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Are you presuming to tell me what to do in my establishment?
„
~ Peter Thorndyke to Jim Douglas.
“
You keep your eye on your friend in the Bug, my dear. I'm going to squash him.
„
~ Peter Thorndyke telling Carol Bennet his plan to win against Jim Douglas.
Peter Thorndyke is the main antagonist of the 1969 sports adventure comedy film The Love Bug, the first installment in Disney‘s Herbie film series.
He is a car dealership owner who seeks to win the Californian racing circuit against Jim Douglas, the human protagonist of the film. Due to Herbie, Jim’s sentient race car, interfering in his plans, he tries to have him dismantled.
Peter Thorndyke was a car salesman and race car driver by profession. He first appeared greeting Jim Douglas who plans to buy a car from his dealership. However, Thorndyke decides to boot Jim out after the latter wanted to go for a cheap purchase and berated him for kicking a white Volkswagen Beetle that rolled into the dealership. Unknown to everyone, the Beetle is sentient and drives itself near the vicinity of Jim's house. Upon hearing of the event, Thorndyke initially plans to press charges against Jim for grand theft and get rid of the car by dumping it into the bay, but his secretary Carole Bennett convinces him otherwise by letting Jim purchase it on a system of monthly lease payments.
At first, Jim finds the Beetle to be uncontrollable, but soon warms up to it due to its vast skills in speed; even Jim's friend Tennessee Steinmetz learns that the Beetle is sentient and names it Herbie. Jim eventually takes Herbie in winning their first race together, an act witnessed by a surprised Thorndyke and Carol when they were witnessing the race as guests. Sensing that there's something strange with the car, Thorndyke offers to cancel the lease payments by proposing a wager to Jim: they both will compete in the Californian racing circuit and that the winner will become Herbie's owner. Determined to take his chance to get even with Thorndyke for his previous behavior, Jim accepts the wager, much to Thorndyke's pleasure.
Unknown to everyone, Thorndyke tried to cheat himself by using underhand tactics, but Herbie foils this and manages to win itself and Jim into several victories. Humiliated by his own defeats, Thorndyke becomes more determined to find out what's going with Herbie. He eventually senses an opportunity after learning that Jim has invited Carole over for a date, to which he deliberately allows before snooping into Jim's house, getting Tennessee drunk on some Irish coffee and dumping some of it into Herbie's gas tank. Because of this, Herbie went out of control that allowed Thorndyke to win the next race, leaving an angry Jim to settle to buy a red Lamborghini and for a heartbroken Herbie to drive away after demolishing the Lamborghini. This event made Jim realize that Herbie is sentient and drove a disgusted Carole to quit her job after realizing that she has been used by Thorndyke.
With Herbie out from Jim's reach, Thorndyke gets his abused right-hand man Havershaw and their men to tow Herbie back into his shop so that they can dismantle it for its parts. However, Herbie escapes from the shop, making Thorndyke and his men realize that the car was sentient all the time. After a brief rampage in Chinatown, Herbie reunited with Jim at the Golden Gate Bridge before ending up at the impound lot, where a Chinese businessman named Tang Wu obtains Herbie since Wu's store was damaged by Herbie's rampage and that Wu himself is a fan of Herbie. Deciding to patch things up, Jim offers a deal with Wu: Jim will use Herbie to attend the El Dorado race (with will determine the final outcome of the Californian racing circuit), and if Jim wins, he will give Wu the winning prize money to pay for the damages and that Wu will have to sell Herbie back to Jim for a dollar. Wu accepts the deal and becomes Jim's sponsor for the El Dorado race.
Upon learning of Jim's deal with Wu, Thorndyke entered into a wager with Wu on the outcome of the El Dorado race: if Thorndyke wins, he will gain ownership of Herbie and have it dismantled; but if Jim wins, Thorndyke will have to sell his dealership to Wu. During the first leg of the race, Thorndyke and Havershaw run into various obstacles that slow them down, such as a mud puddle, mistakenly picking up a bear, and having to wait at a gas station as its pumps run slowly, giving Herbie the chance to pass them. At one point, Thorndyke and Havershaw change Herbie's course and lead it into a mine, but Herbie catches up with them again. An enraged Thorndyke bumps into Herbie, making its front left wheel detach. At the end of the day, with Herbie seemingly unable to continue the race, Thorndyke and his crew bring their tow truck to take Herbie away. But as Thorndyke and Jim fight, Herbie starts up and scares Thorndyke and his crew away, implying that it's willing to take on the remainder of the race despite the setbacks.
The next day, Thorndyke become the first one to start on the second leg of the race. Despite all the dirty tricks that Thorndyke and Havershaw planned, such as pushing Herbie off the road and into a tree and a log in the middle of the road, Herbie still manages to overtake and beat them, even when broken in half due to metal fatigue. Needless to say, Jim, Carole and Tennessee manage to drive both halves of Herbie in crossing the finish line, thus winning the Californian racing circuit and leaving Thorndyke and Havershaw in utter defeat.
Due to Jim's victory, Wu obtains the prize money and arranges for Herbie to be rewelded and sold back to Jim as agreed. Thorndyke is forced to sell his dealership to Wu, who hires Tennessee as his main assistant while demoting Thorndyke and Havershaw to low-life mechanics as punishment for their actions. Havershaw berates Thorndyke for entering into the wager with Wu in the first place, but an angry Thorndyke sprays oil on him to shut him up. Finally fed up with Thorndyke's mistreatment, an angry Havershaw sprays more oil on Thorndyke in retaliation.
Trivia[]
Thorndyke's most famous car is a yellow GT car with black stripes he calls the "Thorndyke Special", which is actually an Apollo 3500 GT. He also drives a red Ferrari and a black Jaguar in various races in the film. He owns and uses a black right-hand-drive Rolls Royce as a personal vehicle as well.
