I'm an early 30s millennial, but growing up I was the weird kid in school because I was OBSESSED with Herbie. Had all the movies on VHS, including the 90s made for TV movie, a dozen model cars, Herbie themed birthday parties, and restoring a 60s Beetle is at the very top of my bucket list... And now you're driving one that's a legit rally racer?? Veronica, can I please be your friend? 😭
Also 30s millenial reporting in, but not as obsessed until like, retroactively. My dad was enamored by how silly the old Herbie movie was, and he swapped out boxy Corolla for a white Beetle (later repainted to Lemon Yellow). The bug isn't with me anymore but my uncle and dad's bro made it their restoration project after his passing (and it's been going well last I saw the bug). I did learn to drive with it though for a little bit. The gearing was definitely weird, and the steering felt heavy, responsive, but also weird all at the same time. In retrospect, I now understand why dad liked the funny bug so much lol.
@@foxracer1703 Personally I wasn't a fan of how they used CGI to make Herbie look like he was made out of rubber, and everything else was... fine. But I'm mostly just happy that they tried to make another movie at all lol
Herbie was my childhood hero! I’m nowhere near the normal age of nostalgia for the era this film was made, but ever since my dad showed me the original movie, I’ve always wanted a replica 63 Bug. I’ve seen every one!
Same! Born in '94 so this was long after the original releases of all but the Bruce Campbell one (and later Fully Loaded I guess). I think Rides Again is my favorite, especially the scene where all the Beetles in the neighborhood band together to fight the real estate asshole. :P Now I have a '99 Beetle turbo.
I passed a calculus class because of a Volkswagen Beetle. Across all subjects I refused to do homework in the later half of HS, and my grades were riding on test scores. All of which were always B’s to A’s if not better. But my calculus class focused much more on homework so I was struggling. It wasn’t till I turned in a test paper I spent most of the class period drawing a VW Beetle on the back from memory. It was one of my more accurate freehand drawings. Simplicity was why I wanted one, and the difficulty of getting curvatures, highlights and shadows right is why I chose to attempt it. But my teacher saw it and sat me down after class for it. Her father apparently was the biggest fan of beetles and made one of the first “two headed” beetles. It was the last class of the day and we talked for hours about them and her father and it was a genuinely great time. We never discussed her messing with my grades, but she ended up passing me with a low A.
8:53 The sweet hell are you talking about? The love bug has some incredible acting. So much charisma and chemistry between the leads, a hammy but completely captivating villain, a completely lovable side kick. Are we expecting marriage story here or what? Did ghostbusters or back to the future utilize method acting? Even the kid from Herbie Goes Bananas gives a solid performance as a streetwise orphan.
There have been other RCR videos I’ve laughed harder at, but there hasn’t been an RCR *car* I’ve loved more than this one. The Herbie movies, as silly as they are, were my childhood and are absolutely responsible for my car culture obsession as a grownup. Veronica is a freaking treasure. She actually went out and did what I’d been curious about my whole life - making an actual race worthy Herbie and driving him! Seriously I hope y’all do more content with her, she’s ridiculously cool.
Just as Arasaka troops have helmets that evoke Samurai helmets, I'm imagining Disney troops with helmets in the shape of Mickey's head, complete with large mouse ears that function as advanced sensory equipment.
@@Mr.CorySnyderYou’re really just finding every single person who mentions Veronica and deadnaming/misgendering her 😭 Please find something more useful to do. Maybe read a book?
@@JacksonRhodes42my first thought was that it was an actual, flying beetle! That would make for a cool Disney crossover film (herbie and chitty chitty bang bang) !
Kinda crazy, but they were able to get those NASCAR-modded Beetles up to around 140mph before backing off because the stunt drivers were too TERRIFIED to push it further. Go figure that an economy car designed in the 1930s feels like a flying death trap at modern sports car speeds.
Herbie won the Rally Monte Carlo by outrunning a Maserati Indy and several DeTomaso Panteras. Herbie can keep up. A Volkswagen Beetle on the other hand...
@@VulpesHilarianus AND a Laser 917, which ironically had VW Beetle underpinnings. This realization made the villain's mocks all the more ironic to me, but I assume they were implying that the car was supposed to be a Porsche 917... Disney probably couldn't justify the cost to get their hands on one considering that they're ultra rare, not street legal, and the damage that can come from stunt driving and reshoots.
For some reason I decided to bingewatch the Herbie movies the day before my dog died. I didn’t know it was coming, but now every time I see a Love Bug or hear Get You Back by the Beach Boys I think of Arthur and get pretty sad. Funny little car. A very good dog. Strange what meaning things take on under specific circumstances.
The Autopian's Jason Torchinsky nicely defended the movie when he was on Reels & Wheels Podcast. It's a surprisingly loving tribute/entre into that form of racing. Also, the "Thorndyke Special" is a pretty rare, amazing car, and the film has some bizarrely heavy moments, including a scene where Herbie almost commits suicide.
Honestly, most other "living cars" are about putting human levels of intent into a vehicle. Herbie has always been more of a tough and fearless little Terrior dog. He's small, cute, smart, he'll jump right up and grab the bad guy by the nuts-- a repeat gag is him literally pissing on people's shoes-- does it at least once every movie.
@worldofdoom995 I'm still waitin' on my The Car vs. Killdozer movie. Then we can have the Westway refrigerated take on it's equivalent in the Green Goblin truck-- winner faces the truck from Duel.
Or what if Christine-- NEARLY indestructible in the book and ENTIRELY so in the movie, took on either The Car or Killdozer or both. Both of THEM are very nearly indestructible but CAN still be beaten.
I think the first movie (The Love Bug) was good and charming with genuine performances. It had that magic and also served as a time capsule for sports car racing in the late 60s. It was cheesy, but good cheesy. The 2005 version, or any of the sequels can just make you uncomfortable. The Love Bug is a classic comedy movie that deserves to be remembered.
The original “Love Bug” has better race footage than a film with its premise has any right to have. For all its child-friendly antics and overall ridiculousness, I would put the Riverside sequences (which is some of the ONLY cinematic footage of that track) alongside “Grand Prix” and “Le Mans” any day of the week.
Those scenes looked more honest than a lot of the racing scenes in later movies, too. You can tell the other cars are just idling in Herbie goes to Monte Carlo.
