Categories: This Day

March 13, 1969 – The Love Bug debuts

An original Herbie from the movie. By Vmanjr – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Love Bug movie made its official debut on this day in 1969. Starring a pearl white 1963 Volkswagen Beetle named Herbie, the movie follows the adventures of Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), a racing driver who can’t catch a break. When Jim finds himself in need of a new car he heads into town and is caught off guard by an attractive mechanic and sales associate, Carole Bennett (Michelle Lee), working inside a European auto showroom. 

There he also meets the showroom owner, Peter Thorndyke (David Tomlinson), who is rude to Herbie. After defending the car it winds up in Jim’s driveway the next morning, seemingly without the help of anyone. To prevent Thorndyke from pressing charges against him, Jim agrees to buy it. He soon discovers the car has a mind of its own. Herbie sets out to win the big race and help Jim land the lady. The movie took home $51,264,000 at the box office.

Drive History. Get it here.


Brian Corey

Recent Posts

April 24, 1957 – Origins of the Nissan Skyline

Prince Skyline. By I, 天然ガス, CC BY-SA 3.0 When it comes to JDM cars, one…

4 days ago

April 23, 1947 – The 1,000,000th Packard is built

1947 Packard Super Custom (Not the actual 1,000,000th Packard. By Rex Gray- fvr2, CC BY…

5 days ago

April 22, 1996 – Mercedes SLK class debuts at Turin

Since its inception, the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class (R170) has epitomized the essence of a compact luxury…

6 days ago

April 21, 1983 – C4 Corvette is introduced

The C4 Chevrolet Corvette, which debuted nationally on this day in 1983, marked a significant…

7 days ago

April 16, 2014: Mazda Honors a Quarter-Century of Driving Joy with the 25th Anniversary MX-5 Miata

By Alexander-93 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132180377 On April 16, 2014, the vibrant…

2 weeks ago

April 15, 1964 – Who bought the first Mustang?

On this day in 1964, two days before the official Ford Mustang on-sale date, one…

2 weeks ago