VWCP Informal Meeting, Saturday, March 3, 2007

  It was wet. It started drizzling at around 8PM and I was concerned that not a lot of people would show up. I shouldn't have been worried and when I got to Burger King, I saw Romy and Henry's VWs already parked. It started raining pretty hard as I was parking so I had to close the ragtop and windows.

After a while the members started arriving. It was Nick and Dad, followed by Sammy, EJ, and pretty soon, the BK parking was full of Vdubs!

Herbie Visits the Visayas Boys

 Last Night, March 2, 2007, Emmy, Bubu and I drove Herbie to visit the Visayas Boys. We got there at about 9PM with only Lawrence to greet us. But after a while Bernie and Corrine showed up , followed by Chris, then Bobby. By 10:30, the Caltex Station at Visayas Ave. was rockin with VWs!

There was a set of Hoodie VWs - slammed, rusty and crusty, with narrowed beams. All with attitude to spare!  Good Job guys! Let's show them the Hoodie way, pinoy style!!

Although it was our first time to visit, we felt like we had been going there for a long time. Thanks to Lawrence, Bernie, Corrine, Bobby, Beeps, Mon, Angelo, Rod, Edwin and all the rest!

Many thanks guys for the warm reception. Glad to meet you finally!

The "Inverse Herbie"

This is probably the most unusual Herbie interpretation that I've come across the Internet!

At first glance, it looks like someone's attempt to "reverse" Herbie. It's painted black instead of white. It has green, black and yellow stripes instead of red, white and blue. And the number 53 is "flipped"

But things aren't as simple at first glance! The beauty of this interpretation goes beyond skin deep and you need a computer with photoediting software to realize the genius of this concept. For those old-schoolers who refuse to go digital and who still use film, this would probably surprise you too.

Take the above picture and edit with software like Photoshop.

Go to "Image" in the Menu Bar, then select "Rotate Canvas". Select "Flip the Image Horizontally".

By this time, the number 53 should be in the "correct" position. But wait!, there's MORE!

Select "Image" again from the Menu bar, then go to "Adjustments", then select "Invert".

Surpise! Surprise! Here's Herbie!! Cool Huh?

The Anti Herbies

We all recognize Herbie from the various movies he's been in. The ultimate underdog, Herbie has proven time and time again to beat all odds.

But, there are those who simply are fed up with the wholesome image of Herbie and the rebel in them ache for something a little bit rougher and a whole lot nastier. If a pearl white Volkswagen with patriotic red white and blue stripes don't float your boat, what do you do?

You plan for an Evil Herbie, of course!

Herbie the Love Bug, the little race car that could is as familiar to the young and young at heart as Ronald McDonald. Herbie is an icon, one of the world's movie star cars.

In the 1997 Herbie the Love Bug made for TV movie, Horace the Hate Bug first appeared. using a similar Volkswagen Beetle, the folks at Disney introduced a car that matched Herbie but with a more sinister objective. It was all black and armed with a laser beam!

In the end, in true Disney fashion, our hero prevailed adding to the Herbie legend.

One of my fellow Volkswagen of the Philippines (VWCP) members wants to pay tribute to Herbie. But instead of merely copying Herbie as is as so many have done before, Jaz wanted his Herbie to be a little different.

Instead of the familiar white with red and blue 63 ragtop, Jaz wanted to paint his VW black and with gold and metallic silver stripes. I didn't want to put the number 53 again, so I opted for the number 63 (which is the year this VW was produced). With a fresh set of Rader rims, this Evil Herbie is poised to show off in the local Vdub scene.

Unfortunately, this is not going to happen. Plans changed and Jaz sold his 63 bug. Anybody willing to continue with this concept?

There are also a miriad of Herbie-inspired Volkswagens that have been made around the world. These do not copy Herbie exactly but are otherwise influenced by the Love Bug.

Good Guy or Bad Boy, there is enough room for Volkswagen lovers to express their individuality by the rides they create. I know that while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, deep down, we all can't be Herbie.

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.