God I love small cars with like 50hp. Your foot is on the floor the whole time and 30mph feels like 150, you are constantly managing the car. Driving something like that teaches you what Driving, capital D, is. Even if you had a radio, you wouldn't use it because it's too distracting. Veronica seems like a blast to hang out with and her taste in cars is beyond S+ Tier.
I owned a couple of Beetles and a couple of Kombis, many years ago. I've also owned an E class and an S class Benz at the other end of the scale, and a number of other cars in between. All these years later, if there was one car that I'd like to have again it would be the Beetle. Why? Because it was just such fun to drive. You had to drive it every inch of the way. Every trip was an adventure.
My dad bought a used 1969 VW bug in 1974 right during the gas crunch. it was light pale blue. I was 8 years old. Herbie the Love Bug was in the theatres back then. .I fell in love with the movie so much that aI drew a big round 53 and some red & blue stripes with magic markers on paper, and attached it all to his car with scotch tape. He was so livid with me when he tried to peel off the scotchtape off the paint because the tape took the paint with it. We drove All the way to Key West from Maryland, and went to Disney World and back in that little thing.. Loved that car!😊
I lost my beetle in 2016 during the Alberta wildfire. It was a strange 1978 Bug with mechanical fuel injection. I miss that car dearly. I used to drive it (gently) over ATV trails down to the local riverbank and everyone was so friendly. I desperately miss that car.
Hey! I have owned a Mexican 1984 Beetle since 1995. Came with a carbureted 1600 dual port, still has swing axles. The swing axles in US market cars went away in favor of a fully independent rear suspension with the beginning of the Auto Stick in 1967, and on all cars for 1968 on, but the Mexican Beetles were swing axles all the way until they stopped making them in 2003. If your shift rod bushing in the tunnel is known to be good, and you're sure the coupler at the trans is good (might want to check it with a second person, sometimes the ferule that goes on the trans can move inside the cage of the coupler, especially if it is aftermarket), then it might just be a simple adjustment. The two bolt holes on the shifter base are large to accommodate adjustment of the base as it relates to the shifter. If you are getting reverse when looking for second (mine is doing the same thing), then loosen the bolts and nudge the base toward the passenger side and tighten them again. You probably only need to move it one or two mm. As far as whether the original Beetle was a good car, it's really a matter of context. It was an excellent car for its time. You have to remember, Ferdinand Porsche was starting to design this car as early as 1926, so by 1969 some of its design was already over 40 years old. These cars were known for longevity and ease of maintenance. They only hold 2.5 qts of oil, valve adjustments were simple, and there was no liquid cooling system, so seasonal maintenance and oil changes were simple and inexpensive. They ranged in hp from the original 1949 1.0L of 25 hp, to about 60 hp in the 1600 dual port, settling for about 56 hp in the last fuel injected version (in the US that is. Later Mexican Beetles received a more modern fuel injection system and I'm not sure what their hp was). What has given these cars a bad reputation is the last 50 years of owners "improving" them, plus rust and lack of maintenance. A good quality original example that isn't beat to death is a pretty reliable car. They are noisier than modern cars but in stock form they aren't terrible. Mine is sporting a 1914 with higher compression, a W110 cam and dual Weber IDFs with a louder than stock exhaust, so it is definitely noisy at highway speed, but around town it is not too terrible and I can still achieve around 30 mpg. That was the other thing they were good at especially in their heyday was fuel economy. I think they were rated at around 27 mpg when many cars were struggling in the low teens for mpg. If you want to see a quick clip of mine, look at my YT page, I think I have a clip of me running against my buddy's Datsun 510 on an air strip. Keep up the good work Veronica and Mr. Regular!
Oh thank you! I’ll have to try that with the shifter! I was in there a while back to check and did fiddle with the adjustment slightly but it’s totally possible I didn’t get it quite perfect, it definitely felt better after it went back together but not by much
Yeah, I was wondering about the shifter. I owned two beetles and a Karmann Ghia back in the day (all well-used beater daily drivers), and never found them at all difficult to shift. On the contrary, they were easier to shift than any other manual transmission car I have driven.
I freaking loved the Herbie movies when I was a kid, British TV would show them a lot as I imagine they were cheap. I think I loved the idea so much because I was a neurodivergent kid who was already anthropomorphizing inanimate objects. So seeing a cute car that was a cheeky little rascal was just perfect for me.
I can't tell you how many weekends I rented Herbie the Love Bug as a kid. Loved that movie. My parents owned 3 beetles growing up and I'd kill to have just one.
I’ve loved the Herbie movies, especially the original (which is a legitimately good movie and I WILL NOT HEAR OTHERWISE), since I was a kid. If I ever got a Beetle, it has to be white with a big 53 on the side. Veronica is living the goddamn dream.
I was just the right age to see Herbie The Love Bug when it came out. I absolutely loved it. Two things I remember: the theater that showed it had a white Volkswagen made up to look exactly like Herbie parked right by the door as a promotion, and Buddy Hackett being interviewed on the Tonight Show about his role in the movie. Johnny Carson wanted to assure the audience that even though Buddy was one of the stars there was no swearing in the movie. Buddy Hackett said, "We swore a lot when we were making it!" Thanks for this. It was the video I didn't know I needed.
As a person that grew up watching all the Herbie movies as a kid and as someone who has watched this channel since middle school, the inner kid in me was so happy to see this! I’m not even 2 minutes in and I’m smiling ear to ear just hearing that little beetle sound exactly as he did in the original four films! While I will probably not make a Herbie replica, I want to own a beetle to appease that inner kid and this just makes me want one more. Alright back to the video lol
The Love bug (original movie) was my all-time favorite live action Disney movie. Seen it at least a few dozen times, during my elementary years. There was also a TV series of Herbie, it was okay.
I remember there was a scene in the Love Bug where Herbie flew past some modified car at the lights which I found out was based on Dean Jones on his way back home from set with the Porsche engine swapped beetle used for the film drag racing a Corvette at the lights. Fuckin cool
33:36 threw me for such a loop, that acceleration sounded damn near identical to Herbie's from the original movies Gotta love those classic air-cooled motors.
