<P> Herbie 's origins are firmly established in The Love Bug ( 1968 ) . Before the events of the film , he was bought from Peter Thorndyke 's ( David Tomlinson ) showroom by San Francisco socialite Mrs. Van Luit for her upstairs maid , but returned shortly afterwards due to reliability problems . He was then purchased by race - driver Jim Douglas ( Dean Jones ) , who had earlier stood up for him against the pompous Thorndyke ( David Tomlinson ) . Tennessee Steinmetz ( Buddy Hackett ) , Jim 's best friend and housemate , names the car `` Herbie '' after his uncle Herb , a middleweight boxer whose broken nose greatly resembled the trunk lid of a Volkswagen Beetle . </P>
who starred in the original herbie the love bug movie
David Tomlinson Dean Jones Buddy Hackett