Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo - Plot

Plot

The film stars Dean Jones as returning champion race car driver Jim Douglas, joined by his riding mechanic, Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts). Together with Herbie, the "Love Bug", a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, they are participating in the fictional Trans-France Race, from Paris, France to Monte Carlo, Monaco, in which they hope to stage a racing comeback.

In the Trans-France Race itself, Douglas and Herbie have three major opponents:

• Bruno von Stickle (Eric Braeden): He is a dark-haired, moustached German driver with experience in the "European Racing Circuit". His car was a powerful Porsche 917 clone painted in the colors of the German national flag, and bearing the number 17. In fact, as referred in the movie, the kit car is a Lazer 917 GT coupé with numerous components including the engine and chassis from the Beetle. Von Stickle is deemed to be a formidable contender prior to and during the race.

• Claude Gilbert (Mike Kulcsar): Claude is a blond-haired French driver of unknown discipline, although it would seem likely that he was also a regular on the European Racing circuit. Gilbert, known for wearing a full-faced crash helmet, was the driver of an equally power-hungry De Tomaso Pantera. That car was black with white stripes and a number 66) on the hood and the sides. His dominance in the race seemed similar to that of von Stickle until he crashed in the later stages.

• Diane Darcy (Julie Sommars): She is a very pretty, if somewhat icy, young woman with strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes who initially hates Jim for his and Herbie's incompetence that ruined her chances during the qualifying rounds. Diane's race car is a powder-blue 1976 Lancia Scorpion with yellow and white stripes, as well as a racing number #7. Hers is a car with whom Herbie falls in love during the film. However, Diane does not appear to believe in cars with minds of their own; thinking this was merely an excuse for what she believed as an act of possible misogyny or sexism from Jim. The only female driver in the race, Ms. Darcy is ostensibly a rookie driver, although her level of racing experience is never discussed in the movie. Relatively little was seen of her performance in the Trans-France Race itself.

Diane and the Lancia crash into a lake towards the end of the race, but Herbie, Jim, and Wheely save them from drowning. She soon changes her attitude toward Jim after he saves her life and she witnesses Herbie towing her Lancia out of the lake. All three watch as Herbie crawls next to the Lancia and the two cars hold doors like holding hands. When Herbie seems to have trouble restarting, Diane knows cars can have minds of their own because she now knows her own car is alive as well. Diane urges the little car not to relent in the quest for victory in the Trans-France Race (with the added agreement of the Lancia's horn), and bids Jim good luck with a light kiss on one cheek.

With Diane out of the race (followed shortly thereafter by Claude Gilbert in the aforementioned crash), Jim pursues Von Stickle through the streets of Monte Carlo, combatants in a thrilling duel for the win. In the end, though, Bruno von Stickle is overtaken by the little car in the famous tunnel of the Formula One race track, Herbie outracing him by driving upside down on the tunnel roof. Jim drives Herbie to victory for (also according to dialogue) the 20th time in their careers.

As the film progresses, two thieves, Max (Bernard Fox) and Quincey (Roy Kinnear), steal the famous Etoile de Joie and cleverly hide the diamond in Herbie's gas tank. It is also revealed that Inspector Bouchet (Jacques Marin), also known as "Double X / XX", is the mastermind behind the museum robbery, though the fact of his scheme is revealed near the end of the movie. It is the eager young detective Fontenoy (Xavier Saint-Macary), of whom the Inspector is the superior officer, who unravels the mystery of L'Etoile de Joie, and has Bouchet clapped in handcuffs.

At the end of the movie, Jim and Diane begin to fall in love, as do Wheely and the Monte Carlo trophy girl (Katia Tchenko). Most of all, Herbie and Giselle (Diane's Lancia) fall in love again as well.