I haven't seen the movie since early Disney Channel (early 80s, we had just gotten cable) and that reference triggered a memory 😁 The Herbie movies were on pretty heavy rotation, Disney movies in general, since that's pretty much all they had regarding programming
Herbie got me into Beetles, Beetles got me into [Beetle] Adventure Racing on the N64, which then got me interested in racing games. Bing-bong-bash, eventually got Forza 1 on the OG Xbox, and now I've got nearly 2,500 hours clocked in JUST on driving/racing sims on Steam, all with a sim wheel and shifter, and an '05 Accord coupe 5MT in real life. We all start somewhere.
Similar trajectory but I stopped at simcade and have a '99 Beetle turbo. :P (Also 5MT but because it's first year it's the earlier box they used in the mk3 VR6 GTIs and not the later one they used in the other 5spd mk4 cars)
Looks great! I had restored a 63' Rag roof Herbie of my own back in 2007. Put a 1641 cc motor, and a freeway flyer Transaxle. Got the same deep wheels like the one she got, that had the stock hub caps on it.
Yes!!! That is the best Herbie replica I've seen... Veronica can do no wrong. You might want to revisit the original "The Love Bug" movie if you haven't lately - the others are pretty much garbage - hell, "Herbie Rides Again" had a scene where Herbie attempts s*icide (which still haunts me) - but The Love Bug had a decent cast and story, moves along well, it's kid-friendly but also presents the excitement, frustration, and general camaraderie of car racing like nothing had done before or since, really. I can still remember being a kid and wanting to get out there and race my dad's '68 Beetle. Jim : "You don't understand what happens, do you? They make ten thousand cars, they make them exactly the same way, and one or two of 'em turn out to be something special. Nobody knows why." Tennessee : "I know why."
My grandma introduced me to the Herbie movies when I was a kid and I loved them. When I was a teenager, I had a friend who had a '67 Beetle and being crammed in the back seat with two other people was not fun. It also didn't have A/C and with +100F temps in Texas, it was brutal lol
10:05 Holy fuck, the Cyberpunk references caught me off guard. I had to remind myself that I was watching an RCR video and not playing the game... but yeah, anyway, what a great car. Looks 100% like I remembered from the movies. Tho, these days, I care more about the "love" than the "bug," if I'm honest.
Little side note on the transmission. If this is a stock transmission, reverse is down near second, and the reason for the grinding into first is because on the earlier type-1s didn't have a synchronized first gear. At least this is my experience with my 1960. That said, great video, and great work by Veronica on that build.
One thing to remember about the Super Beetle 1302 and 1303 is upgraded with MacPherson suspension in the front which improved handling over the older Type 1 Bugs with torsion suspension all around.
You watched the Herbie movies as an adult without children being the reason. That's rough. Herbie will always have a special place in my heart but I couldn't sit through it on my own as an old man.
I'm sorry, is this meant to say "props to you for watching the Herbie movies as an adult, they're great" or "wow you're an adult and you watched the Herbie movies, have you no shame?" because I'm hoping it's not the latter
Under normal circumstances taste's change with time. A 40 + year old doesn't see things the same way a 4 year old does. At 4 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the best movie ever made. At 55 it's a collection of clips I show my girlfriend who is 5 years younger than me and hasn't seen it.
I purchased a 1963 VW with that big rubberized canvas sunroof in 1970, right after graduating from high school. If I remember correctly. I paid $375.00 for that car. After installing seatbelts myself, I drove it for a while before going off to Sunny Southeast Asia for two years, then for another couple of years in the mid 1970s, right through the first oil embargo gas price shock (its high 20s mpg was much envied then). In memory that car enjoys something of a rose colored glasses effect.
When i was a child, in the early 2000s. I had all of the Herbie movies except the 90s one because Disney wont re-release it. These used to be movies I would watch while sick home from school. It was a fantastic break between hurling my guts out as a child. I still use this movie as an escape when i need to brain off.
Any video where Veronica makes an appearance is a good time. The fact that she owns the car that got me into cars is just...man. I wish Veronica was my friend. That'd be great.
My first car was a 63 Beetle that I bought mowing lawns the summer before I turned 16. $300 but it didn't run. I worked on it every day after school and got it running. I did almost all my practice driving in it. I think I'm a much better driver today because of that experience. He's right when he says you have to be totally engaged when driving one, especially on the rural dirt roads where I grew up. I later owned a 75 I bought for my part time job of pizza delivery because I knew how to fix everything on it and delivery work is hard on cars. These things are great fun and everyone who's ever owned one has fantastic stories about theirs.
15:31 Funny that you mention the FNAF weirdness in relation to the plot of the Herbie TV film, since that series also has a plot revolving around inanimate machines gaining sentience from life-infused molten metal, albeit instead of a picture of his wife it's the souls of dead children. Not sure if it's ripping off The Love Bug or just pure coincidence lol
The type of rear axle that The Beetle has - and also an East German Wartburg - teaches you how moving the weight of the car affects your handling. Try making a turn like this: approach the corner, press the clutch, then a quick braking and let go quickly off the brake, while keeping the clutch down, and turn. You can feel the weight of the car shifting front to back. I've surprised some passengers with this trick, especially when parking. Learning the timing of braking and not braking is essential.
Herbie was the reason my late father actually got a (1972 Super) Beetle that's still around somehow, though now under the custody of my uncle who's made it his restoration project. Veronica's Herbie is pretty damn awesome, and LOUD!
The 68 Dodge Charger and 62 Olds F-85 Jetfire sit at the bar giving Mr. Regular the stink eye. The Roman brings stacks of stats on both, going up to them and appologizing profusely for the slight. 😆
The secret is spending way too much time watching his videos in the 2010s. It's so bad cause my friends and I quote/do impressions all the time and it feels weid doing them with him around.
I had one of these in highschool. Stock with worn out tires, and I would take it off-roading and show up to everyone with the 4x4s and they were laughing asking "How the hell did you get that up here?". Three of my friends who happened to be the biggest kids in school were squeezed in there one day and I went into the ditch at slow speed on the ice turning off the road. Had to replace that front suspension piece. Fun little car.
I remember a movie where Herbie was swimming, chasing a ship, very rusted. Finally it was drowning and calling for help. As a kid that was sad & disturbing to see.
