Volkswagen Beetles are recognized and (generally) loved around the world, but the best-known and most beloved Beetle of all is likely Herbie, the star of a Disney movie franchise that’s grossed over $280 million over the past four decades. Though Herbie copies are plentiful, authentic movie cars don’t come up for sale that often. Last weekend, a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle in Herbie livery, said to be used in the filming of 1977′s Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and 1980′s Herbie Goes Bananas, crossed the auction block in Palm Beach, Florida, selling for a fee-inclusive price of $126,500 and setting a new world record for a Beetle sold at auction.
Included with the car was a copy of a 1972 title listing Walt Disney Productions as the owner, but the best clue to the car’s authenticity and identity was found behind the back seat. There, a bracket was once used to secure an oil pump, used for comic effect to squirt oil on a traffic director’s foot at the beginning of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. The bracket was still in place in chassis 5424447, though the car’s livery had long since been changed to a more anonymous dark blue.
The Beetle was discovered in the lot of a Hollywood prop rental agency by Herbie historian Bob Hoag, though some sources say it was purchased by Hoag through a Wershaw Auctions sale of Disney Studio memorabilia, circa August of 1980. The car was restored to the same livery it wore in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo by Arthur Porter, who also campaigned the Volkswagen in vintage racing events (without, presumably, the oil-squirting pump accessory).
Circa 2000, the car was sold to Scott Velvet of the Hollywood Rock & Country Museum, who in turn sold the Volkswagen to the Hollywood Museum owned by Randy and Jeff Burkett. The Burketts’ plans for multiple museum locations around the country ended with the business being shuttered, and Herbie once again crossed the auction block.
This time around the buyer was Herbie collector Doug Kaufmann, who commissioned a restoration of the car’s interior to Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo specifications. Kaufmann also had the bumpers replaced, as these had been removed by Porter during his years spent racing the car. Today, the car appears as it would have in the 1977 film, complete with black running boards, external fuel filler on the passenger side, single Carello fog lamp, and Trans-France race stickers on the windshield and rear windows. If we’re nit-picking, the tires aren’t the same Goodyear model seen on the car in the film, but at least they’re period correct.
