Stripes Do Not A Herbie Make

What is a Herbie?

Is it enough that you paint stripes on an old Volkswagen and call him Herbie? In fact, do you really need to paint stripes at all?

I had just watched "Herbie - Fully Loaded" for the upteenth time and while it reintroduced Herbie to a new generation, I still remember the original "Herbie the Love Bug" movie as being one of my favorite movies of all time. Sadly, I do not have a copy but I am in the look out for a DVD to call my own.

As a member of the Volkswagen Club of the Philippines, I cannot remember the number of times that people have called a Beetle, Herbie! I used to say that a Beetle isn't a Herbie unless it had the red white and blue racing stripes and the number 53 on. Herbie is a movie star car. Much like the James Bond Aston Martin, the Batmobile, Mr. Bean's Mini, Knight Rider Firebird, the Back to the Future DeLorean, The Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Ambulance (Thanks for the update Ferdie!) , each of these cars have been immortalized on the silver screen and they are instantly recognizable. They all follow a formula that people identify with. And so does Herbie!

But someone reminded me that Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett) named the car Herbie even before he and Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) put on the stripes and went racing! So this would seem to mean that ANY Volkswagen could be technically called Herbie. So is this true? What I say now is that there is a little bit of Herbie in all Bugs.

It seems reasonable, especially today when these Volkswagens are really old cars, that they have a mind of their own. Our Volkswagens get quite finicky at the most inappropriate times. They refuse to start! Sometimes they refuse to stop! The horn goes off in the most embarrassing times or sometimes they don't work at all. The doors and hood sometimes fly open when you don't want them to. And sometimes they don't want to open at all! They veer left when you want to go right and they sputter and cough when you don't give them the attention they need.

This is important in the whole Herbie scheme of things. Our Herbie's started showing signs of having a distinct personality. Of LIFE! Little things like not starting or suddenly restarting after he stalled, (and right in the nick of time to avoid being hit) are all part of Volkswagen ownership these days. it is not a car that you can just simply fill with gas and expect to drive off without drama.

What convinced me that my Herbie was truly Herbie happened the very first day I got him. After picking him up at Doy's place in Cubao, I headed off to EDSA on my way to Magallanes. Of course, EDSA was bursting at the seams because of traffic so I headed inland, passing through New Manila. Turning left at Aurora Boulevard, he started sputtering in front of Magnolia. We finally stopped dead by Balete Drive. No amount of coaxing could get him started. I had no tools, and no spares. I called Doy for S.O.S. and soon he came and a short while later, Jon's mechanic, Michael replaced a worn rotor to get Herbie to cooperate.

It was nearing lunch so traffic eased up. I opened up the ragtop, opened the windows and enjoyed the wind in my hair. The drive was fantastic and soon we were up to speed heading for the South Super ramp. Just as I was merging into South Super, I already heard the passenger door making weird noises. Before I knew it, the passenger door flew open (thank God that I didn't have another car next to me) but I managed to grab the door on the rebound and with a couple of slams, the door finally closed.

I turned into Paseo Magallanes with my heart beating rapidly. I didn't want to risk speeding the rest of the way but I miscalculated the hump and on the rebound, my hood flew open as well! i limped to Asia Pacific College where I was greeted by a bunch of my students who by then surrounded Herbie and started gawking. In my mind, I was telling them that I'm glad I didn't die out there!

After a while, I calmed down and just started talking to Herbie like an idiot. I think I managed to convince him that I'll watch out for him and take care of him and bring him to places that he'd never been to. I guess he understood because he never gave me any problems since.

Our first trip out of town was to the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fair in Clark Airfield, Pampanga last February 11 and he performed like a dream! Never once did he complain even when we were pushing 120-130KPH at the expressway!

A lot of things still need to be done but at least now we know each other and just like in the movies, if you take care of Herbie, he'll take care of you.