The real Herbie

 Like the Fender Stratocaster and the Coke bottle, the VW Beetle is a design icon, known the world over and recognisable from the merest hint of a pencil sketch. Some 22 million sales obviously helped, but much of the credit for its enduring fame can be laid at the door of a certain '63 rag-top called Herbie. Indeed, such was the impact of the original 1960's Disney film with the innocuous white Beetle in the starring role that many people still refer to Beetles as Herbies today.
Though the whole thing went all Hollywood and sexy - thanks in no small part to the casting of media strumpet Lindsay Lohan in the main role - with the 2005 release Herbie: Fully Loaded, the original four films were pure Disney whimsy, perennial children's entertainment and Christmas day fare. The world's love affair with The Love Bug began in 1969, and for Luke Theochari, proprietor of Terry's Beetle Services in Hanwell, North West London, the release of the first Herbie film marked the beginning of a lifelong passion. "My cousin Mike took me to my local cinema, the Northfields Odeon, to see the film when it came out. I was 10, and in the upstairs circle they had a replica of Herbie. I was mesmerised," Luke recalls, misty eyed. "Then, when another cousin, Ken, came to pick us up to take us to a wedding in a white, left-hand drive Beetle, I had my first experience of going in a Beetle. From then on I was hooked."
And, as many of you will know, Luke's passion for Beetles has never waned since that day and he's passed that enthusiasm and excitement he felt for Herbie all those years ago on to a new generation of Beetle lovers through his own actions.

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the Summer 2009 issue of VolksWorld

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