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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.
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