I'll enter my original self driving car. My 1959 VW Herbie. Unlike the numerous clones out there, mine is a genuine documented Herbie used in the filming of The Love Bug. My car was originally built as a remote control (hence the self driving) stunt car. The technology worked, just not great. While filming a key scene on Big Bear Mountain, the controls jammed and Herbie crashed and rolled down a hillside. A ton of bondo, some plexiglass and a quick paint job and Herbie was back in action. My car was then reused in Herbie Rides Again. This time Herbie was painted again as a Dr. Herbie for a nightmare scene that was cut from the final release. After the movie, Herbie was sold and ended up in the MovieWorld Cars of the Stars Museum in Buena Park, Ca. The museum was the stomping grounds for many Hollywood car guys including Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Von Dutch and Steve McQueen. When the museum closed, Herbie ended up in Reno, NV as part of the famous Harrah's Collection. In the mid 80s, when the Harrah's Collection was auctioned off, Herbie was sold and ended up being parked next to a barn in the desert. A VW collector from Florida found Herbie and knowing what the car was, despite not having the famous Herbie look purchased Herbie to restore for his personal collection. after changing hands a few more times I ended up with Herbie 1995. I have since performed mechanical restoration to make the car more driveable and not just move on and off a trailer. I have also since added the correct custom wide wheels, fresh graphics in the correct Love Bug colors and a few other bits. The car now runs and drives flawlessly. The beauty part of the restoration is that the car still retains all of it's original Sheetmetal, with the exception a few pieces that were purposely preserved to show the car's original finish. The damage to the roof along with the quick on set repair done 52 years ago is still present. So while there are lots of dings and what not in the body and the fact that no body panel lines up properly, the car represents exactly what it was, a stunt car.
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