HERBIE
MANIA GRIPS U.S.!!!
Story
and Photography by
Lois Grace
As
any kid (of any age) can tell you, Herbie
is pretty big right now. Due to the
release last year of Disney's newest
Love Bug movie, "Herbie Fully Loaded",
one of the hobby's favorite Bugs is
enjoying a new wave of popularity.A
lot of the kids seeing this new movie
haven't even heard of or seen the original
Herbie movies! In fact, Lindsay Lohan
(who stars in the new saga) said in
one interview that before she was chosen
for this part, she herself had never
seen a Herbie movie! That fact alone
should have caused Disney execs to choose
a more worthy candidate for this part
like, for instance, ME. But things being
what they are, I had to make do with
Herbie mania in my own little part of
the world and save the movie-making
for others.
The
release date for this movie was set
for June 22nd, 2005, which happened
to coincide with the "International
Day of the Beetle", a fact I find
more than coincidental. And, one of
our Golden Gate Chapter VVWCA members,
Greg Hyde, arranged for our club to
participate in the press screening of
this movie in San Francisco at the Kabuki
Theater on June 20th, 2 days before
the actual release.? Greg had set up
a 60-mile cruise from south San Jose
to the theater in San Francisco - the
cruise beginning at 3:00pm. From our
starting point here in the south bay,
I led a small group of 6 cars north,
where we met Greg and 6 more cars and
continued north to a rest area. There
we picked up maybe a dozen more and
continued on north to The City. We arrived
at the Kabuki Theater right in the middle
of weekday rush hour traffic. The Disney
rep wanted us to circle the theater
for an hour before the movie started,
but most of us abandoned that plan after
a mere 10 or 15 minutes battling homeward-bound
commuters, bicyclists, and so many pedestrians
you couldn't see the sidewalk. You can
only drive in that kind of 4-block congestion
for so long! We finally got into the
movie and settled into our seats for
a very enjoyable hour and half of new
Herbie adventures. It was dark when
we got home, at 11:00 that night.
What
I didn't know then was that when I woke
up the next day, something had changed.
It was almost like my 21st birthday
again (minus the hangover), I didn't
feel different, but something was definitely
not the same. I wasn't able to put my
finger on it until I started cruising
eBay for Herbie items........and ended
up spending hours on the computer bidding
on things I never would have given a
second glance to mere weeks before.
It was then that I realized I?d been
infected. AGAIN. I had caught Herbie
fever, in a bigger way than I could
have imagined.
Beetle
fever is one thing and we all know what
that is like - and we're used to it
as it has become a part of our life.
But HERBIE fever is another thing entirely.
Besides just Volkswagen-related clothing,
jewelry and accessories, there are a
host of other goodies out there just
pertaining to Herbie. Disney released
a whole bunch of stuff for the original
appearance of #53, from work shirts
to sweatshirts to jackets and everything
in between. If you can find these things
now you'd best grab them for whatever
price they command, if you are serious
about collecting them. That is how rare
they are becoming. I didn't bid or buy
anything that was out of my budget but
I was sorely tempted by the original
Disney-release bomber jacket with the
giant #53 embroidered on the back. To
make it even cooler, it was reversible,
with a gray sweatshirt lining and an
even BIGGER embroidered Herbie design
on the inside. OH MAN, I really had
it bad. I contented myself (for a while)
with grabbing up as many of the collectible
Herbie Disney pins as I could, and I
think now I have them all except for
one. Oh yeah, I did get a Herbie charm
for a bracelet I have......and a Herbie
antenna ball......and every Herbie t
shirt ever screened....and even a Herbie
cell phone charm (original Disney, of
course). Not that I'll admit to any
of it.
I
realized I had a problem when I began
thinking about dressing my Bug like
Herbie.'? There are legions of us VW
people out there who have turned their
cars - permanently or otherwise - into
Herbie lookalikes.'? I have two good
friends who have done it. I have a Toga
White sedan, and I thought, Why not??
He's white, like Herbie. It'll be fun.
Never mind that my Bogart doesn't have
a sunroof. Never mind that he is a '69
Beetle, not a '63. Never mind that my
numbers are magnetic and my stripes
are tape. In my eyes, he looks fantastic!
And, apparently he looks good to the
rest of the motoring world around here
too. Because the attention he gets is
phenomenal. Without this Herbie getup,
Bogie is just another beigey-white "late
model" Beetle to most people. But
in his stripes and numbers, he is HERBIE
THE LOVE BUG. Kids wave and scream at
us. Grownups in mini vans honk and wave
at us. Heck, even two Harley riders
- not so much Hells Angels but still
the type you wouldn't think would even
know who Herbie was (and if they did
they sure wouldn't admit it) waved at
us as they roared by. It is amazing,
all this attention! Sometimes, it's
too much. I'm not sure I'm completely
comfortable with being stared at this
way. But for a short while I can get
used to it, and it's really a kick.
But
dressing like Herbie is not without
its hazards: the tape stripes left marks
on Bogie's paint, and one of the big
#53 magnets lost its grip and flew off
while we were on a club "Fun Run."
A quick-thinking and even faster-acting
fellow club member managed to stop and
retrieve it for me. I honestly didn't
mind the small hassle, as it had been
worth it, fun-wise. But if Bogie ever
decides to shoot oil out one wheelwell,
or split in half going around a corner,
that's IT. His Herbie days will be over.