As soon as my 440 is complete, you'll have an absolute blast thrashing my Bluesmobile. Cannot wait to submit some vehicles for you in the future!! Gotta build up the film car reviews. Herbie and my Bluesmobile "Monica" are so similarly in day to day life 😂 I get chased everywhere I go for photos and video. Especially dressed as Elwood
I had a 69/70 Beetle that was a semi auto trans. A combination of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical that was just dying to crap out in any number of ways. It was good when it worked though. I loved that car, so did my kids. They were forever running up the back of it and sitting on the roof. I converted mine to a manual shift. The really good thing about that year model was that it didn't have the swing axle rear susp set up. It had CV's on both ends of the axles, so no more Beetle tuck. Perhap Veronica might get the rear changed out to that system, no more rolling over....well a lot less. Beetles are a funny car, in many ways awful, but great at the samne time, existing in two states at once.
This video is now one of my favorites of your channel! Thank you so much! Herbie is my dream car and I’m a huge fan of all the Herbie movies and the tv series! (Yes, ALL THE HERBIE MOVIES!😂) I know they aren’t for everyone, and even I can see that some aren’t great! (The final episode of the tv series, calling Dr. Herbie, wasn’t the best in my opinion, as the writing felt less balanced between Herbie and Jim Douglas’s (Dean Jones’ character) family life. And even I agree the crazy, bonkers lore they gave Herbie in the TV movie remake, while still fun and just silly enough to be entertaining for me, feels a little TOO silly (and even a bit more darker) compared to the original movies! Not cynical per se, but a little more “serious” than what Herbie movies were before that!) I even can understand why people might not like watching any of the films, not just Herbie goes Bananas (my personal favorite out of all of them) and Herbie Fully Loaded (the film that introduced me to Herbie, and became one of my favorite movies even to this day!) The timeline is confusing, some characters seem to have different backstories than what we saw in previous movies, and it even feels like there might be more retcons than Halloween, but you aren’t 100% sure! However, that’s not what these movies are meant to be like! They are meant to be fun, family friendly, screwball comedy adventures that kids and adults who are kids at heart (anyone, really) can sit back and enjoy! And for people who have autism like myself, it’s probably the best movie series on par with Back to the Future, Toy Story, and even (insert your favorite movie series here) Herbie’s movies might not be for everyone, but he represents a childlike fun that all of us can reconnect with if we allow ourselves too!
Yea! I really enjoy all the movies, even if I consider the Campbell tv movie and the 82 show extremely non cannon they’re still absolute hoots to sit thru with friends and revel in the absurdity!
I can just FEEL the pure seethe coming off that Ram tailgating the bug. Local man has never been angrier to be behind something in his life.
The size difference makes the truck look excessively stupid.
And the Nissan at 15:10 lol
GET OUT MA WAY LIMBROL
I'm at this point convinced that whatever vehicle Veronica gets her hands on it will never be allowed to be boring... 😊
Her channel is fun. Lots of car content
Veronica rules!
@@dankieran1974 just found her insta she maybe the next sara n tuned
@@rohrbaughfab @veronica.wheels
@@rohrbaughfabVeronica Wheels 👍
Aww yay!!! This was such a blast to shoot and so much fun that entire weekend hanging out as always!
Anytime friend!
Best guest on this channel, who also has a kick ass channel themselves.
Love these collabs and the people want more.
So. Much. More.
YWNBAW
The people want mooooooarrrrrr.
Are you on Bluesky Veronica? Would love to see more of your Herbie!
Herbie's a M E G A S Q U I R T E R
1963 VW Beetle: The official car.
Highly contested by the 2004 Honda Accord and 2009 Camry
@@eamon317and model t
One of the cars ever made
@@eamon317I'm sure the Volvo 200 series is somewhere inbetween
@@jja2000and the 1999 corolla
I'm an early 30s millennial, but growing up I was the weird kid in school because I was OBSESSED with Herbie. Had all the movies on VHS, including the 90s made for TV movie, a dozen model cars, Herbie themed birthday parties, and restoring a 60s Beetle is at the very top of my bucket list... And now you're driving one that's a legit rally racer??
Veronica, can I please be your friend? 😭
Also 30s millennial, also obsessed. Seeing this was nostalgia fuel. Now I have to see if my parents still have the VHS.
Also 30s millenial reporting in, but not as obsessed until like, retroactively. My dad was enamored by how silly the old Herbie movie was, and he swapped out boxy Corolla for a white Beetle (later repainted to Lemon Yellow). The bug isn't with me anymore but my uncle and dad's bro made it their restoration project after his passing (and it's been going well last I saw the bug). I did learn to drive with it though for a little bit. The gearing was definitely weird, and the steering felt heavy, responsive, but also weird all at the same time. In retrospect, I now understand why dad liked the funny bug so much lol.
Even the Lindsay Lohan one?!
@@foxracer1703 Personally I wasn't a fan of how they used CGI to make Herbie look like he was made out of rubber, and everything else was... fine. But I'm mostly just happy that they tried to make another movie at all lol
Late 30’s millennial here.
Me too, my friend.
Herbie was my childhood hero! I’m nowhere near the normal age of nostalgia for the era this film was made, but ever since my dad showed me the original movie, I’ve always wanted a replica 63 Bug. I’ve seen every one!
Same! Born in '94 so this was long after the original releases of all but the Bruce Campbell one (and later Fully Loaded I guess).
I think Rides Again is my favorite, especially the scene where all the Beetles in the neighborhood band together to fight the real estate asshole. :P
Now I have a '99 Beetle turbo.
I passed a calculus class because of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Across all subjects I refused to do homework in the later half of HS, and my grades were riding on test scores. All of which were always B’s to A’s if not better. But my calculus class focused much more on homework so I was struggling.
It wasn’t till I turned in a test paper I spent most of the class period drawing a VW Beetle on the back from memory. It was one of my more accurate freehand drawings. Simplicity was why I wanted one, and the difficulty of getting curvatures, highlights and shadows right is why I chose to attempt it.
But my teacher saw it and sat me down after class for it. Her father apparently was the biggest fan of beetles and made one of the first “two headed” beetles. It was the last class of the day and we talked for hours about them and her father and it was a genuinely great time. We never discussed her messing with my grades, but she ended up passing me with a low A.
I never see Mr Regular as happy as when Veronica shows up.
Mr regular and Mr Veronica.
@@brantisonfire This ⬆️
They should get a room already!
