Lifelong collector Clayton Capps finds prize Herbie to add to his Bug Acres

He’s not much to look at it, but then again at 50 years old who among us is?

He’s got dents — a huge one in the front — and bumps and the paint is missing in quite a few spots.

But for collector Clayton Capps, this latest acquisition is a beauty.

Capps purchased Herbie #10 from the original Disney movie “The Love Bug” on Thanksgiving day. He had it shipped from Hershey, PA to its new home on Capps’ Bug  Acres on FM 2484.

If you have lived in Salado for any length of time, you’ve seen Clayton driving a Herbie around town.

He currently owns well over a dozen Volkswagen Beetles in various stages of repair and disrepair. “Some of those,” he says as he points to a field, “are future projects.”

They are all projects of love. Capps’ fascination with the Bug probably began when he was no more than three years old. That was when his mother Veda took  him to the movie theater to see “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.”

When he turned 16, Clayton bought the first of many Bugs. “I took my tuba along with me,” he said, “to make sure it would fit in the back seat.”

It fit.

That first VW was a 1974 model, Clayton’s birth year.

More than a quarter century after that first purchase, Clayton’s love for all things Herbie reached its pinnacle with the purchase of one of three remaining original cars used in the filming of “The Love Bug.” The other two documented originals have sold for more than $125,000 at auction.

“It cost a boatload,” he admits of the recent purchase, adding that he had to sell more than a dozen VWs to pay for this one purchase, including a 1955 model.

With good reason. The Love Bug is a piece of American pop culture. The Disney film is about a 1963 VW Beetle that has a mind of its own. He is recognizable by the red, white and blue racing stripes, the number 53 encircled on the front, back and sides and the cloth top as well as the California license plate OFP 857.

The original film starred Dean Jones and Michele Lee, along with Buddy Hackett and David Tomlinson.

Disney went on to make sequels, including  Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie Goes Bananas, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Plus there was the five-episode mini-series in 1982 and a made-for-TV sequel in 1992. In all of these movies, only 50 VWs ever made it to the screen.

Disney Studios used 11 VW Beetles for the filming of The Love Bug. The one in Capps’ possession is #10 and had the roughest life. He was the one you see going over the cliff towards the end of the original film. He was known as the Stunt Bug. In the movie, Herbie’s tank was filled with Irish Coffee instead of gas, which may have contributed to the ultimate plummet off of the cliff.

These are some of the details that come quickly to Clayton’s mind when talking about his fascination with this bit of Americana. He admits to having seen the Herbie movies “too many times to count.”

This particular VW Beetle also appeared, with a dusting of yellow to disguise it from its appearance in the original film, in the Herbie Rides Again sequel.

“He was one of the VWs that comes to life toward the end of Herbie Rides Again,” Capps says. “He’s in a large pile of junked cars.”

So Herbie #10 is also known as the Junk Bug.

Capps purchased the iconic vehicle from Tory Alonzo, who is known in the VW circle of enthusiasts as the “Herbie historian.”

“He asked me what my intention was to do with the car, if I was going to restore it,” Capps said. “I told him that I wanted to keep him just the way he was when he was in the movie.”

With that promise not to restore the car or change it in any way, Clayton Capps became just the fourth owner of Herbie #10.

Capps has owned dozens of VWs over the years, buying and selling, trading and swapping with other enthusiasts and collectors.

They swap stories as much as they do vehicles or parts.

And when Clayton shows up with this model, complete with dents from the crash and the signatures of stars Dean Jones and Michele Lee on the glovebox, he will have plenty to talk about with fellow collectors.

For one thing, Herbie #10 is thoroughly documented. A notebook that came along with the purchase, includes many photographs that were taken during the filming of the Disney movie. More than that is the original pink slip for the car.

“That right there is where the value is,” Capps says. The car also has the number 10 written inside the door jam and the number 11 stamped under the hood from its appearance in the sequel.

While the original movie is about a 1963 VW Beetle, Herbie #10 is a few years older than that. He is a 1957 model that was adapted to look like the newer model. This meant changing the back window and the roof for the cloth top as well as the well-known paint job and the yellow on black license plate OFP 857.

OFP 857 stands for Official First Production August (8) 57.

All of that character and depth of documentation, as well as the well-earned dents from its crash scene give this little car a story like no other.

This particular Bug was featured most recently in the August 2014 edition of Auto Bild Klassik.

While Clayton and I are talking about it, it hits him when I ask, “Do you have any German blood in you?”

“Nope. English and Scottish. That’s funny that this kid without any German blood in him loves VWs and Polka so much!”

Another of Capps’ hobbies — or fascinations — is music, particularly the low brass instruments of tuba, baritone and trombone. Capps teaches private lessons in those instruments in more than a dozen school districts in the area. He also plays in the Temple Symphony Orchestra, Waco Community Band, Chisholm Brass Quintet and Mike and the Middle Tones polka band.

So if you see Clayton hauling his tuba around in one of his trademark VWs Beetles, be sure to wave at him and to slug the person next to you.

But act fast before they Slug Bug you first.