TV Cars: Star cars from the world of television

The Love Bug Herbie VW Model Kit

Traveling With the VW Bus and Camper

• Hollywood TV and Movie Cars Book - Color photos, nostalgic movie stills, and an equally entertaining text examine the Tinseltown careers of photogenic vehicles like Sean Connery's Bond Aston Martin DB5s and Pierce Brosnan's BMW Z3 Roadster; the '63 "Love Bug" VW Beetle; the demonic '58 Plymouth Fury from "Christine"; Harrison Ford's '55 Chevy, and much more.
• Dune Buggy Files: Past, Present, Future - Dune Buggies have been around for over four decades. In this stunningly comprehensive volume you can relive their colorful history from crude off roaders developed in the 1960s, to the superb show vehicles of the 1980s and 1990s, and take a glimpse into the future of these unique, fun vehicles.
• Vw Beetle: A Comprehensive Illustrated History of the World's Most Popular Car - This book has the best studio type photography that I have ever seen in a VW history. I also found the Technical Appendix is among the best for a quick review of the major changes in the VW Type I through the years. The historical photos are reprinted in a crisp format, and are less grainy than I have seen, so these often seen photos seem somehow new. This lavishly illustrated volume is worth the price. It is a good addition to any VW library.
• Herbie the Love Bug Collection - This savvy Disney hit from 1969 made a star of a Volkswagen precisely when the car was becoming more popular than ever. Dean Jones and Michele Lee head the cast in a story about a VW bug with a mind of its own. Disney point man Robert Stevenson, director of The Absent-Minded Professor, Mary Poppins, and lots of other Disney live-action hits, makes the slapstick work perfectly and keeps the laughs coming. Buddy Hackett is very funny in a supporting role. The first sequel, Herbie Rides Again (1974), is similar enough to the first film's charm and raucous comedy that it works on its own. Neither Dean Jones nor Michelle Lee are back, but a nice cast of familiar pros (including Disney vet Ken Berry) keeps things moving along slickly. The story finds Herbie helping Helen Hayes--yes, the First Lady of the American Theater--keep out of the clutches of Keenan Wynn's villain. Dean Jones came back to the fold for this third lap around the block, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), which finds him racing in the famed city while thieves plant a stolen diamond in Herbie's gas tank. The plot is forced and conventional, but the cast is the thing: the excitable Don Knotts (The Apple Dumpling Gang) and the tormentable Roy Kinnear (Mr. Salt from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) are good men to have in a potboiler such as this. The fourth movie, Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), is a wooden story about Herbie's funny adventures heading toward a race in Brazil. Charles Martin Smith and Steven W. Burns try hard to bring some life into this project, but it just doesn't happen. There is one good laugh in the whole thing, in a scene where Herbie becomes a matador. Otherwise, even the picturesque, south-of-the-border stuff doesn't help. Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman star. --Tom Keogh.