Veronica may be straight but, she definitely wants Mr Regular; even though he's not.
8:53 The sweet hell are you talking about? The love bug has some incredible acting. So much charisma and chemistry between the leads, a hammy but completely captivating villain, a completely lovable side kick. Are we expecting marriage story here or what? Did ghostbusters or back to the future utilize method acting? Even the kid from Herbie Goes Bananas gives a solid performance as a streetwise orphan.
I agree. The Herbie movies are some of my favorite movies ever
There have been other RCR videos I’ve laughed harder at, but there hasn’t been an RCR *car* I’ve loved more than this one. The Herbie movies, as silly as they are, were my childhood and are absolutely responsible for my car culture obsession as a grownup.
Veronica is a freaking treasure. She actually went out and did what I’d been curious about my whole life - making an actual race worthy Herbie and driving him! Seriously I hope y’all do more content with her, she’s ridiculously cool.
9:57 Alright yeah, as someone who's been working his way through Cyberpunk for the past 2 or 3 months, I appreciated this a lot.
Just as Arasaka troops have helmets that evoke Samurai helmets, I'm imagining Disney troops with helmets in the shape of Mickey's head, complete with large mouse ears that function as advanced sensory equipment.
Shinra references also noted 👌
Veronica is legit living mine (and my friend’s) childhood dream. Props!
hi :3
@@phoenixproto3149 see this is my friend
Might want to taper your dreams kiddos. Victor here seems to have lost they/them/their way
@@Mr.CorySnyder she still slays
@@Mr.CorySnyderYou’re really just finding every single person who mentions Veronica and deadnaming/misgendering her 😭 Please find something more useful to do. Maybe read a book?
My dad has a 65' Beatle he also made a Herbie replica. Many people are very happy when they see him drive it.
I love the aircraft comms like they're at 5000 ft in a Cessna. Spectacular.
I honestly thought they were in a Cessna for a second during the intro!
TBF you use the same
Comms when you are in a Cessna at sea level so....😂
@@JacksonRhodes42my first thought was that it was an actual, flying beetle! That would make for a cool Disney crossover film (herbie and chitty chitty bang bang) !
I'm a 6'1" 300lb bus mechanic and dtive a 3rd gen Beetle because I loved that movie so much as a kid. 😂🔧
Remember when fully loaded had us thinking it could keep up with 2005 stock cars?
Kinda crazy, but they were able to get those NASCAR-modded Beetles up to around 140mph before backing off because the stunt drivers were too TERRIFIED to push it further.
Go figure that an economy car designed in the 1930s feels like a flying death trap at modern sports car speeds.
EVERY SINCE THE GOSH DAMN THROTTLE PLATES BLAHR BLAH BLAR
Its a fast car*
*For 1938 standards
Herbie won the Rally Monte Carlo by outrunning a Maserati Indy and several DeTomaso Panteras. Herbie can keep up.
A Volkswagen Beetle on the other hand...
@@VulpesHilarianus AND a Laser 917, which ironically had VW Beetle underpinnings. This realization made the villain's mocks all the more ironic to me, but I assume they were implying that the car was supposed to be a Porsche 917...
Disney probably couldn't justify the cost to get their hands on one considering that they're ultra rare, not street legal, and the damage that can come from stunt driving and reshoots.
For some reason I decided to bingewatch the Herbie movies the day before my dog died. I didn’t know it was coming, but now every time I see a Love Bug or hear Get You Back by the Beach Boys I think of Arthur and get pretty sad. Funny little car. A very good dog.
Strange what meaning things take on under specific circumstances.
This is THE dream vehicle of my childhood
The Autopian's Jason Torchinsky nicely defended the movie when he was on Reels & Wheels Podcast. It's a surprisingly loving tribute/entre into that form of racing. Also, the "Thorndyke Special" is a pretty rare, amazing car, and the film has some bizarrely heavy moments, including a scene where Herbie almost commits suicide.
Honestly, most other "living cars" are about putting human levels of intent into a vehicle.
Herbie has always been more of a tough and fearless little Terrior dog. He's small, cute, smart, he'll jump right up and grab the bad guy by the nuts-- a repeat gag is him literally pissing on people's shoes-- does it at least once every movie.
Herbie vs Christine is something I need to see now
@worldofdoom995 I'm still waitin' on my The Car vs. Killdozer movie. Then we can have the Westway refrigerated take on it's equivalent in the Green Goblin truck-- winner faces the truck from Duel.
@@devinpaul9026 Hell yeah!
Or what if Christine-- NEARLY indestructible in the book and ENTIRELY so in the movie, took on either The Car or Killdozer or both. Both of THEM are very nearly indestructible but CAN still be beaten.
Favorite lines from the movie : ‘help i’m a prisoner, I can’t get out’
‘we’re all prisoners baby, were all locked in’
Also love that the hippie that said that was also played by dean jones
Seeing Veronica back on RCR is for me akin to seeing Sabine Schmitz on Top gear. Just amazing!
Thank u!
I think the first movie (The Love Bug) was good and charming with genuine performances. It had that magic and also served as a time capsule for sports car racing in the late 60s. It was cheesy, but good cheesy. The 2005 version, or any of the sequels can just make you uncomfortable. The Love Bug is a classic comedy movie that deserves to be remembered.
The original “Love Bug” has better race footage than a film with its premise has any right to have. For all its child-friendly antics and overall ridiculousness, I would put the Riverside sequences (which is some of the ONLY cinematic footage of that track) alongside “Grand Prix” and “Le Mans” any day of the week.
My thoughts exactly
Oh man, it’s worth watching over and over if ONLY for the race footage! That being said I’ve always loved Herbie for Herbie ❤
Those scenes looked more honest than a lot of the racing scenes in later movies, too. You can tell the other cars are just idling in Herbie goes to Monte Carlo.
God I love small cars with like 50hp. Your foot is on the floor the whole time and 30mph feels like 150, you are constantly managing the car. Driving something like that teaches you what Driving, capital D, is. Even if you had a radio, you wouldn't use it because it's too distracting. Veronica seems like a blast to hang out with and her taste in cars is beyond S+ Tier.
I owned a couple of Beetles and a couple of Kombis, many years ago. I've also owned an E class and an S class Benz at the other end of the scale, and a number of other cars in between. All these years later, if there was one car that I'd like to have again it would be the Beetle. Why? Because it was just such fun to drive. You had to drive it every inch of the way. Every trip was an adventure.
