Location Information Error in DVD Commentary

In the commentary over the scene of the start of the El Dorado race, Dean Jones says that they are now at Laguna Seca, rather than the Riverside Raceway. This is incorrect. In fact, this scene and several other El Dorado race scenes were shot at Paramount Ranch, in Agoura, California, on part of an old racetrack that is on that site. You can clearly see Sugarloaf Peak, a mountain on the property, in some of the shots. A few years ago, while doing Paramount Ranch filmography research, I made the discovery that some scenes in The Love Bug were at Paramount Ranch. Disney archivist Dave Smith confirmed it. There are call sheets in the bonus materials of the DVD that show Paramount Ranch as a location.

The beginning of the first day of the El Dorado race, very brief night shots of Herbie limping to the finish line at the end of the first day, the start of the second day of the race and the tail end of the end of the race where the split-in-two Herbie makes it to the finish line were all done at Paramount Ranch. The ghost town scenes were not, however, done in the Western town set at the ranch.

An interesting bit of trivia: There are a couple of matte shots done on the Paramount Ranch racetrack (with the El Dorado race banner stretched across the scene and some buildings in the upper left corner). You can see that shot without the matte overlay in the View Master Love Bug set.

Paramount Ranch is now part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and as a National Park, it is open to the public daily for free. And, parts of the old racetrack that were used in The Love Bug are still there. Likewise, you can see where they shot the Ye Olde Chicken Tournament sequence for Herbie Rides Again, which was also shot at Paramount Ranch.