Film series

Television series

A television series, Herbie, the Love Bug,^[2] was aired in 1982 on CBS. Dean Jones reprised his role as Jim Douglas for it.^[3] Five episodes were made.^[4]

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 of Herbie 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 (2005) and Herbie Rescue Rally (2007).
• 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 in the latter two 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 he 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. (portrayed by Fully Loaded actor Breckin Meyer) 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.
• Herbie makes an appearance in Forza as a paint job for the 1960s Beetle.
• Two of the liveries available for the "BF Weevil" (the Grand Theft Auto equivalent of the Beetle) 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."^[5] The concept of this planned series was later developed into Fast Layne without any Herbie references, making his future uncertain.

The Love Bug (1968)

Original film car used in The Love Bug

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.^[7]

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 number "53" (a.k.a. "gumball") 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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Herbie Rides Again (1974)

Fan-made Herbie replicas at Stamford Hall

In Herbie Rides Again, Herbie features revised racing stripes, with the original blue switched to a dark navy. In addition, they were applied over the valances and louvers, and the front hood was recycled for the 1982 television series Herbie, the Love Bug. Herbie also received a hood-mounted Carello fog light, and his running boards were now the more conventional black.^[7]

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 break-in. The Beetle used was a late model, having a more bulbous flat-bottomed lid with an earlier rounded bottom edge welded on.

After the success of The Love Bug, it was heavily endorsed by Volkswagen, which was in financial trouble at the time, when Beetle sales in North America were considerably lower than in previous decades. As such, the company insisted that the VW logos appear on Herbie. Both the hub cap VW logo and hood-mounted VW logo were reinstated at the company's request.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)

In Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie is again fitted with wide racing wheels (Goodyear GT radials), and has an external fuel filler cap. Post-1967 Beetles did feature the fuel tank accessible on the right side behind the fender; the silver cap itself, however, was fake and added for the film's storyline.^[8] With the addition of the fuel filler, the antenna is now a retractable unit fitted on the front cowling, near the windshield wipers. Herbie has a roll cage again, and Monte Carlo racing stickers on his windows (one on the front window, two on the left back window, and one on the rear window). He still sports the hood-mounted Carello fog light with an added black cover sporting the company name. He now has gray bucket seats instead of stitched seats. Throughout this film, he has an asymmetrical door mirror. There were a total of 9 VWs used in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. Many of them were recycled for use in Herbie Goes Bananas.^[7]

Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)

In Herbie Goes Bananas, the hood-mounted light, the grey roll cage bar, the Monte Carlo racing stickers, and the silver gas cap were removed. Herbie still had his gray bucket seats, asymmetrical door mirror and his Goodyear GT Radial racing tires and rims, and his sunroof was the original light gray rather than the dark gray from Monte Carlo. The rust seen on the car in the movie was painted on some of the Herbies. The car that "walks the plank" in the movie was never recovered from the sea. It was tossed overboard from the "M.N. Coromuel" ferry ship (not The Sun Princess cruise ship). The car is somewhere between La Paz and Baja California. The car thrown overboard was not a proper car and had many wooden parts.

Herbie Goes Bananas 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. His name is only mentioned three times in the film by the garage owner, apart from the two times he honks his horn at Paco trying to say his name when Paco couldn't understand what he was saying.

Some of these Herbie cars were recycled for Herbie, the Love Bug in 1982.

One of the actual film cars used with its flip wheel chassis in the bullfighting scenes now resides in Sydney. Another one was displayed in the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum until its closure in 2011. Since then, its location remains unknown.

Volkswagen ceased the sale of Beetles in the USA one year before the film's release.

2005 Fully Loaded version of Herbie, specifically his "Street Race" look

The Love Bug (1997)

In The Love Bug television film there were some significant changes. The graphics used were copied from the 1974 Volkswagen of America decal kit, and the position on the front hood number "53" was higher up. The racing stripes were different sizes, and the shade of blue reverted to the lighter version used in the original 1968 movie. The sunroof was a solid white (vs. gray) and missing the racing stripes. The wheels were standard Beetle wheels, instead of the wider GoodYear GT Radial racing tires used in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Herbie Goes Bananas, and the seats were regular instead of the gray bucket seats he had previously had.

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

Herbie "personality car" preserved at Electric Dreams Slot Car in El Segundo, California. This car remotely moves its eyes, bumper, hood, doors, visors, and antenna – giving it human-like characteristics.

In Herbie: Fully Loaded, Herbie, who in this film seemed to be able to show emotions through anthropomorphized expressions mimicking a face, went through several "costume changes" throughout the movie, changing his style dramatically from scene to scene.

• The font of the number "53" is different, and slightly bigger and lower down on the front hood. The racing stripe is missing from the sunroof and the stripes are painted the way they were in the first four Herbie movies. The front license plate is not present on his front bumper anymore.
• For the "street racer" look, Herbie has brighter white paint, a whale-tail rear spoiler, air intakes in the front of his rear fenders, lowered suspension, no rear bumper, wider tires, and a windowed rear engine cover through which blue LED lighting show. He is also shown to have a nitrous oxide system to boost his speed during the race against Trip Murphy.
• During the demolition derby, Herbie is stripped down with no vehicle interior panels, vehicle racing seats or special street racing body parts. His sunroof cover has been removed, although the cutout remains to play important roles during the demolition derby. He still retains the same number "53" on the sides that he wore in his street race look except with Targets or Bullseyes Sprayed over the Logos and the white paint and all vehicular modifications in his Street Racer Version were all dismantled and completely thrown away for good. He later gets red Bull's-eye targets spray-painted on his front doors and hood by Crash.
• For the "NASCAR" look, Herbie gets a new, more off-white paint job, NASCAR sponsor decals, a different duck-tail rear spoiler, a roll cage, Goodyear Eagle NASCAR tires, wider fenders, no front turn signals, no back bumper, no passenger seat, and no back seat.

More than 30 different Herbies were used during the shooting of this film,^[7] and three original cars are known to be on display. There is one at the Volo Auto Museum^[9] in Illinois and two other vehicles in California: one fully motorized version preserved at the Peterson Automotive Museum^[10] and a "personality car" at the hobby store Electric Dreams.^[11] Both California cars were used during the NASCAR racing segment of the film.