My neighbor owns a Herbie the Love Bug. When my niece and nephew came out West as kids, I had him drive Herbie over to my house. Their eyes were as big as saucers. How were they to know that the car wasn’t the one and only Herbie? Even now that they’re grown up, they still talk about that magic moment. If you’ve got kids in your life that you’d like to impress similarly, here’s an opportunity to consider. There’s a 1963 VW Beetle for sale here on ebay. If you like it, jump in. It’s available in Warwick, NY, so plan a trip to the East coast if it seems like this is the movie car for you. The auction closes in about a week.
Actually, the price is a bit of a question The number had worked its way to around seven G’s, but the seller closed one listing and opened another, starting at $1,000. Obviously, that’s nowhere near being a final figure. This mystery continues as the seller says the following: “Since I can’t properly price this car, I will post as auction and put a reserve. I will decide at the end if sold or not so bid to win.” What the heck is that supposed to mean? If the car doesn’t sell, by the way, it will be re-listed—but not until the summer. An odd approach, but the seller seems to be into collector cars, so he must have a method worked out that works for him.
As far as the movie tie-in, the provenance of this Herbie is unknown, in truth, with the one thing the seller says being that it came from a movie museum and may have been used as a backup in filming one of the movies. However, in compensation for that, the seller says it is in fine fettle to drive and use, so you can enjoy it one way or the other. People will point and smile wherever you go in this little package, and it won’t matter to them, or, in the end, to you, whether the car is authentic or a creation of someone’s imagination. That meatball with the famous #53 and the offset stripes, plus a body in the right color paint, should make for a fun time. Note that the details in this clone are only as good as the eye of whoever created it, so true fans, please weigh in if you spot some discrepancies.
On the bright side, this is not just any “replica” cloned Herbie. This car is actually a 1963, which is the year of the original one. You can see some of the early design cues in the body lines (let’s just say that not all fenders are shaped the same), vents beneath the headlights, and the original sunroof. Does it need some work? There’s an image of a lot of spares in the front trunk, which suggests that someone other than you has done the hard stuff. The VW is said to drive well, though the ad repeatedly says (warns?) that the car sat in museums for many years. Thus you should probably count on some work to the fuel system and brakes, and perhaps other mechanical bits, before you trust it on a longer-haul weekend trip. At least there’s no coolant to change!
I like it. Would be fun to have but knowing what just a regular bug of this era sells for I’m sure I can’t get to the reserve in part because of the shipping cost included in the price
Might have a later engine or has been upgraded in the charging dept as it has an alternator rather that a generator. Can’t see enough of the intake manifold to be sure but see what may be a rubber boot on the drivers side of the intake which would indicate dual port heads. To me the carb looks newer than what ’63 came with as well but it’s been a long time since I was into VW’s
I had a 69 bug with off road tires and was pretty ugly but it spent a lot of time on the dirt and I was going to try and get a personal plate that had H8BUG but I rolled it before that happened. Looks like a ball and rolls like a ball!
I remember going to ACD labor day weekend event, back in the day,…there was always someone with a clapped out VW bug for sale with fresh 53 decals/stripes for sale. Cool find, looks like fun.
‘Twould be fun to have: not worth the price. If it were running and reliable, I could drive it home from Warwick. But these were real RUST- buckets, unfortunately
In 2005, when I was 7 years old and my brother was 9, we were at a car show in phoenix, AZ. A woman had an actual Herbie in the show (she bought the car at Barrett Jackson and she had documentation from Disney proving it was the real deal)! My brother got in the car, stood out the sunroof and started jumping up and down on the seat, but Just as my Dad was about to scold him, the owner grabbed his shoulder and said “it’s okay, I brought the car here for the kids, he can’t hurt anything, let him have fun!”
Interior is the wrong color , and no visors on Herbie’s headlights. Oh and the wheel covers were always off for racing and the stripes went over the soft top too