Herbie Rides Again

A feisty widow, a reformed lawyer and a retired racing Beetle stand between a ruthless developer and the last firehouse on his building site.

🎬 Robert Stevenson ⏱ 1h 28m 📅 June 06, 1974 🏁 No climactic race: the battle to save the Steinmetz firehouse

Demolition magnate Alonzo A. Hawk is ready to build Hawk Plaza, a 130-story tower in the heart of San Francisco. Only one property stands in his way: an 1892 firehouse belonging to Mrs. Steinmetz, the widowed aunt of Tennessee Steinmetz, who lives there with her displaced neighbor Nicole Harris and a household of sentient machines that includes a retired cable car called Old No. 22 and, of course, Herbie.

Hawk sends his mild-mannered lawyer nephew, Willoughby Whitfield, to charm the old woman out. Instead, Willoughby is won over by Mrs. Steinmetz, falls for Nicole and is converted into a true believer by Herbie himself, after a wild ride that ends with the Beetle winning a jousting tournament for cars. As Hawk's schemes escalate from theft to outright demolition, Herbie leads his friends on chases through a grand hotel, up a cable of the Golden Gate Bridge and right across the bay.

Mrs. Steinmetz finally takes the fight to Hawk's own office, arriving by window-washing platform, while Willoughby tricks his uncle's demolition contractor into knocking down Hawk's house instead of the firehouse. When Hawk arrives with heavy equipment for a final assault, Herbie rallies a citywide army of driverless Volkswagens that sends Hawk's crew fleeing, and Willoughby and Nicole drive off as newlyweds beneath an arch of Beetles.

Herbie Rides Again

What Herbie gets up to

Honk board