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 Beetle (A5) in November 2012 when it also went on sale. Head of Technical Development for VW, Frank Welsch, indicated at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show that this would be the Beetle's final generation. On 13 September 2018, Volkswagen announced that the Beetle will cease production in July 2019. On 22 November 2010, on the final episode of the "Oprah's Favorite Things" special, Oprah Winfrey and Volkswagen announced every audience member that day would receive one of the Beetles upon its release in 2011. VW staff gave the audience their special keys to the car. This was followed by a teaser commercial