Jim Douglas

Jim Douglas is the main protagonist in The Love Bug and the 3rd Love Bug film Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. He was portrayed by Dean Jones.

The Love Bug
Jim Douglas is a racing driver, who lost a car in an accident at the beginning of the first film. One day, he goes to a European car dealership in San Francisco, where he meets Carole Bennett, one of the employees, and finds an Apollo GT (The Thorndyke Special) car, but can't seem to afford that car. After meeting Peter Thorndyke, the owner of the dealership, and as he was looking for a price range of up to $80, Thorndyke thought Jim was out of his mind and then bids him good day. Then Herbie comes into Thorndyke's showroom, which makes Thorndyke mad. After he kicks Herbie and Jim stands up for Herbie after witnessing Thorndyke hitting, he leaves the dealership and somehow, Herbie manages to follow Jim home without Jim knowing.



The next morning, the police arrive at Jim's house, suspecting that he stole Herbie, which he didn't. Jim goes with the police detective back to the dealership and has an argument with Thorndyke and he ends up buying Herbie. He takes Herbie out for a drive on the freeway and Herbie gets scared heads back to the city streets and heads back to the dealership, where Jim thinks that Carole and Thorndyke had something to do with Herbie acting up. Then Carole drives Herbie with no problems and then Herbie starts to give Jim problems when he's behind the wheel, then later that night, Herbie does the same to Carole. Then that night, Jim does some adjustments to Herbie and then Herbie runs with no problems.

He ends up racing with Herbie and wins all the races, making headlines, even when Thorndyke races and tries to defeat Jim, he has no luck until one night when Carole and Jim go out with the Thorndyke Special, Thorndyke sabatoges Herbie with Irish Coffee in the gas tank, where Jim ends up losing the next race. After that, Jim spends all his money on a Lamborghini, and decides to sell Herbie back to Thorndyke. Herbie gets upset, destroys the Lamborghini, and then runs away after feeling that Jim doesn't like him anymore. After tracking Herbie down to the Golden Gate Bridge, where he almost jumps, Jim was able to stop Herbie from jumping. He goes to the police station, where Herbie was taken after doing some damage to a local business in Chinatown, owned by Mr. Tang Wu.

Mr. Wu discovers that Herbie is a famous racing car and since Jim couldn't pay the damage, he and Wu make a deal that he can use Herbie to drive in the El Dorado race and if he wins, Wu can get the prize money and sell Herbie back to Jim for $1 and Wu accepts. Jim races the El Dorado with Carole and Tennessee together with Herbie and end up losing the first lap of the race due to sabatoge and tricks by Thorndyke. The final half of the race, Herbie gets a late start due to their timing from the last lap and after fighting against Thorndyke on the race, Herbie breaks in half and takes 1st and 3rd place, where Jim becomes the champion. Jim and Carole get married and Herbie drives them off to their honeymoon, where Herbie decides where they go.

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Jim Douglas returns in the 3rd installment of The Love Bug series. It's unknown whether Jim and Carole Bennett had gotten divorced or temporary separated after he came to Europe to drive foreign cars (which is mentioned in Herbie Rides Again), but it's never mentioned whether he and Carole are still together or not. Jim, his mechanic Wheely Applegate, and Herbie start racing in France. Herbie falls in love with a Lancia Montecarlo, which also has a mind of it's own, driven by a female driver Diane Darcy, who thinks that Jim is trying to show off and get her attention. Jim tells her about Herbie, but she doesn't seem to believe him at first.

Jim competes in several races up until the Trans-France race from Paris to Monte Carlo, where his biggest rival in the race is the German driver Bruno von Stickle. Jim and Herbie are way ahead of Bruno von Stickle until they spot Diane Darcy and her car in the river off the road. They rescue her from the river along with her car and they get back in the race. Herbie has trouble trying to get past Bruno von Stickle until they enter a tunnel on the home stretch to Monte Carlo, where Herbie rides on the walls of the tunnel and gets in front of Stickle and they end up beating him in the race. Later that night, Jim and Diane have a dinner date that night and Herbie and Diane's Lancia do the same.