Herbiemania

Every once in a while its good to fall back into one's childhood, or so I tell myself, about 90 days ago I had one of those visions...

While driving my trusty 1968 california custom vw bug I was lucky enough to have an illegal alien cut in front of me so I could T-BONE her and she could swim back to her homeland without required insurance and a drivers license. Lucky ME !!!!

What to do I asked myself?, fix it, get another? change manufacturers?....

Problem is, I loved that car, I come from a lifetime of VW products, my father a VW Guru for 40 plus years, it seemed growing up thats all we had around, they are my comfort zone...so

I asked the five year old who circles around my PLANET AND LIFE, hey dude what are we going to do about the car?

"Herbie", he announced with a huge smile...

What he didnt't know is that back in the late 1960's my father had created a HERBIE as a promotional tool for the original LOVE BUG film.

So I started the research task that is Herbie, first repairing a rather crushed front end to our current classic, Bruce and the gang at Bugformance in San Jose California did their usual bang up job and carefully reconstructed the bug to its former glory.

Next the paint , I chose Earl Schieb and his "SNOW WHITE " color...SWEET

but what about the decals, the thing that makes Herbie , well Herbie...?

LoveBugfans.com, you know the best place to look for something impossible to get is to hunt down the truly obsessed by it, well gee there they were....

Enter Greg Carr, owner of one of the original Herbies from the Disney Film, BINGO the king of kings, Greg it seems duplicated the exact original decals from his own original movie starring car and even has supplied disney with them for their own cars that show up in parades in the theme parks and movies...

Ask anybody about decals, all roads point to GREG CARR...

I send Mr Carr a money order, and in a few days...I'm holding a complete set of Herbie decals...

but how to install them?, i had flashbacks of my father getting bubbles out forever so i contacted a few sign places , you know the ones that put decals on commercial trucks, SURE WE CAN DO IT, $600.00....OUCH....how hard can this be I thought....

After a chat with one guy, it seems our Boy Mr Carr really was THE MAN, the decals were on special 3M film that at first glance makes they actually appear painted on the car...SWEET...

However injstallation time and attention to detail for such a specialized material meant 4-5 hours of labor...$600.00....remember...ahhh....

As I drove home sulking I stopped at 7/11 for something to drink, OH THANK HEAVEN...

As I return to my car I see I guy looking into the back seat to the car, "HEY YOU MAKIN HERBIE?" he asks....not at the cost of putting these decals on I say to him...

He then makes my day , "MY BROTHER DOES THAT FOR A LIVING " he says, one million people in this town and I hit the lotto....

6 hours labor and alot less cash and Herbie was born, and as you can see by the photo he's looking pretty good and while I didnt put all the sweat into creating him Im sure my fathers looking down and smiling, I know my son is, because there is nothing like pulling up to school and hopping outta the back of Herbie...or so Im told...