It also features Buddy Hackett as Jim's enlightened, kind-hearted friend, Tennessee Steinmetz, a character who creates "art" from used car parts.

English actor David Tomlinson portrays the villainous Peter Thorndyke, the owner of an automobile showroom and an SCCA national champion who sells Herbie to Jim and eventually becomes his racing rival.

Residing in a converted firehouse overlooking San Francisco Bay, Jim shares his abode with Tennessee Steinmetz, an eccentric mechanic and sculptor whose artistic creations repurpose discarded automobile components.

Jim’s fortunes shift when he visits a luxurious European car dealership, where he encounters Carole Bennett, a capable mechanic and sales associate, as well as Peter Thorndyke, the imperious British proprietor of the establishment.

This uninvited acquisition leads to a police intervention on charges of grand theft, forcing Jim to reluctantly agree to a lease-purchase arrangement for the unconventional car.

Suspecting Thorndyke of duping him with a malfunctioning vehicle, Jim remains skeptical until Tennessee discerns the truth: the car possesses sentience.

His escapades culminate in an attempt to leap from the Golden Gate Bridge, prompting Jim to intervene and reconcile with the emotionally distressed car.

Despite these obstacles, Jim, Carole, and Tennessee persevere, although the first leg of the race leaves Herbie in a battered state, limping across the finish line using a makeshift wagon wheel.

Peter Thorndyke's yellow "Special" is actually a 1965 Apollo GT, a rare sports car sold by International Motorcars of Oakland, California.

A scene shot but not included in the final cut of the film, featured Jim calling at a used car lot prior to his visiting Thorndyke's auto showroom.

This missing sequence has long since been lost, and all that remains is the script and a single black and white photograph of Jim talking with the salesman at the lot.

An unfilmed scene at the end of the story that was scripted and storyboarded was to have shown Herbie playing with children at a nearby playground prior to taking the newly married Jim and Carole off on their honeymoon.

Additional scenes depicting the El Dorado race were filmed near the San Bernardino Mountains in Big Bear City, California.

Announcer Gary Owens (of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In fame) and Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn also appear as themselves.

Drivers in the film billed in the opening credits include Dale Van Sickel, Reg Parton, Regina Parton, Tom Bamford, Bob Drake, Marion J. Playan, Hall Brock, Bill Hickman, Rex Ramsay, Hal Grist, Lynn Grate, Larry Schmitz, Richard Warlock, Dana Derfus, Everett Creach, Gerald Jann, Bill Couch, Ted Duncan, Robert Hoys, Gene Roscoe, Jack Mahoney, Charles Willis, Richard Brill, Roy Butterfield, Rudy Doucette, J.J. Wilson, Jim McCullough, Bud Ekins, Glenn Wilder, Gene Curtis, Robert James, John Timanus, Bob Harris, Fred Krone, Richard Ceary, Jesse Wayne, Jack Perkins, Fred Stromsoe, Ronnie Rondell, and Kim Brewer.

[9] Vincent Canby of The New York Times panned the film as "a long, sentimental Volkswagen commercial ... which has the form of fantasy-comedy, lots of not-very-special effects and no real humor.

"[10] Variety wrote, "For sheer inventiveness of situation and the charm that such an idea projects, 'The Love Bug' rates as one of the better entries of the Disney organization.

"[11] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it brisk, active, bright, technically impeccable, simple-minded, full of tricky effects and free of all but the most glancing resemblances to nasty old reality.

The caper appears to have had the effect of injecting life into Robert Stevenson's usually pedestrian style, since with the exception of one glutinously sentimental episode the pace never lets up.

Directed by Vincent McEveety, the series acted as a continuation of the films, with Dean Jones reprising his role as Jim Douglas.