The movie ‘The Love Bug’ already exists of course and everyone who likes cars even a little bit has probably seen it several times. The movie was made in 1968 by the production company of Walt Disney. The story revolves around racing driver Jim Douglas, played by Dean Jones, who chases success with his mechanic Tennessee. After a crash with his Ford Edsel, Douglas is looking for a cheap car. At a dealership, where he is mainly interested in an attractive saleswoman, he meets a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own. The Beetle likes Jim and follows him home. They become friends, Tennessee calls the Beetle Herbie. The car helps Jim to a series of glorious victories, which also earn him the woman of his dreams. But Herbie is of course the main character. Watch ‘The Love Bug’ and you will love Herbie. When Herbie wants to commit suicide in the movie by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, tears stream down your cheeks. After ‘The Love Bug’, Herbie starred in three more films between 1974 and 1980. Everyone loves Herbie, but Luke Theochari loves him the most. When ‘The Love Bug’ came out in 1969, it was an instant box office hit. This was partly due to Luke, who went to the cinema with his cousin Mike as an eleven-year-old boy and was captivated by the living Beetle on the screen. A few years later, his uncle bought a Beetle, which the family promptly named Herbie. “We didn’t have a car at home, so it was quite a happening when I was allowed to go along,” says Luke. When he had finished his homework, he was allowed to tinker with Herbie with his cousin. The car was given mud flaps and double exhaust pipes, and that’s how Luke took his first steps on the path of tinkering. That got quite out of hand, so much so that in 1986 he and a family member took over the then already renowned Terry’s Beetle Services. There he focused not only on the maintenance and restoration of Beetles and Volkswagen buses, but he also built a drag Beetle, with which he was the first Beetle driver to complete a quarter mile in under ten seconds. In the meantime, Beetle enthusiasts from far and wide found Luke and now his company is still flourishing after thirty years. His customers include big names such as Jamie Oliver and Jenson Button. Also take a look at terrysbeetles.com. Luke initially wanted to build a replica Herbie, but then wanted the real one The plan to build a Herbie replica had been simmering in Luke’s mind for years. “In 2005 I had a heart attack and I had time to think carefully in the hospital. Then I thought: what if I buy the real Herbie? Wouldn’t that be much nicer?” After a year of searching, Luke found a ‘real’ Herbie from ‘The Love Bug’ in Florida via a forum. It was a car that Disney had sold to a museum, which then sold it to a private collector who operates online under the name Dr. Herbie. He had no intention of selling Herbie, so Luke had to use all his charms to – as he himself calls it – “loosen up”. That took over a year, during which Luke followed a well-thought-out tactic. “I always spoke about Herbie as if he were a person. Not only to show the owner that I would treat Herbie as a friend, but especially to show his wife that Herbie would be fine with me. The crucial thing was when he asked me how I was going to get Herbie to England. I then said that we would transport him in a container and that we would make sure that he had nothing in his stomach, because otherwise he might get seasick. That more or less sealed the deal.” Herbie finally came to London in 2007, to Luke. There, the little Volkswagen showed his personality even more. “A friend picked him up at the docks in his truck and brought him to me,” Luke says. “I remember being nervous. Really nervous. Meeting Herbie was like meeting a movie star. It was like meeting Lindsey Lohan and her skirt is up, but even prettier.” Seven Herbies were built for the filming of ‘The Love Bug’ Seven different Herbies were built for the filming of ‘The Love Bug’. The H1 was the main Herbie, who was in the general scenes. The H2 was a Beetle with a Porsche engine, for the racing scenes, the H3 was focused on interior shots and was missing some parts, the H4 was just a body, the H5 was a split front and rear, and the H6 was put together so that he drove like he was drunk. Finally, in the H7, the driver lies in the back seat, so it looks like Herbie is driving by himself. Luke bought the H2. That’s also written in marker in the glove compartment. The other six versions are owned by Dutch collector Mark Wegh, owner of Porsche (and Porsche Classic) Center Gelderland. Volkswagen tuner Empi built movie cars In addition to the Porsche engine, the H2 has Koni shock absorbers, improved suspension, Porsche brakes and even a roll cage. The movie cars were built by Volkswagen tuner Empi from Riverside, California, on behalf of Disney. Disney was careful with the money, because it did not demand new cars. A fixer-upper was fine. Luke’s H2 is a ragtop Beetle from 1963. At least, the largest part, because the front dates from 1960. “Apparently a front was welded onto a damaged Beetle,” laughs Luke. “You can still see the welds. It would make any other restoration worthless, but in this case it makes this car the real Herbie. I love him.” A nice detail is that the Volkswagen logo is nowhere to be seen. Volkswagen absolutely did not want to be associated with the film. “They must have regretted that later,” Luke chuckles. And indeed, in Herbie’s next film – 1974’s Herbie Rides Again – the Volkswagen logo is everywhere. People think it’s a replica Car love like that between Luke and Herbie is something you rarely see. When Luke talks about Herbie, it’s not about a Volkswagen Beetle, but about a real person. “Herbie’s not an ‘it’, Herbie’s a ‘he’. And if he needs something, I’ll give it to him,” Luke emphasizes. Every morning, Luke and Herbie have breakfast together at a café on the corner and drive around the area almost every day. “I’ve achieved my dream,” Luke says. “That makes me proud. That doesn’t mean I’m the only one who gets to enjoy Herbie. Everyone gets to. Everyone laughs when we drive by, especially the kids. And they all go ‘Herbie!’ but the funny thing is that no one knows that this is really Herbie. When I tell people, you see them change. Then they get a bit nervous, they hardly dare to touch him. Sometimes people come into my garage to look at him. Passers-by and tourists often think it is a replica. I let them believe that, although some do know that this is the real Herbie. Recently a boy came to me who was in London because he played Goofy in ‘Disney on Ice’. He wanted to meet his ‘colleague’ and was very nervous! Herbie and I also often go to car shows and charity events. He makes every child laugh. If we can help people, we do so with pleasure. I enjoy how Herbie still captures the imagination. When I park him between the most expensive supercars, after a while the crowd really gathers around him. Everyone wants to have their picture taken with him and everyone pets him.” A different exhaust has been fitted Despite his advanced age, Herbie is in excellent health. The engine, from a Porsche 356, is tiptop and Herbie shines from his bright headlights. Of course Luke keeps Herbie original, although he did fit a different exhaust. “The old one was really worn out and with this one it sounds even more cheerful”, he grins. “Fitting an original exhaust is always an option, Herbie and I also want to have a bit of fun. That’s why we often drive, because I don’t want it to waste away behind the geraniums. If anything happens to it, I’ll fix it. After all, that’s my job.” Driving the real Herbie is an unforgettable experience. With the 60 hp of its 356 engine, it moves just a bit faster than an average Beetle. The sound is exactly the same as in the film, only the stirring music is missing. The headstrong character is still there, that much is clear. From behind the wheel Luke says: “Sometimes I feel like Dean Jones. I think it’s a shame that he passed away in 2015, I would have liked to visit him again and Herbie too.” Beetle with 2.0 engine built for woman There are more deceased people who would have liked to visit Luke and Herbie again. The most important is Helen, Luke’s wife. She died in 2015 from a brain tumor, but she loved Herbie just as much as Luke did. “I have so many fond memories,” says Luke. “She loved cars. She also raced and I built her a 2.0-liter Beetle. When she was sick, I bought her a Fiat 500 and she wanted me to paint flames on the side. In her work she came into contact with celebrities like Diana Ross, but she was nervous too when she met Herbie for the first time.” One Christmas morning Helen woke up and wanted to cuddle Luke, but Luke wasn’t there. She searched the entire house, even the garage. There she found him, he was cleaning Herbie. “She thought she was beautiful! I never told her how much I paid for Herbie, that wasn’t important. Now he won’t go for a million. Unless there really is no other option because my children need the money, in which case Herbie would understand.” Luke and Herbie are bosom buddies As he reminisces about his wife, Luke has tears in his eyes. He tells his stories while sitting next to Herbie and stroking the fender with his hand. That detail is perhaps the most beautiful part of Luke and Herbie’s story. The two are bosom buddies and they support each other when things get tough. Herbie’s numbers: OFP 857 Herbie has the same California license plate in all his films: OFP 857. It made him famous. On the internet, there are rumors among die-hard fans that the plate has a meaning. ‘The Love Bug’ director Bill Walsh is said to have worked with Walt Disney for the first time in August 1957. OFP is said to stand for Our First Production, 857 for the month and year. It is said to be a nice detail, almost as nice as the fact that Luke gave Herbie the original license plate as a gift. In England, as recently in Belgium, you can buy personalised number plates. British car magazines feature long lists of cool number plates, accompanied by the sometimes astronomical sums they are expected to fetch. Luke took the risk of calling the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to ask for a specific number plate: OFP 857. Those in the know know: Herbie wore that number plate in all his films. He was told that the plate was available and would soon be auctioned. “I couldn’t believe that it was still available,” says Luke. A few phone calls later, he was the owner and £1,600 lighter. Now he drives around legally with the only number plate Herbie can tolerate. Herbie’s numbers: 53 Herbie’s starting number 53 was also not chosen by chance. The best-known and generally accepted theory is that producer Bill Walsh, a big baseball fan, simply used the number of his favourite player Don Drysdale for his film hero. In Germany, however, they believe in a different theory. Racing Count Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips achieved one of his first successes in 1954 in the Rheinlandrundfahrt at the Nürburgring. He did this at the wheel of a Volkswagen Beetle with starting number 53. A year later, Von Trips, then at the wheel of a Porsche, crushed the competition in the 12 Hours of Sebring in America. This earned the handsome bachelor many American fans, especially ladies. Von Trips’ star continued to rise. In the service of Enzo Ferrari, he was on his way to the Formula 1 world championship in 1961. When Von Trips died in an accident in Italy that year, the world was shocked. It is whispered that at that time there were already plans in Hollywood to make a film about Von Trips’ life, with superstar Robert Redford in the lead role. Some therefore see Herbie’s number 53 as a tribute from Disney to the racing count, who was affectionately called ‘Taffy’ in America. A nice thought, with a thoroughbred racing car like Herbie, Luke also thinks.
Source: www.autoweek.nl
