Herbie3Rivers' 1959 Original Herbie the Love Bug

[Herbie3Rivers]

Hey gang, never got around to doing this on the other forum. Here's my 1959 Herbie the Love Bug. Herbie started life as a German 1959 Fjord Blue sunroof deluxe Sedan. My car's one of 8 built by EMPI (the VW speed gurus) for Disney in 1967. Of those 8 there's only 4 accounted for. In total there's 23 original Herbies out there. No one's really sure how many were built. I estimate around 50-60 for all 4 films, not including the 36 built for Herbie Fully Loaded this past summer. Anyway, back to my car. My Herbie was used extensively at a 2nd unit stunt car in The Love Bug. My car had all the cool modifications made to all of the Herbies. Rollbar, 3 point harness, 15x6 wide wheels, lowered suspension, etc. In addtion to these my car also had several camera mounts installed, one of which was installed in the back of a customised front seat back. After the movie, Disney sold all of the Herbies as there wasn't a plan for a sequel. My car was damaged at some point either during filming of The Love Bug or after shooting wrapped. But Disney purchased as many of the first Herbies back as they could to film Herbie Rides Again. This time around my car was painted solid white with a large red cross on the hood. The scene that my car and one other Herbie were painted for was cut from the final release of the movie, yet a picture of the scene was put on the view master reel for the movie. After Herbie Rides Again, my car went through several different museums(including the famous Harrah's collection) and private's owners before ending up with VW collector Daryl Adams. He restored Herbie for his private collection of vintage and extremely rare VWs. He's also owned as many as 9 original Herbies at some point or another. The only problem was he didn't restore the car correctly. I bought Herbie from a now closed museum in Branson, MO in 1997. I've enjoyed Herbie for many years, and am now getting around to finally correct the restoration mistakes. I've already redone the decals and stripes with the correct colors and placement for a "The Love Bug" Herbie, But I still have a LONG way to go. I still have to paint the interior gray to movie spec, install the custom made wide wheels, replicate the rollbar, and re-install the racing harness. Well, long post aside, here's pictures.

[Herbie3Rivers]

Here's some of the more interesting pictures that I'll give descriptions to.

Photo 1: My Herbie with Herbie #9 from Herbie Fully Loaded on the Herbie & Friends Cruise Across America.

Photo 2: My Herbie with another original Herbie used in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Herbie Goes Bananas. Along with the Herbie Fully Loaded Herbie.

Photo 3: Herbie infront of the Herbie tour trailer.

Photo 4: A picture of myself with Herbie and Joaquin Garay III who played Paco in Herbie Goes Bananas. Joaquin and I are good friends.

Photo 5: Joaquin sitting behind the wheel of my Herbie. I even have his autograph on Herbie's glovebox door.

Photo 6: Herbie group shot from Mid America Motorworks' FunFest 2005. My car is the 3rd one from the left. Next to Otto The Egg's NB.

Photo 7: Herbie with his old stipes and hood 53 at the kick off rallye for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

Photo 8: An artsy view of Herbie at a preview car show for the PVGP.

Photo 9: Here's Herbie with the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

[Herbie3Rivers]

Lastly for now, Here's some artsy on the move pics of Herbie.

[Cirric]

Beep Beep...!!!

[AmyJane]

Thats awesome! You are so lucky! I want a Herbie so bad. I have ever since I was little and 1st saw Herbie the Love Bug!

[AmyJane]

OMG I just noticed the vert in the 4th pic from the bottom. Is that yours? That is beautiful!!!!

[Cirric]

the 'vert looks great...

[Herbie3Rivers]

No, that vert belongs to a good friend of mine. It's a 67 full 100 point resto that gets driven everywhere. I'll dig up some more pics of it. The same guy also has another 67 vert, but in Ruby Red.

[AmyJane]

Originally Posted by Herbie3Rivers

No, that vert belongs to a good friend of mine. It's a 67 full 100 point resto that gets driven everywhere. I'll dig up some more pics of it. The same guy also has another 67 vert, but in Ruby Red.

OMG! Ruby red? I would love to see pics of that one too!!!

[dnyed]

I'm so glad to see that this Herbie has such a loving family.

[marvins_dad]

Where are those shots of "before" the restoration that you shared with us before? They were cool!

[Herbie3Rivers]

Originally Posted by marvins_dad

Where are those shots of "before" the restoration that you shared with us before? They were cool!

Ask and ye shall receive!

Here's Herbie as he was found in the Nevada desert in the late 80s or early 90s. Compaired with a scan of the negative on the view master of the scene my car was in.

[Herbie3Rivers]

Thought I'd post a couple more pics of Herbie. Here's some of his more interesting features.
First is a shot of the filled in semaphore turnsignals.

Then there's the bar that's welded underneath the rear of the car, just forward of the rear suspension, not sure what this was for.

next is one of two rear racing seatbelt mounts. I'm working on locating a complete set for the front and one for the rear that closely match the originals.

Then here's Herbie when I had his new stripes and hood 53 put on back in May.

[Herbie3Rivers]

And here's one more behind the scenes picture that I have from when the movie was being made. And a couple pictures of the shoot for the Mothers Car Wax commercial that Herbie stared in. And some more artsy pics

[AmyJane]

I love Herbie!!!!

[Herbie3Rivers]

Just got this pic tonight from a buddy of mine. He used to have it on his Herbie website and I had it saved for a long time, but lost it somehow. So now I got it back. Anyway this is my Herbie on the right, right after he was restored back in 1992 or 93, and 3 owners ago.

[AmyJane]

Originally Posted by Herbie3Rivers

Just got this pic tonight from a buddy of mine. He used to have it on his Herbie website and I had it saved for a long time, but lost it somehow. So now I got it back. Anyway this is my Herbie on the right, right after he was restored back in 1992 or 93, and 3 owners ago.

Nice pic!

[EVZBUG]

What an AWESOME piece of history! That's so cool that you found it. Were you and your Herbie at this year's Litchfield, CT show? Also, how were you able to put stripes on the rag top?

[Herbie3Rivers]

Nope haven't had Herbie up to CT at all. The sunroof stripes are actually dyed into the vinyl. Since I've replaced the stripes with the correct light blue color and widths I need to redo the sunroof cover. I've been debating what to do with it, either just installing another section of stripe for the time being, or try to cover the dark blue with light blue, or just get a new gray cover and start from scratch.

[dnyed]

I have that Nevada picture burned into my memory. How sad to see. But, so wonderful that he was brought back to life, in such a loving manner. Such a treasure, he is!