Oh, that Jim Douglas. I have trouble remembering names and faces but I never forget a car! quoted Carol Bennet of Thorndyke Ltd, Importer of European motors.
Yes, I am talking about that Jim Douglas. A man who was a bit shit on the track. We pick up on the story of our down-on-his-luck hero Jim. Having smashed his way out of a demolition derby, he was next seen wandering the streets of San Francisco.
He stumbled across a car dealership and to cut a long story short, became aquatinted with a 5-year-old VW Beetle with a few options that Wolfsburg didn’t have on the M codes. In actual fact, those options would have been seen by VW as faults. The is a list as long as your arm to the problems the 63 Beetle had. Starting up on its own, or not, stubborn steering, juddering and driving off on its own. You get the picture. This Beetle was not to Heinz Nordoff’s high expectations. To Nordoff it would probably have been scrapped!
Herbie forced his way into Jim’s life and got him arrested for grand theft auto. Jim wasn’t worthy of the plucky VW. So stick with me as I navigate the murky world of cinemas least great racing driver with the most lovable car he didn’t deserve.
Let’s Go Racing
Herbie turned Jim’s life around. The little Douglas Special as it was called because VW didn’t want anything to do with the original film, gave our hapless idiot confidence on the track again. Probably too much confidence. He started winning all the races he entered with the little car. It didn’t take long for the viewer to see Jim’s tiny ego starting to grow. The only example of an exaggerated inflated ego like his that I can think of would be me thinking I could win Miss World because someone once told me I looked really pretty in stilettos.
Following a tiny mishap involving alcohol, Jim and Herbie had a bit of a bad day at the track. Jim and his newfound egotistical confidence gave him the courage to go and buy a Lamborghini to enter into the Eldorado. Now, remember, up until this moment, Jim had become successful behind the wheel of the VW. One mishap and he went off in a sulk and blew a lot of cash on a car he could hardly afford to buy. A Lamborghini that the keen-eyed movie goer would note became a Jaguar E-Type when it was smashed up.
“Without a real car, I’m only half a man” was the utter dross he told Carol late one night after Herbie busted a gut for him. Now I’ve been around racing drivers and I know that it takes more than a single mishap for them to ditch their machine and buy another. And this seedy annoyance is echoed throughout a lot of the Herbie franchises. There is always a moral to the story that I’ll get to at the end.
Out of here…..
Having crushed the Lambo-Jag, Herbie proves to Jim that it was HIM winning the races. Jim had stopped believing in the little car and no longer believing in Jim Douglas himself, Herbie legs it. The suicide scene on the Golden Gate bridge was a bit much it must be said. Anyway, all is good and the gang and Herbie enter the Eldorado. A race to the death because if Jim lost to Thorndyke, he’d also lose Herbie to Mr Tang Wu.
Home Alone and Abandoned……..
After the whirlwind marriage to Carol Bennet following the win at the Eldorado in 68 where Herbie literally broke in 2 to give Jim that win, we pick up the story in 74. Jim has gone to race cars in Europe leaving Herbie at home. That ego of Jim’s ever-increasing once more. Remember, Jim isn’t that much of a racing driver. Even less without his little Volkswagen.
Herbie is left at the firehouse to look after Mrs Steinmetz. She mentions that Herbie was once a famous racing car and we see Herbie have a flashback to the good days with Jim. Nothing more is said of Jim in Herbie Rides Again. A fun romp and memorable for the right reasons.
They Soon Come Crawling Back…..
1977, just 9 years after The Love Bug, we see Jim and a new co-driver once again reunited with Herbie. Jim was on a sort of comeback tour having once again proven that he is a bit crap at the track. No mention of a divorce or splitting up from Carol was ever mentioned in the film. I know, it was only in 2021 that I suddenly realised this too. We glean this information from his pursuit of Diane Darcy at the end of Monte Carlo. So not only is he not great behind the wheel, he’s also a bit rubbish at relationship things too.
Herbie comes through once again for Jim. That little Beetle just gives his all to the man who took him to the track and they win the Monte Carlo. So it comes as an utter annoyance that in 1980, we find that Jim has once again abandoned Herbie in Mexico. Here we meet Pete Stancheck, the nephew of Jim who inherits Herbie. Inheriting Herbie would mean that Jim had died. No doubt at the wheel of a race car In Europe that wasn’t Herbie.
Remember Jim is a bit rubbish behind the wheel. This isn’t the first time I have said this so by now you should be building up the same picture as I have about the idiot that is Jim Douglas. Herbie Goes Bananas is one of the films you can skip. The throwing of Herbie over the side of the ship was just too much for any Herbie fan. It should have been Paco!
Anyway, we discover Jim hasn’t died. In 1982, Jim is once again reunited with Herbie in the made-for-TV series, Herbie, The Love Bug. Jim is once again negotiating the tricky world of finance as a driving instructor, bad adversaries and women. Diane Darcy does make an appearance at Jim’s bachelor party. And Herbie is there by his side trying to help our hero.
Hello, Is That The VW Abuse Line??
You’d think this would be the end. That Jim would finally realise he is only half a man without Herbie but oh no. We soon discover in the made-for-TV The Love Bug film in 1997 staring him from the Evil Dead franchise, Bruce Campbell, that Jim has once again abandoned the little Volkswagen.
The film is utter dross. The myth of Herbie, the anthropomorphic Beetle is dispelled when Dr Gustav appears to tell the story of how he created Herbie for his wife after World War 2. Now keen Beetle enthusiasts and historians will be puzzled at how he created a 63 Beetle in 1945! What inside design information did he get from Major Ivan Hurst and Nordoff?
In this film, Herbie is destroyed and laid to rest. From out of nowhere Jim appears and they rebuild Herbie from the broken parts. This time Jim doesn’t go off into the sunset with Herbie. One would like to think that finally, Herbie has given up on his abuser Jim and killed him in a rage of exhaust fumes through the heating system. Think again. We soon discover Herbie in a scrapyard about to be crushed. But let us not go into the 2005 Lohan film. Thankfully for Herbie, Jim doesn’t come back.
If you believe in him, the little guy will come through for you. Herbie will back you all the way to the end. The end however is a grey area because new owners always seemed to give up on what is the greatest car in the world. Perhaps Herbie should have stayed with Mrs Steinmetz. She seemed to be the only one who truly cared for the little VW.
In memory of Dean Jones. 1931 – 2015. Who passed away from complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Pictures copy-write of Disney Studios.