My dad bought a used 1969 VW bug in 1974 right during the gas crunch. it was light pale blue. I was 8 years old. Herbie the Love Bug was in the theatres back then. .I fell in love with the movie so much that aI drew a big round 53 and some red & blue stripes with magic markers on paper, and attached it all to his car with scotch tape. He was so livid with me when he tried to peel off the scotchtape off the paint because the tape took the paint with it. We drove All the way to Key West from Maryland, and went to Disney World and back in that little thing.. Loved that car!😊
that's why i love this channel, such incredible car i love Herbie and this one is defo a blast !!
thank you RCR and Veronica !!
I lost my beetle in 2016 during the Alberta wildfire. It was a strange 1978 Bug with mechanical fuel injection. I miss that car dearly. I used to drive it (gently) over ATV trails down to the local riverbank and everyone was so friendly. I desperately miss that car.
*by "this channel" I mean RCR.
Hey! I have owned a Mexican 1984 Beetle since 1995. Came with a carbureted 1600 dual port, still has swing axles. The swing axles in US market cars went away in favor of a fully independent rear suspension with the beginning of the Auto Stick in 1967, and on all cars for 1968 on, but the Mexican Beetles were swing axles all the way until they stopped making them in 2003.
If your shift rod bushing in the tunnel is known to be good, and you're sure the coupler at the trans is good (might want to check it with a second person, sometimes the ferule that goes on the trans can move inside the cage of the coupler, especially if it is aftermarket), then it might just be a simple adjustment. The two bolt holes on the shifter base are large to accommodate adjustment of the base as it relates to the shifter. If you are getting reverse when looking for second (mine is doing the same thing), then loosen the bolts and nudge the base toward the passenger side and tighten them again. You probably only need to move it one or two mm.
As far as whether the original Beetle was a good car, it's really a matter of context. It was an excellent car for its time. You have to remember, Ferdinand Porsche was starting to design this car as early as 1926, so by 1969 some of its design was already over 40 years old. These cars were known for longevity and ease of maintenance. They only hold 2.5 qts of oil, valve adjustments were simple, and there was no liquid cooling system, so seasonal maintenance and oil changes were simple and inexpensive. They ranged in hp from the original 1949 1.0L of 25 hp, to about 60 hp in the 1600 dual port, settling for about 56 hp in the last fuel injected version (in the US that is. Later Mexican Beetles received a more modern fuel injection system and I'm not sure what their hp was).
What has given these cars a bad reputation is the last 50 years of owners "improving" them, plus rust and lack of maintenance. A good quality original example that isn't beat to death is a pretty reliable car. They are noisier than modern cars but in stock form they aren't terrible. Mine is sporting a 1914 with higher compression, a W110 cam and dual Weber IDFs with a louder than stock exhaust, so it is definitely noisy at highway speed, but around town it is not too terrible and I can still achieve around 30 mpg. That was the other thing they were good at especially in their heyday was fuel economy. I think they were rated at around 27 mpg when many cars were struggling in the low teens for mpg.
If you want to see a quick clip of mine, look at my YT page, I think I have a clip of me running against my buddy's Datsun 510 on an air strip.
Keep up the good work Veronica and Mr. Regular!
Oh thank you! I’ll have to try that with the shifter! I was in there a while back to check and did fiddle with the adjustment slightly but it’s totally possible I didn’t get it quite perfect, it definitely felt better after it went back together but not by much
@@veronica.wheels You're welcome! Except I'm revisiting the geometry in my head and revising my statement; make it one to two mm to the driver's side.
Yeah, I was wondering about the shifter. I owned two beetles and a Karmann Ghia back in the day (all well-used beater daily drivers), and never found them at all difficult to shift. On the contrary, they were easier to shift than any other manual transmission car I have driven.
I loved listening to Veronica talk about car mods all day lol.
Her channel has a lot of great content
I just love me a good car mod
I freaking loved the Herbie movies when I was a kid, British TV would show them a lot as I imagine they were cheap. I think I loved the idea so much because I was a neurodivergent kid who was already anthropomorphizing inanimate objects. So seeing a cute car that was a cheeky little rascal was just perfect for me.
I can't tell you how many weekends I rented Herbie the Love Bug as a kid. Loved that movie. My parents owned 3 beetles growing up and I'd kill to have just one.
I’ve loved the Herbie movies, especially the original (which is a legitimately good movie and I WILL NOT HEAR OTHERWISE), since I was a kid. If I ever got a Beetle, it has to be white with a big 53 on the side. Veronica is living the goddamn dream.
Driving around in a snowstorm singing Christmas carols while standing up through the sunroof was fun in 1967.
I was just the right age to see Herbie The Love Bug when it came out. I absolutely loved it. Two things I remember: the theater that showed it had a white Volkswagen made up to look exactly like Herbie parked right by the door as a promotion, and Buddy Hackett being interviewed on the Tonight Show about his role in the movie. Johnny Carson wanted to assure the audience that even though Buddy was one of the stars there was no swearing in the movie. Buddy Hackett said, "We swore a lot when we were making it!"
Thanks for this. It was the video I didn't know I needed.
As a person that grew up watching all the Herbie movies as a kid and as someone who has watched this channel since middle school, the inner kid in me was so happy to see this! I’m not even 2 minutes in and I’m smiling ear to ear just hearing that little beetle sound exactly as he did in the original four films! While I will probably not make a Herbie replica, I want to own a beetle to appease that inner kid and this just makes me want one more. Alright back to the video lol
Did not expect Cyberpunk 2077 references in a Herbie review. And that's why I fucking love this channel!
Bro ....Veronica RULES!
The Love bug (original movie) was my all-time favorite live action Disney movie. Seen it at least a few dozen times, during my elementary years. There was also a TV series of Herbie, it was okay.
Woke up to not one but TWO new videos with Veronica and her Bug. Such a good start to the day.
I remember there was a scene in the Love Bug where Herbie flew past some modified car at the lights which I found out was based on Dean Jones on his way back home from set with the Porsche engine swapped beetle used for the film drag racing a Corvette at the lights. Fuckin cool
Ah yeah the T-Bucket scene... XD
one of my favorite cars! infact i own one myself and i like it just as much in person
33:36 threw me for such a loop, that acceleration sounded damn near identical to Herbie's from the original movies
Gotta love those classic air-cooled motors.
