THROWBACK: The Barn Bug Herbie Movie Collection
UPDATE – To celebrate Barn Finds’ 10th Anniversary, we are taking a look back at some of the top posts over the years! If you happen to know the current status of any of these Bugs, please let us know in the comments.
FROM 11/15/2011 – Even if we don’t want to admit it, we probably all recognize these cars. The white Beetles with the number 53 on the hood should be especially familiar. They all represented one of the most famous cars to ever hit the big screen. Herbie stared in his first movie, The Love Bug, in 1968 and ended up being in five other movies. Disney built quite a few Herbies for each film, but there aren’t many still around. Reader Albert H sent in a tip about one of the original Herbies and after doing some more research we discovered this whole collection which is for sale.
This Herbie family is being offered for sale by Colome Motors and they hope to sell the whole lot as a package deal. Most of these cars are from the later movies, but there is one from the original movies. There is even the 1976 Lancia Scorpion from Herbie goes to Monte Carlo. All of these cars have been well cared for and have documented histories.
This Herbie may be the most important of all the cars offered for sale right now. This is Herbie #12 and he was used in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Herbie Goes Bananas. This car had a lot of screen time and was one of the few cars that the actual actors drove in. This car was left for many years and had to have a complete restoration. It is now as good as the first day of filming. This car is being offered by another seller here on The Samba. They are asking $30,000, which seems fair considering its history and the fact that it has already been restored.
These may just be a bunch of beat-up old Beetles, but we think they are worth preserving. Buying this package deal seems like a good way to start your own auto museum. In fact, if you are able to get non-profit status, this could even be a tax write off! We would like to thank Albert for sharing his interesting find with us.
Auctions Ending Soon
1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1Bid Now1 days$7,100
2003 Porsche Boxster SBid Now1 days$4,000
1966 Lincoln ContinentalBid Now1 days$500
2000 Jaguar XJ8LBid Now5 days$1,250
1977 Datsun 280ZBid Now6 days$275
Comments
Herbie #12 was $8,000 and is now as stated in the samba ad at a “new price” $30,000 !!!
Wow. I was going to say, a ‘restored’ bug for 8K was a steal, not to mention the movie background. But 30K seems a bit tall. Neat collection. Love the muddy lookin one with the wiper smears. Winder how that is applied, and how permanent it is (hoping it IS permanent and wouldn’t wipe off).
Wasn’t it oil? I remember the bad guy shooting oil at Herbie, James Bond style, during the big race. Loved “The Love Bug,” which came out when I was five. Any Disney movie with Dean Jones is GOLD!
I think the facts got screwed up somewhere in the translation on this one. Herbie #12, is being sold by a separate collector and is not part of the collection of 7 cars. And I know it’s certainly not only $8,000. The collection of 7 won’t be broken up by the owner.
Also, they might look beat up. But they’re far from it when you look at the restoration photos of Herbie #12. When the cars were built by Disney, they were just beat up used cars. Heck in the Love Bug many were built from wrecks and were made from two or three cars.
There are only 23 known original Herbie movie cars that are left in the world. (I don’t count the dreaded Lindsay Lohan remake) Half of those original cars are in museums, so owning one of these cars is a pretty rare opportunity. Much like the chargers from the Dukes of Hazzard, quite a few VWs met their demise during the course of filming the original 4 movies…
That’s the only sad thing about the Herbie movies, was that they had to destroy a lot of my “beloved vintage Volkswagens” in order to make those movies.
But take heart, the sacrifice of those bugs helped to make the remaining bugs more valuable today. Only God knows how many junker ’58-’63 sunroof bugs(the only years that can be made into a righteous Herbie without prohibitive cost) were saved from being chopped into a baja(an abominable fate that many fell victim to back in the 60s,70s, and 80s),or the crusher, because the owner saw the love bug movies. And therefore s/he had the foresight to restore it, or at least store it instead.
no, the majority of the 38 that we got, the majority are still around, the destroyed one, were the one that got destroyed. terrible rumor about the builder and what happened to all the 38. I have before and after pictures.
