Herbie


Herbie, the Love Bug is a fictional sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle racing car that has been featured in several Walt Disney motion pictures starting with The Love Bug in 1968. He has a mind of his own, being capable of driving himself and often becoming a serious contender in auto racing. Throughout most of the films he is distinguished by red, white, and blue racing stripes from the front to the back bumper, a pearl white body, a racing-style number "53" on the front luggage compartment lid, doors, engine lid, and a yellow-on-black 1963 California license plate with the registration "OFP 857".

Fictional character biography

In The Love Bug, Herbie is bought from the showroom of Peter Thorndyke by San Francisco socialite Mrs. Van Luit for her upstairs maid, but is returned shortly afterward due to reliability problems. Race car driver Jim Douglas purchases the car after he is accused of stealing it. Tennessee Steinmetz, Jim's best friend, a mechanic and his housemate, names the car "Herbie" after his uncle, a middleweight boxer whose nose was shaped like the hood of a Volkswagen Beetle. Jim notices the car's unnatural performance levels and decides to go racing with Herbie, to great success. In addition, Jim pursues a romantic relationship with Carole Bennett, an assistant in Thorndyke's showroom. Carole eventually sides with Jim, Tennessee, and Herbie for the final El Dorado road race. After a race-long duel with Thornkdyke, Herbie splits in two approaching the finish, but wins when the rear half crosses the line first. Fully repaired, Herbie takes the newlywed Jim and Carole on their honeymoon.
In Herbie Rides Again, Herbie is retired from racing and has been left to Tennessee's widowed aunt, Mrs. Steinmetz. Jim has entered European racing circuits, whilst Tennessee resides in Tibet. Mrs. Steinmetz and her displaced neighbour, Nicole Harris, try to save her house from being bulldozed by real estate developer Alonzo Hawk with the help of Herbie and Willoughby Whitfield, Hawk's nephew.
In Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Jim is reunited with Herbie and enters the Trans-France Race with his mechanic, Wheely Applegate in hopes of staging a career comeback. Herbie soon falls in love with a sentient Lancia Scorpion named Giselle, while Jim develops a relationship with Giselle’s driver, Diane Darcy. Herbie is also pursued by a pair of jewel thieves, Max and Quincy, who have hidden the stolen E’toile de Joie diamond in his gas tank. After rescuing Diane and Giselle from a crash into a river, Jim and Wheely drive Herbie to victory, overtaking their main rival, Bruno von Stickle, on the ceiling of the Monaco tunnel.
In Herbie Goes Bananas, Jim has retired from racing and leaves Herbie to his nephew, Pete Stancheck, who plans to enter him in the Brazil Grand Primeo. In the interim, Herbie befriends an orphan named Paco who gives the Volkswagen the nickname "Ocho". They wreak havoc on board the ship Sun Princess, prompting the overzealous Captain Blythe to throw Herbie overboard. Herbie is rescued by Paco and disguised as a taxi, while they work to stop a gang of con artists from stealing a source of ancient Inca gold.
After returning from Mexico, Herbie is taken back by Jim, who opens a driving school in the TV series Herbie, the Love Bug. Jim meets a woman named Susan MacLane and her three kids, Julie, Matthew, and Robbie, who become friends with him and Herbie. Businessman Randy Bigelow aims to get Susan back; they had broken up during their wedding, but his schemes come to nought as Jim and Susan are married in the series finale.
Hank Cooper becomes the owner of Herbie in The Love Bug, the 1997 made-for-television movie. In it, it's revealed Herbie was created by a German engineer named Dr. Gustav Stumpfel. Stumpfel is duped into building Horace, an evil counterpart to Herbie, from a sample of the original metal; Herbie's key. Horace, influenced by the narcissism of his owner, Simon Moore, Hank's rival, crushes Herbie in an alleyway. Hank buries Herbie, but Jim Douglas' return sets Hank and his friends to rebuild Herbie to take on Simon and Horace in a final, one-on-one showdown race. Hank and Herbie defeat Simon and Horace, and Horace is destroyed attempting to so so her Herbie, falling into a ravine and exploding.
In Herbie: Fully Loaded, Herbie is found in an abandoned garage and carried to Crazy Dave's junkyard where he is to be scrapped until he is bought by Maggie Peyton, who dreams of racing in NASCAR. Maggie quickly discovers that Herbie is sentient, upgrades his engine and bodywork, and enters various races, from a demolition derby to the final race of the Nextel Cup Series. In the end of the film, Maggie becomes a NASCAR driver and Herbie builds a relationship with his new love interest, a Volkswagen New Beetle.