Okay between crazy taxi and now these cyberpunk references I'm starting to feel like we need a second channel where you guys talk about video games.
Does it run on Irish cream?
no but i do ; p
I haven't seen the movie since early Disney Channel (early 80s, we had just gotten cable) and that reference triggered a memory 😁
The Herbie movies were on pretty heavy rotation, Disney movies in general, since that's pretty much all they had regarding programming
Herbie got me into Beetles, Beetles got me into [Beetle] Adventure Racing on the N64, which then got me interested in racing games.
Bing-bong-bash, eventually got Forza 1 on the OG Xbox, and now I've got nearly 2,500 hours clocked in JUST on driving/racing sims on Steam, all with a sim wheel and shifter, and an '05 Accord coupe 5MT in real life.
We all start somewhere.
Similar trajectory but I stopped at simcade and have a '99 Beetle turbo. :P (Also 5MT but because it's first year it's the earlier box they used in the mk3 VR6 GTIs and not the later one they used in the other 5spd mk4 cars)
No Kit was just a car , Herbie was alive
Looks great! I had restored a 63' Rag roof Herbie of my own back in 2007. Put a 1641 cc motor, and a freeway flyer Transaxle. Got the same deep wheels like the one she got, that had the stock hub caps on it.
Omg regular car reviews is closer and closer to 1M
Yes!!! That is the best Herbie replica I've seen... Veronica can do no wrong. You might want to revisit the original "The Love Bug" movie if you haven't lately - the others are pretty much garbage - hell, "Herbie Rides Again" had a scene where Herbie attempts s*icide (which still haunts me) - but The Love Bug had a decent cast and story, moves along well, it's kid-friendly but also presents the excitement, frustration, and general camaraderie of car racing like nothing had done before or since, really. I can still remember being a kid and wanting to get out there and race my dad's '68 Beetle.
Jim : "You don't understand what happens, do you? They make ten thousand cars, they make them exactly the same way, and one or two of 'em turn out to be something special. Nobody knows why."
Tennessee : "I know why."
My grandma introduced me to the Herbie movies when I was a kid and I loved them. When I was a teenager, I had a friend who had a '67 Beetle and being crammed in the back seat with two other people was not fun. It also didn't have A/C and with +100F temps in Texas, it was brutal lol
A video about a Volkswagen, where you make cyberpunk and Ween references… Thank you for making this video just for me
Growing up in the late 60s and early 70s this car was everywhere. ❤
10:05 Holy fuck, the Cyberpunk references caught me off guard. I had to remind myself that I was watching an RCR video and not playing the game... but yeah, anyway, what a great car. Looks 100% like I remembered from the movies. Tho, these days, I care more about the "love" than the "bug," if I'm honest.
Little side note on the transmission. If this is a stock transmission, reverse is down near second, and the reason for the grinding into first is because on the earlier type-1s didn't have a synchronized first gear. At least this is my experience with my 1960.
That said, great video, and great work by Veronica on that build.
I'm geeking out right now! I've been waiting for this review.
Glad to see Herbie off the smack after his horrific wreck at Talladega.
One thing to remember about the Super Beetle 1302 and 1303 is upgraded with MacPherson suspension in the front which improved handling over the older Type 1 Bugs with torsion suspension all around.
The rear suspension also abandoned the swing ams in '68, I think.
I was such a huge Herbie fan when I was a kid. I actually have a 63 Sunroof Beetle that I am turning into a Herbie.
You watched the Herbie movies as an adult without children being the reason. That's rough. Herbie will always have a special place in my heart but I couldn't sit through it on my own as an old man.
I'm sorry, is this meant to say "props to you for watching the Herbie movies as an adult, they're great" or "wow you're an adult and you watched the Herbie movies, have you no shame?" because I'm hoping it's not the latter
Under normal circumstances taste's change with time. A 40 + year old doesn't see things the same way a 4 year old does. At 4 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the best movie ever made. At 55 it's a collection of clips I show my girlfriend who is 5 years younger than me and hasn't seen it.
@@AniMariBroGonna cry?
I purchased a 1963 VW with that big rubberized canvas sunroof in 1970, right after graduating from high school. If I remember correctly. I paid $375.00 for that car. After installing seatbelts myself, I drove it for a while before going off to Sunny Southeast Asia for two years, then for another couple of years in the mid 1970s, right through the first oil embargo gas price shock (its high 20s mpg was much envied then). In memory that car enjoys something of a rose colored glasses effect.
I bought a 63 sunroof bug in 1977 for $350. Rebuilt engine, custom spiderweb paint, but a little rough. Fixed it up some, abused the hell out of it...
When i was a child, in the early 2000s. I had all of the Herbie movies except the 90s one because Disney wont re-release it. These used to be movies I would watch while sick home from school. It was a fantastic break between hurling my guts out as a child. I still use this movie as an escape when i need to brain off.
Literally one of my dream cars. Same year and all. I've always wanted to have my own Herbie ever since I was a kid.
Any video where Veronica makes an appearance is a good time. The fact that she owns the car that got me into cars is just...man. I wish Veronica was my friend. That'd be great.
My first car was a 63 Beetle that I bought mowing lawns the summer before I turned 16. $300 but it didn't run. I worked on it every day after school and got it running. I did almost all my practice driving in it. I think I'm a much better driver today because of that experience. He's right when he says you have to be totally engaged when driving one, especially on the rural dirt roads where I grew up. I later owned a 75 I bought for my part time job of pizza delivery because I knew how to fix everything on it and delivery work is hard on cars. These things are great fun and everyone who's ever owned one has fantastic stories about theirs.
gotta love the lifted 3/4 ton Dodge tailgating the slowest vehicle on the road
GET OUT MAH WAY LIMBROL
15:31 Funny that you mention the FNAF weirdness in relation to the plot of the Herbie TV film, since that series also has a plot revolving around inanimate machines gaining sentience from life-infused molten metal, albeit instead of a picture of his wife it's the souls of dead children. Not sure if it's ripping off The Love Bug or just pure coincidence lol
That car makes me so happy. I think I watched all the Herbie movies a hundred times as a kid.
