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Herbie: The Love Bug (1968) was da bomb when I was a kid.
Had the story album (above) and the first two films were set in San Francisco (that was cool). Herbie Rides Again (1974) had Helen Hayes in a funky Cable Car thing and I remember that Stefanie Powers was super cute.
Had posters, toys, tiny cars (that I’d take to the mechanic to fix when I broke them. Really). And I once got in trouble for painting a 53 on my mom’s old Volkswagen hatchback (I didn’t care that it wasn’t a beetle. It had a VW on it). I didn’t stop there, I did something similar to a neighbor’s new Lincoln Town Car lift kit project for which I got in way more trouble for.
Here’s the website of the ultimate Herbie fan (and Disney employee) Hugh Chitwood. Found these funky images (below) at his site; they were used as promos for the Fully Loaded (2005) Lohan/Justin Long/Michael Keaton/NASCAR comeback.
Not bad for a car that was originally designed by dis guy.
1932 sketch for the Volkswagen, the ‘car of the people’
For more VW history, go here.
For more Herbie, go here (and follow the links at the bottom of the page).
George Bruns: Love Bug Theme
