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Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:14 am

I've got a Herbie look alike and I'm wanting to put black wheels on him like in the new Herbie fully loaded film. I can't find those wheels any where. Looking for ideas on black wheels other than 5-spoke empi or BMP.

Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:16 pm

From what I can see on the new herbie, I would go get a set of those cheep black 4x4 rims they sell at every tire shop that are the chevy 5 lug, then get the wide 5 conversions., and bam! You got your herbie rims. You'll probably want to put on widened fenders to accomodate the tires, but they'll look pretty close.

Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:39 am

they are buggy whels painted black...

view here http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/verykool1/detail?.dir=/c1f8&.dnm=3517.jpg&.src=ph

Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:40 am

since oldbug.com built the herbies ask randy carlson where he got the wheels. :D

Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:16 am

Cirric wrote: they are buggy whels painted black...
view here http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/verykool1/detail?.dir=/c1f8&.dnm=3517.jpg&.src=ph

Yeah - that's what I was thinking. They look like the white "wagon wheels" for dune buggies, but painted or powdercoated black. Should be a pretty cheap investment.

Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:09 am

Since every redneck in my town puts these wheels on, all I had to do was walk 10 feet and take a picture. They come in chevy 5 lug, and they are a whopping $40 each. Are they the exact kind as Herbies, no. Are they close enough for the price, yes.

Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:55 am

checkout the newest trailer on apple.com

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/herbie_fully_loaded/

Hopefully add it soon to my collection.

Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:21 pm

I didnt build the Herbies, I just sold them base cars.

For the wheels, go with basic wide 5 baja 5 spoke steel wheels and spray em black. Empi makes em.

The ones on the actual film cars were 13" with custom goodyear race rubber.

You can go with 15" and they will look fine.

Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:19 am

sorry-someone told me Randy @ old bugs built them. who did build them? trivia

Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:21 am

I built the first Herbie...kinda...but I didnt know it was for the film at the time. I built it for myself, and then Disney bought it from me as the first car for the new movie. They re-did it to their specs and to keep everything the same on all cars, but I guess technically I built the first one. It ended up being one of the "Hero" cars for the film...used for close ups and such.

Disney assembled a great crew of builders in house to assemble all the cars. They did really nice work. I supplied them with base cars and some technical advice as they needed it, but they really handled it well. The cars looked great, and the special effects cars were phenomenal. They built a couple of wheelie cars, a couple that would drive on two wheels, one backwards driver car, a couple process cars, and a couple of personality cars that would shake and shiver and open and close via remote control.

FAT Performance built a few engines for the Nascar Herbies, which were seriously bitchen. One of them clocked at 138mph at Fontana...which is seriously fast in an old Beetle. The Nascar Herbie is the one with the black wheels.

Im now just finishing my own personal Herbie replica based on the Nascar Herbie. Its a street car, for me and my family. My kids were so sad to see the first Herbie go and they are so excited about the new movie after seeing all the film cars and stuff...it's just gonna be awesome to cruise them around in it this summer.

Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:06 am

I wonder how long (if/when) after the new movie comes out that I'll start hearing people tell me "Oh, you should turn your bug into a Herbie" I've had my white 62 bug since 1989 and I've had people tell me that many times, but its been a few years now. And my reply will be the same, now as ever - "no way, it ain't gonna happen"

andy

Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:50 pm

Randy, thanks for the interesting clarifications. Do you know how they made up the "wheelie" car? Was it the same technology (or at least principle) that was used on the very first "Love Bug" movie ("wanna give that doodlebug a workout?")?

Good luck with your own replica. Will that too have a FAT engine? :D

Roland from NY