Tory? “(I don’t count the dreaded Lindsay Lohan remake) ” I have pictures of you in the car show scenes of Herbie fully loaded big dog. lol, in that dreaded Lindsay Lohan remake
I am the proud owner of Herbie #12. I don’t want to sound biased or push the product, but I’m just chiming in to clarify that the price of this incredibly rare car is indeed $30,000. Original Herbies in the past have sold time and again for figures between $35,000-$60,000. The economy is definitely not what it once was so we’re prepared to take a much lower figure. Thanks for looking! I hope the site administrator can edit the ad correcting the mistake.
The #12 car was not $8000…there is a replica of it that was for sale for that in Orange County recently, but not the original. I know these cars and the collector and helped him with the collection at one point. Its a great bunch of stuff…needs to go to a museum where they can be shared.
Sorry about that guys. I think we have the prices and sellers all straightened out now. Thanks for catching it.
I so much agree that this car collection should go to a museum where everyone can have the chance to enjoy them. At one time, I recall the Volks Wagon Dealership at Seaside, CA. had one of the Herbie cars on display. This car could not be driven as it appears most of the parts were taken out. It looks that the purpose of this Herbie was for comedy scenes as there was a lever inside the car that made the hood open and a human-like tongue flap. When the headlights should have been there was actually these silly eyes with eye lashes that could be moved by the levers inside of the car. I do not think they have this Herbie car there anymore on display. That was pretty cool to see.
Amazingly, that Herbie was owned by none other than Dean Jones. He displayed the car the the dealership-the owner being a personal friend of Mr. Jones. This was actually the original parade car used at Disneyland for many years. It was gifted as a sign of thanks for all Dean had done for Disney over the years. It’s now in private hands in Burbank.
Thanks for the info. about that Herbie, Tory. Interesting! It was cool that I had a chance to see it!
(053/0)
I know of one that truly was a barn find(20+ years ago). He’s now sitting in my garage
Yea Albert.
Wow, that would be really amazing to find one of these cars in a barn!
I recently saw a modern VW beetle that was painted like Herbie. That was pretty cool.
I remember seeing the original movie as a kid at the Carlton Theatre in Red Bank NJ. They had one of the herbie cars in the lobby with giant sunglasses on it
Car is now available on eBay! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260903875671
i love herbie movies and this little car is so sweet.
Dan…did Herbie #12 ever sell?
Which herbie movie was the black bug from and is it just me or in the first picture does the bug on the far left look like it had the number 63 on the hood
You are referring to “Horace the hate bug”, which was used in the 1997 made for TV version of “The Love Bug”. This version had Dean Jones playing a cameo role. You can see the entire hour and a half movie on YouTube. I like that version as all the bugs were “righteous Herbies”, unlike the “Herbie Reloaded” (2005) versions with the flared fenders, etc., not that I would blame Lindsay Lohan for that.
I owned and restored Horace #2, sold it to a kat down SD way, got it in trade and cash for the Herbie that was dropped and smached Lindseys car she wanted in the HFL movie . wish we could post pictures her.
Kinda funny that the nay sayers who thought $30k was steep for an original Herbie. To think that I paid a fraction of that for my screen used Herbie. And to think that one sold after these cars were offered, at auction and it brought $66k. Say what you want. These are just like the Batmobile and the James Bond Aston. There were only so many made, and they aren’t making any more any time soon. So expect the prices to keep climbing.
I thought that was scale-models.
Outstanding. There’s just something so cute about these little cars that they are loved by the masses. I think I saw Herbie in the 60’s at a drive-in theatre.. It makes a very attractive little racer…
I saw the original “The Love Bug” movie in New Hampshire in the summer of 1969 at a drive-in. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes bugged me so badly, that I had to see it again in a theater.