Appearance in media

Herbie has been the central character of five theatrical-release films, a made-for-TV movie, and a short-lived television series.

Film series

Television series

A television series, Herbie, the Love Bug, was aired in 1982 on CBS. Dean Jones reprised his role as Jim Douglas for it. Five episodes were made.

Other official appearances

  • In 1990, Herbie made an appearance in the second season of the 1980s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club.
  • An animated version made a brief cameo in two episodes of House of Mouse.
  • Two racing video games starring Herbie were released by Disney Interactive Studios: Disney's Herbie: Fully Loaded and Herbie Rescue Rally.
  • Herbie used to make an appearance in the Lights, Motors, Action!: Extreme Stunt Show at Disney theme parks, but was later replaced by Lightning McQueen.
  • Herbie has had numerous appearances in Disney parades, and has taken part in Disney on Ice and Disney on Parade, usually with painted-on eyes and teeth, along with a moving tongue. This Herbie model has been moved to Disney's All-Star Movies Resort at Walt Disney World and is the centerpiece of "The Love Bug" themed area.
  • Herbie appears in a Disneyland 50th Anniversary TV commercial in which No. 53 is used for transportation by Mickey, Goofy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie to get to Disneyland.
  • Herbie made a cameo in 2009 Boom! Studios Cars: Radiator Springs comic series as a character in the background.

    Unofficial appearances

  • Herbie has an unofficial appearance along with Ray Peyton, Jr. in a segment of Robot Chicken titled "Horny Robot Redux". In the segment, he is a New Beetle rather than an original one and has animated eyes and a mouth. He also appears in the Kingdom Hearts segment of a Season 11 episode.
  • Herbie has a brief cameo in Episode 195 of American Dad!, "Stan Smith as Keanu Reeves as Stanny Utah in Point Breakers", in which he helps Stan Smith escape from poachers and wolves. In the episode, he has incorrect stripes and different "53" font.
  • The Herbie film series spawned a knockoff series of Superbug films. A white Beetle, split in half and numbered "53", makes a cameo in the first film, even though its name is never mentioned.
  • Herbie had a cameo in The Simpsons episode "Beyond Blunderdome" in the Movie Car Museum. He can also be seen in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner" in the Planet Hype restaurant.
  • Herbie makes an appearance in Forza as a paint job for the 1960s Beetle.
  • Two of the liveries available for the "BF Weevil" in Grand Theft Auto Online are based on Herbie.
  • Herbie makes appearances during a race and other scenes of the "First" music video by Lindsay Lohan, a song featured on her debut album and the Herbie: Fully Loaded soundtrack.
  • A futuristic version of Herbie appears among the crashed vehicles in Futurama Comics No. 82.
  • Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider chose jersey No. 53 after watching The Love Bug with his parents the night before.

    Future

In 2017, it was reported that a new Herbie series was in development at Disney XD. The plot revolved around a child named Lili or Landon Reed, "part scientist, part entrepreneur, part daredevil" who realizes, "when his or her parents go missing, that they've secretly been working on a government project: a talking car named Herbie. He is the key to helping the kid reunite with his or her parents, but a gang of criminals also wants to get its paws on the state-of-the-art vehicle." The concept of this planned series was later developed into Fast Layne without any Herbie references, making his future uncertain.

Guises and paint schemes

Herbie's appearance remained consistent throughout the first four film entries as well as the 1982 television series. There were only minor, subtle changes. The 1997 TV movie and Herbie: Fully Loaded featured major overhauls in appearance, as there were different production crews working for Disney by this time.
To create the effect of Herbie driving himself, Disney concocted a detailed system of sprockets and pulleys connected to a second steering column under the front seat for a rear seat driver. There was also a second set of pedal assemblies, clutch cables and a shifter extension. In The Love Bug, the rear seat driver sat low enough to see over the windshield but still out of the view of the camera. For Herbie Rides Again and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Disney installed a hood-mounted Carello fog light that concealed a small camera which allowed the rear seat driver to view the street and sit lower.

''The Love Bug'' (1968)

In the original film, The Love Bug, the racing stripes differ from those in later movies; they do not cover Herbie's valances or louvers 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 to specially widened wheels on the racing Herbies. During one scene, the number "53" on the passenger-side door is missing. The door is also cut along the lower edge at an angle to enable the car to tilt over to the right on two wheels.
One of the modified racing Herbies featured a Porsche 356 engine, brakes, and KONI shock absorbers. All Herbies in The Love Bug had the VW badges removed from the hood and featured plain non-VW hubcaps. The hood-mounted VW logo was replaced with a plain disc of the same diameter, colored to match the body. All VW logos were removed to avoid any trademark conflicts.