The type of rear axle that The Beetle has - and also an East German Wartburg - teaches you how moving the weight of the car affects your handling. Try making a turn like this: approach the corner, press the clutch, then a quick braking and let go quickly off the brake, while keeping the clutch down, and turn. You can feel the weight of the car shifting front to back.
I've surprised some passengers with this trick, especially when parking. Learning the timing of braking and not braking is essential.
I love this build, I've always wanted a street built bug, all we have down here are baja bugs. She knows what she's doing
Herbie was the reason my late father actually got a (1972 Super) Beetle that's still around somehow, though now under the custody of my uncle who's made it his restoration project. Veronica's Herbie is pretty damn awesome, and LOUD!
A very cool Beetle.❤ I loved watching the Herbie movies during the 1980s when I was young. Interesting to get the background information about them.
13:32
You can NEVER forget Ween
You can never remember or understand what he's saying, but you can never forget it
You did see the VW logo in The Love Bug when they showed interior shots of the brake and clutch pedals. I'm amazed VW didn't see this.
The 68 Dodge Charger and 62 Olds F-85 Jetfire sit at the bar giving Mr. Regular the stink eye. The Roman brings stacks of stats on both, going up to them and appologizing profusely for the slight. 😆
@33:30 Veronica impersonates Mr. Regular so well.
The earlier one is great too
IS THIS THE ONE WITH MELISSA ETHRIDGE
The secret is spending way too much time watching his videos in the 2010s. It's so bad cause my friends and I quote/do impressions all the time and it feels weid doing them with him around.
I had one of these in highschool. Stock with worn out tires, and I would take it off-roading and show up to everyone with the 4x4s and they were laughing asking "How the hell did you get that up here?". Three of my friends who happened to be the biggest kids in school were squeezed in there one day and I went into the ditch at slow speed on the ice turning off the road. Had to replace that front suspension piece.
Fun little car.
Great vid and great seeing Veronica in a review again!
Herbie's original movie was my favourite childhood film!
The scene where Herbie blows off the hot rod and does a wheelie in the process is still peak comedy and I will die on this hill
The last version VW to do an RCR on is a Dune Beetle - off road fast and adorable doing it
Veronica is a hoot! I can't believe I haven't heard of her before this.
Well its a HE not a her….
@@vwR32mja extremely loud incorrect buzzer noise
@@willowwright4638 what?
@@vwR32mja I'm saying you're wrong but phrasing it as if it's the family fued wrong answer noise
@@willowwright4638 And how am I wrong I know Ronald in person he is a man!
Belts were an option. Shoulder belts were an option and the mounting points for them for the front seat and rear seat are present in the 63 model.
Thank u! Could not for the life of me remember off the top of my head when we were filming!
With Herbie going fast, you'll be able to race!
You two are like long lost twins and it's awesome
I remember a movie where Herbie was swimming, chasing a ship, very rusted. Finally it was drowning and calling for help. As a kid that was sad & disturbing to see.
Herbie is a big factor in my love for all things automotive. I could watch Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo everyday as a kid.
Wow! Veronica and her rides bring out the best in you!
Man you continue to amaze me with your culture knowledge because I IMMEDIATELY cued into Cyberpunk lmao. Shit caught me SO off guard
I grew up in a 63' bug and learned how to drive in it. You can easily fit a family of four in one no problem.
Veronica rules!
Absolutely loved this; what a fun video.
As soon as my 440 is complete, you'll have an absolute blast thrashing my Bluesmobile. Cannot wait to submit some vehicles for you in the future!! Gotta build up the film car reviews. Herbie and my Bluesmobile "Monica" are so similarly in day to day life 😂
I get chased everywhere I go for photos and video. Especially dressed as Elwood
Herbie is the official GOOBER of car culture
im gonna be honest who ever this veronica person is , they are doing wonders for my views on the lgbtq community as a whole . keep at it.
She is me and the LGBT homies also be rocking with fun cars like anyone else!
@@veronica.wheels keep doing what your doing , ur doing good work.
I smiled from ear to ear seeing this pop into my feed
Christine belongs on the list of movie cars.
I had a 69/70 Beetle that was a semi auto trans. A combination of hydraulic, pneumatic and electrical that was just dying to crap out in any number of ways. It was good when it worked though. I loved that car, so did my kids. They were forever running up the back of it and sitting on the roof. I converted mine to a manual shift. The really good thing about that year model was that it didn't have the swing axle rear susp set up. It had CV's on both ends of the axles, so no more Beetle tuck. Perhap Veronica might get the rear changed out to that system, no more rolling over....well a lot less.
Beetles are a funny car, in many ways awful, but great at the samne time, existing in two states at once.
This video is now one of my favorites of your channel! Thank you so much! Herbie is my dream car and
I’m a huge fan of all the Herbie movies and the tv series! (Yes, ALL THE HERBIE MOVIES!😂)
I know they aren’t for everyone, and even I can see that some aren’t great! (The final episode of the tv series, calling Dr. Herbie, wasn’t the best in my opinion, as the writing felt less balanced between Herbie and Jim Douglas’s (Dean Jones’ character) family life. And even I agree the crazy, bonkers lore they gave Herbie in the TV movie remake, while still fun and just silly enough to be entertaining for me, feels a little TOO silly (and even a bit more darker) compared to the original movies! Not cynical per se, but a little more “serious” than what Herbie movies were before that!) I even can understand why people might not like watching any of the films, not just Herbie goes Bananas (my personal favorite out of all of them) and Herbie Fully Loaded (the film that introduced me to Herbie, and became one of my favorite movies even to this day!)
The timeline is confusing, some characters seem to have different backstories than what we saw in previous movies, and it even feels like there might be more retcons than Halloween, but you aren’t 100% sure!
However, that’s not what these movies are meant to be like! They are meant to be fun, family friendly, screwball comedy adventures that kids and adults who are kids at heart (anyone, really) can sit back and enjoy! And for people who have autism like myself, it’s probably the best movie series on par with Back to the Future, Toy Story, and even (insert your favorite movie series here)
Herbie’s movies might not be for everyone, but he represents a childlike fun that all of us can reconnect with if we allow ourselves too!
Yea! I really enjoy all the movies, even if I consider the Campbell tv movie and the 82 show extremely non cannon they’re still absolute hoots to sit thru with friends and revel in the absurdity!