), the "53" logo on the door he's sitting on is missing. One of the modified racing Herbies featured a Porsche 356 engine, brakes and Koni shocks. All Herbies in The Love Bug had the VW badges removed from the hood and featured plain non-VW hub caps. If you examine these cars closely you will see that the hood-mounted VW logo was replaced with a plain body colored disc of the same diameter. All logos were removed to avoid any trademark conflicts. While there was no official endorsement by Volkswagen, many theaters featured an appropriately-marked Beetle in the lobby or out front, courtesy of local dealers.

Herbie Rides Again (1974)

In Herbie Rides Again, the car features the revised stripes (the blue was switched to a navy) with the addition of a hood mounted spot lamp, and the running boards were now the more conventional black. After the success of the first movie, the film was heavily endorsed by Volkswagen (whose sales of the Beetle were lagging) and the logos reappeared. Additionally, Herbie was running on standard wheels yet again. Volkswagen also promoted the film by having a Type 1 Beetle complete with Herbie livery in every showroom. There are various model errors in this film, such as the later "big window" (post-1964) Beetles being used. Also of note is the "cut-n-shut" engine cover after the warehouse is broken into. The Beetle used was a late model, having a more bulbous flat-bottomed lid with an earlier rounded bottom edge welded on.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)

In Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, the car is again fitted with wide racing wheels (Goodyear GT radials), and also has an external fuel filler cap. The filler cap was fake, being added for the film's storyline. With the addition of the fuel filler, the antenna is now a retractable unit fitted on the front cowling (near the windscreen wipers). Herbie still sports a hood-mounted spotlight, but this time it features a black "Carello" cover. Herbie also now has custom high back seats, being fitted to better conceal the back seat driver. Note the cut-n-shut engine cover again, this time in the scene with flowers. Throughout this film, Herbie has a later asymmetrical shaped door mirror rather than the round mirror correct to this model year (1963). The "wheelie" Herbie in this film is a special fiberglass car. If one examines the paused picture, it can been seen that the car is much shorter than a standard VW, having a fiberglass body mounted atop a tube chassis and an 1835cc performance VW engine (these cars were built by Speed Unlimited in Glendale, California). Interestingly, the Laser 917 GT Coupe driven by Von Stickle in the film was actually a VW based kit car. There were a total of nine VW's used in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. Many of these cars were recycled for use in Herbie's next feature film, Herbie Goes Bananas in 1980. One interesting bit of trivia, Herbie is the only car in the world with an official passport. Since it is illegal to fake a passport, Disney had to get special permission from the government to create this very real movie "prop." It is visible only briefly during the opening scenes of Herbie goes To Monte Carlo.

Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)

The car featured in Herbie Goes Bananas is generally identical to the one featured in Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo but with the fake filler cap removed. The cars still featured a cowl mounted aerial. The rust seen on the car in this film is painted on. Unfortunately, the car that "walks the plank" in the movie was never recovered from the sea. It was tossed overboard from the SS Coromuel ferry ship (not The Sun Princess cruise ship). The car is somewhere between La Paz and Baja. The restored Herbie seen at the end of the movie is a later 1965 model; notice the larger windows and wing (fender) mounted turn signals. This film also featured the same later model door mirror as Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo. Herbie set a Guinness World Record as the first car to go through the Panama Canal during filming in 1979. At least one of the floating Herbies used in the movie survives to this day and is owned by a Herbie enthusiast in Florida. A total of 26 VWs were utilized in the filming of Herbie Goes Bananas. 17 of those cars were auctioned off in August 1980 for as little as USD $25 each. Today, fewer than half of the cars from Herbie Goes Bananas are accounted for.[citation needed] Herbie's name is only mentioned once in the film, by the garage owner.

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

In Herbie: Fully Loaded, there are a multitude of changes when compared with the previous films. The gumball '53' numbers are in a different font than that used in the previous films, and the car has reverted to having a standard (body colored L87 Pearl White, not gray) interior with standard seats. The aerial has now returned to its original front quarter plate mounting and Herbie has lost his front license plate. The glass of the headlights has also been removed and accessory chrome "eyelids" which have the ability to blink have been added. Herbie's front bumper also can change shape to smile or look sad and the sun visors are used to produce a frown.

SuperBug

A similar series of five German movies called SuperBug also starred a Volkswagen beetle. In the first movie, which features a rally across Africa, a rich participant is given a "race car" by his wife, which, as she said: "Won the last by race in the United States". This turns out to be a white Volkswagen beetle that has fallen apart in the middle, sporting a barely visible 53 on it. After a quick repair and a new yellow paint job, it shows a mind of its own, (though not as distinctive as in The Love Bug) chasing its owner because he insulted the car. It is acquired by a poor man named Ben who gives the car the name Dudu, which is Swahili for bug. Other than the facts that the broken up car in the beginning looks like Herbie and that it has a mind of its own, there are no further connections to the Herbie series. In later movies, the car's mind was written in as an A.I. installed in the car. Although all movies "starred" the same yellow beetle and similar characters, they didn't share the same continuity. For example, the beetle's owner and the female lead were always played by the same actors, yet they had different names and/or personalities in each films (in one movie, the beetle's owner was a scientific genius, while in another he was a bitter alcoholic).

Popular culture

  • The first Herbie web site was created by David Evans in 1997. Its current location is http://www.herbiemania.com.
  • In the summer of 2005, Radio Disney offered a promotional drawing to take possession of Herbie, in connection with the release of Herbie: Fully Loaded. It is unknown, however, as to whether this vehicle is one of those actually used in the film.
  • In the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the lead character, Carl "CJ" Johnson, says he once drove a car named Herbie, possibly referring to Herbie the Volkswagen.
  • Herbie was briefly shown in two episodes of Disney's House of Mouse.
  • In November 2000, the first Herbie car show took place in Orlando, Florida, USA. The event was known as Herbie Days at Disney 2000.
  • In the early days of the Disney-MGM Studios park, Herbie was on the Backlot Tour. This Herbie did tricks, but burned in an accident. Now, a Herbie from Herbie: Fully Loaded is on display for the tour.

Toys and collectibles

Disney has licensed many Herbie toys and merchandise throughout the years, including:

External links

Fan Sites

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