Developmental drivers Allison Duncan, left, and Erin Crocker, right, pose with actress Lindsay Lohan. Credit: Getty Images

Herbie: Fully Loaded premieres in L.A.

"Herbie" first hit the big screen in the late 1960s when Disney released Herbie The Love Bug and it was such a huge hit with audiences around the world that it spawned numerous follow up movies and television movies in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

Herbie: Fully Loaded tells the story of that little white VW Beatle with a mind and feelings of it's own, and a spirit to match. Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan) is a third generation member of a legendary race car family, and she's bitten by the bug to follow in the footsteps of her father Ray Peyton (Michael Keaton) but her dad is less than keen.

Crocker and Duncan hang out with George Lopez. Credit: Getty Images

Maggie is thrilled when her dad offers to buy her a car for her graduation, but instead of the sporty model she has in mind, he takes her to a junkyard and tells her to take her pick.

Before long, Maggie is driving out of the junkyard in a smoke-spewing piece of junk, aka, "Herbie."

Later, Maggie bumps into an old high school friend, and mechanic, Kevin (Justin Long) and, mostly because he has the hots for her, he offers to help fix up her car. When it's done, Maggie decides that, despite her Dad, she's going to live her dream and enter "Herbie" in the NASCAR race.

Trip Murphy (Matt Dillon) is an egotistical NASCAR champion whose never been beaten, until "Herbie" comes along that is.

Humiliated, Trip decides to do everything in his power to destroy "Herbie" but little does he know, there's more to this relic than meets they eye.

The premiere of Herbie: Fully Loaded was a grand affair. Hollywood Boulevard was shut down for the entire day on Saturday and hundreds of fans packed the streets to get a glimpse of the newly blonde Lindsay Lohan and her co-stars.

ALSO •   Herbie: Fully Loaded site

The lucky few who snagged tickets to the bleachers were almost close enough to touch the stars. With a red carpet lined with "Herbie" substitutes, the original car from the movie and a couple of race cars, and Hollywood's finest, it's no wonder that the camera's were popping nonstop.

The entire cast underwent heavy duty training before the shooting for the movie began and Lindsay Lohan enjoyed every minute.

"It was extensive training," Lohan said, "and it gets so hot in those cars and you're wearing fire suits and driving so fast and really close to the walls, it's dangerous, but it's exhilarating."

Lohan recently was involved in a car crash with a paparazzi photographer in Los Angeles, and the stills photographers at the premiere of Herbie: Fully Loaded made sure the young actress knew they were a different breed of photographers altogether by donning t-shirts with the words "We're not Paparazzi" emblazoned on the front.

Their sense of humor was echoed by Lohan, who told The Associated Press, "I think it's hysterical, I don't know what I've started, I hope it's a good thing."

Co-star, Michael Keaton, who plays Lohan's father in the movie rates her very highly, both as a person and as an actress. "It was fun, she's a great actress," Keaton said, "I dug the movie, I thought the script was good, she's extremely talented and she's really fun to act with."

Matt Dillon couldn't stop talking about how much he loved driving the race cars, but found it a little difficult to leave his character, and his movie driving habits on the set at the end of the day.

"Yeah, it was fun," Dillon said, "I learned to drive, kind of learned to drive, at Irwindale [racetrack], let me tell you, you know, a little information can be a dangerous thing. I found myself driving home going, yeah, I could do that thinking I could do that, but thinking, this is a public street, this isn't Irwindale. But, it was fun, but the first thing they do is strap you in the passenger's side, which is really nauseating, because you're just flying around. Really, you want to be in the driver's seat in on of those things."

Crocker and Duncan at the 'Herbie' premiere. Credit: Getty Images

Justin Long is the envy of many a man at this moment, he plays Lohan's love interest in Herbie: Fully Loaded and by the sounds of it, is likely to dine out on the fact that he's kissed her for a long time to come.

"It was nice," Long said, "but in a G-rated kind of way, you know what I mean. It was a little bit like this [mimics kissing]. No, I'm kidding. It was sans the moustache, she insisted that I shave the moustache for the kiss, because, it was like, it's prickly and weird, and it was just frightening to look at, she said.

"So, I had to get rid of it, but it was nice, but it was like, it was a kiss, and she's a gorgeous, hot, freckled redhead, so, who would not want to kiss her, right?"

Director Angela Robinson said they had to find nearly 40 VW bugs to make the movie and quite a few were written off during the making of the film.

"A lot [were written off]," Robinson said. "We put Lindsay in a race car driving school, so she did great, she was really fast, and we had 37 cars -- 37 -- so there were a lot of cars."

Herbie: Fully Loaded opens in theatres nationwide on Wednesday.

No. 53 in NASCAR Cup results for the No. 53 car Year Driver Races W T-5 T-10 1994 Ritchie Petty 1 0 0 0 1993 Jimmy Means 1 0 0 0   Ritchie Petty 3 0 0 0   Graham Taylor 1 0 0 0   Mike Potter 1 0 0 0 1992 Johnny McFadden 5 0 0 0   Graham Taylor 2 0 0 0 1991 Bobby Hillin Jr. 2 0 0 0   John Paul Jr. 2 0 0 0 1990 Jerry O'Neil 3 0 0 0 1989 Jerry O'Neil 4 0 0 0 1985 Donny Paul 1 0 0 0   Bill Scott 1 0 0 0   Jeff Hooker 1 0 0 0 1984 Donny Paul 1 0 0 0 1983 Tom Sneva 2 0 0 1 1981 Slick Johnson 3 0 0 0   Cecil Gordon 1 0 0 0 1980 Slick Johnson 17 0 0 5 1979 Keith Davis 2 0 0 0 1978 Ron Hutcherson 2 0 1 1   Jack Simpson 1 0 0 0 Totals   57 0 1 7

.