The Love Bug brought to the United States, Walt suggested a different car story for him, which was "Car, Boy, Girl", a story written in 1961 by Gordon Buford. "Car, Boy, Girl;" "The Magic Volksy;" "The Runaway Wagen;" "Beetlebomb;" "Wonderbeetle;" "Bugboom" and "Thunderbug" were among the original development titles considered for the film before the title was finalized as "The Love Bug." Herbie competes in the Monterey Grand Prix, which, except for 1963, was not a sports car race. The actual sports car race held at Monterey was the Monterey Sports Car Championships. Peter Thorndyke's yellow "Special" is actually a 1965 Apollo GT,
Volkswagen New Beetle offered for the New Beetle. Volkswagen created a web site dedicated specifically to the 1.8T. A convertible was added for the 2003 model-year to replace the Volkswagen Cabrio. However, the New Beetle Convertible was never offered with a compression-ignition engine in North America. The New Beetle carries many design similarities with the original VW Beetle: separate fenders, vestigial running boards, sloping headlamps and large round tail lights, as well as a high rounded roofline. It was assembled in VW's Puebla factory in Mexico. The New Beetle achieved five stars in the 2011 Euro NCAP tests compared to four stars in