Who remembers the 1969 Hollywood blockbuster about sentient car Herbie and its efforts to find love for its human driver Jim Douglas, played by Dean Jones? As Herbie turns 55 ,the Mirror tracked down super-fan Luke Theochari, 65, who has been keeping the cherished motor running.
As we crawl through west London traffic, passersby wave and beep right at me. Men in vans hang their heads out the window and people get their iPhones out to record footage. But although I can feel my head starting to swell with self importance, it isn’t actually me that they are staring at – the car I’m in is a bonafide movie star.
This week The Mirror went for a ride in the real Herbie – one of Volkswagen Beetles used in the 1969 movie The Love Bug, about a sentient race car who forms a bond with driver Jim Douglas, played by Dean Jones. It was built specifically for the film’s race scenes so has a beefed-up Porsche 356 engine and loaded with performance upgrades, but remains superficially unaltered with the original red white and blue stripes, and the number 53 on the doors and the bonnet.
Driving the car is Herbie’s “friend” and proud owner, Luke Theochari, 65, from west London. We sit in the comfy leather seats – a snug fit given my 6 foot 1 stature – and as Herbie trundles on Luke explains how he’s been enamoured with the vehicle since he went to see the first of the six Herbie films at the local cinema.
“I went to see it with my cousin, I was only 10 at the time, and I went to see it three times. We saw this car pull wheelies at the traffic lights and out race the Hot Rod. A few years later my uncle bought a new Beetle, and they called that car Herbie. I used to go around the house every Saturday and help him clean up and do the washing, the hoovering, that sort of stuff, and he’d give me a lift home in Herbie.”
By the age of 21 Luke had saved up the £450 for his first Beetle, and was soon buying, fixing and selling the cars. In 1986 he bought his garage in Ealing called Terry’s Beetles and has been repairing vintage Volkswagens ever since, as well as sometimes racing the cars. However, although Luke was always surrounded by Beetles, he never got Herbie out of his mind.
“In about 2002 I planned to build my own Herbie,” he says. “So I started collecting parts when I bought the film plate from DVLA.” But a heart attack in 2005 put this plan aside and made him focus on what he really wanted – which was of course the real thing. “I did some homework, and made lots of phone calls. And I found the original car that was for sale in America through the Volkswagen grapevine, and I made contact with the owner.”
It took a year of back and forth emailing, as the owner wanted to ensure that Herbie would go to the right buyer. Luke explains that he managed to secure the car from Florida by writing about the vehicle like he was a person. “They asked me to describe how I would ship Herbie to England,” he says. “And I said to them, ‘We’d have to send him out with no fuel in the petrol tank, ie, no food in his belly in case he gets seasick on the way.’”
In March 2007 Herbie was finally delivered to Luke, and when he first laid eyes on the little car, the hairs stood up on his arms. “It was literally hair-raising,” he says. “He is actually here, and he’s the film car. The most desirable Herbie of all of them. It’s awesome.” Since then Luke has been enjoying Herbie and even driven the car to Germany, and around London as people honk and stare. “When I drive him around people don’t know he’s the real car, they are shocked and surprised but I have had him for 17 years so I am used to it,” he says.
But for many people seeing Herbie brightens their day and, after standing up through the sunroof and waving like an excited toddler, we park up on a busy high street in Ealing,
Michelle Hodnett, 58 and from Shropshire, wheels the pram containing her 10-month old grandchild Evelyn, to a halt to ogle at the car.
“It is amazing,” she says, upon finding out that it’s the real thing. “I loved Herbie as a child. My brother and I used to see the films, we didn’t have a TV, actually we were very much about the country and horses. So, when we did get an opportunity to see a film in the cinema it really made an impact. I watched all the Herbie films. This just triggered a childhood memory of fun and the talking living car. In those days it was a big thing but nowadays there are all types of special effects. I brought my daughters up on those films.”
Hendy Ryce, 61, a delivery driver for Parcel Force, is also excited to see the car in the flesh. “You see replicas, so if I was to walk past it I wouldn’t have known it was the real thing. I remember watching the films, a good 20 odd years ago,” he says while capturing a picture on his phone. Sarah Paynter, 65, and from London, agrees: “It’s lovely to see it, especially today as the sun is out. I watched the films but it’s the car you remember the most, not the plot.”
But fans of Herbie are of all ages, not least because US actress Lindsay Lohan of course starred in the reboot Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005. Actors Cameron Murray, 26, and from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Hannah Holmes, 25, Bendigo, Australia, have just graduated from nearby Met Film School and point out Herbie from a far as they walk on the pavement.
Cameron says, “I more recollect the Lindsay Lohan version because of my age. I think at some point I have seen the original. We were just walking along the street and I was like ‘oh shoot that’s the Herbie car!’” Hannah adds, “I immediately recognised the car. We are actors so I am not so much into cars but I am into films.” Jacob Dawson, 22, a software developer from Ruislip, is baffled that the car is here. “I watched the movie when I was a kid. I am surprised it isn’t guarded by a bunch of guys with guns!”
Luke says that this is a common reaction, and many expect the car to be under lock and key. Although Herbie is valuable Luke is hesitant to say how much the VW cost him, but another model used in the fourth film Herbie Goes Bananas, which hit cinemas in 1980, fetched £80,000 at auction back in 2015. “I can’t put a price on him because he is not for sale. Even my wife didn’t know how much I paid,” he explains.
Luke’s wife Helen, who passed away in 2015 aged 49, was once crowned Miss VW in a beauty contest. They met when she was a customer back in the eighties, before she came to work at the garage. “She used to come down to this workshop in the late 80s and she used to buy parts for her Beetle.” The pair had their first date in a green Beetle, sitting in the car and talking for hours.
Although Luke may have lost the love of his life, he finds comfort in his old friend and still often watches the old Herbie movies. “If there is nothing I’ve seen on the TV that I want to watch I’ll think ‘I haven’t seen Herbie in a week’ and I’ll stick it on,” he laughs. “The first year we had Herbie in 2007 he was parked in the garage at the bottom of a garden. The doors were open to aerate him and while the film was on I could see Herbie down in the garage. It was cool.”
“I am just really connected with the car,” says Luke, when we arrive back in the garage after thanking Herbie for the ride. “I know when something’s not quite right and I know to bring him in and fix him. He can’t fix himself, I have to give him a little tickle every now and again.
“Sometimes dreams don’t come true and sometimes they do. This is a dream come true. I’ve lived my life believing in Herbie and I still believe. He is my mate.” And as I walk down the road, heading for the train home, I hear the tooting of a horn. It may just be Herbie letting me know that he agrees…
Luke’s love for his bug features in an advert for Volkswagen, which translates as ‘the people’s car’, as part of a new campaign – YourWagen – which celebrates genuine VW fans.
The YourWagen platform has true-life tales from real Volkswagen owners and invites fellow customers to reflect on what they might name their own Wagen.
To watch Luke and Herbie in the advert click here
