Obviously, this is no ordinary Volkswagen. Indeed, it has an extraordinary history. In car talk circles, it's known as the Newman Bug, the VW that the late Paul Newman had customized into a "sleeper" racecar in the late 1960s.

It's an Indy Bug with a 300-horsepower engine, racing suspension and five-speed gearbox. On the outside, it looks like Herbie the "Love Bug." But try to beat it off the line and it will blow off your door handles.

Newman bought the car in 1963, and later he and the convertible appeared in some magazine advertisements for Volkswagen. In 1969, he asked Jerry Eisert, a renowned Indy Car builder in Costa Mesa, to make some modifications on the car, which included installing a bigger motor.

Eisert took out the backseat and replaced the stock VW motor with a Ford 351-cubic-inch engine — the equivalent of putting a rocket on a kid's red wagon. After Eisert's work was complete, Hollywood gossip had Newman racing the car on Mulholland Drive with some of his industry pals and also competing against all comers at local racetracks. Cool Hand Bug.