Blue Beetle

The Blue Beetle is Harry Dresden's car, an old Volkswagen Beetle.

Description
Harry acquired and drives the car because he was once told by his mechanic, Mike, that it's the easiest car in the world to repair. Although the Beetle was originally blue, many pieces of the body have been damaged and replaced with spare parts of different colors.

Details

 * The clock on the beetle doesn't work.
 * The interior of the car has also been changed at least once after a mold demon destroyed the upholstery and foam padding in the interior, leaving Harry to drive the car seated on a wooden crate until he had a custom interior installed.

Appearance
In Storm Front, Harry describes the Blue Beetle as not really blue anymore. One door was replaced with a green door, and the other door was replaced with a white one. The hood of the storage trunk in front had been replaced with a red hood.

In Fool Moon: one door is green, the other white as the originals were shredded by something with claws. The original hood had been ruined by fire and the replacement is red. Harry mostly cares that it runs despite his Wizards magic fouling up technology and he's comfortable with it.

In Grave Peril, the passenger door is red, the driver's door is white and the hood is grey (primer?). There is also a green piece somewhere in the mosaic of parts. (Ref? — this must have been made from memory)

In Dead Beat, the Mike the Mechanic has pounded the hood back into its original shape after the original hood was destroyed by a Chlorofiend (plant monster), and the hood is now grey primer until Harry can get enough money to repaint it. There are panels and doors in colors including white, yellow, red, and green. Mouse takes up the entire back seat.

In the series
In Storm Front, when Harry pulls up to the Velvet Room, in an expensive lakeside location, the Beetle coughs, the engine rattles and blackly smokes with a big "whoomph", then the engine dies. Harry gives the guard, "Fido", the number to Mike the Mechanic's tower guy, George, who give Harry a wood-paneled Studebaker as a loaner.

In Grave Peril, based on a tip by Bob, Harry and Michael Carpenter race the Beetle to Cook County Hospital to save nursery infants from the maniacal Ghost, Agatha Hagglethorn. Michael complains that that it's not gong fast enough, he's worried for the babies. On the way, Michael lectures Harry about Susan telling him that he should tell her how he feels about her and harry should marry her. He's too isolated and could easily start down a darker path. He mentioned Elaine Mallory setting Harry off in an angry tiff. Harry drove past a police car twenty miles an hour over the limit—the police chase them. Leaving the Beetle, Harry grabs his staff and blasting rod—both still green and freshly carve. The Blue Beetle got impounded by the police because Harry was driving too fast. Harry got the Beetle back, Mur[hy fixed it for Harry after he help Micky Malone from a psychic attack by the Nightmare. Harry drove around Bucktown/Wicker Park looking for Lydia.

In Summer Knight, Harry drove Billy Borden home in it after the rain of toads and the attack by the Tigress. Later, a "Chlorofiend" (plant monster) banged his fist down on the hood of the Beetle, crumpling it like tine foil. It's lucky the engine in older VWs is in ther rear or it would have flipped over. Then Harry and his gamely Beetle rammed the monster, the iron in the car making it smoke. Then carried him the length of Wal-Mart, and then rammed it again, tearing it in half. — Later, Elaine Mallory comments that the vehicle is named after the "super-hero from the Electric Company".

In the beginning of Death Masks, the still-red hood is held on by hanger wire to keep it from flapping open. Harry hopes to make enough money from Father Vincent's case to fix the Beetle.

In Blood Rites, after escaping in the Beetle from monkey demons chasing them after Harry collects the Temple Dogs for Brother Wang, Thomas Raith, who's driving, asks Harry what happened to his car. The inside of the car had all the seats gnawed bare of stuffing, vinyl, seat covers, chunks of the dashboard were missing, and everything was stripped way down to the metal. Harry had done some make-shift repairs using 1x6 boards, cheap padding from Wal-Mart's camping department and hanger wire to make temporary seats. Harry explains that Mold Demons ate the interior and that they were a gift from the "guest villian a few months ago".

in Proven Guilty, Harry in the Blue Beetle is rear-ended by large dark-gray Chrysler with tinted windows. And the car slams into him again, sending him into a deadly spin and into a brick building on the passenger side. Per Harry: "The Beetle, stalwart crusader against the forces of evil and alternative fuels, was still running, though its engine had acquired and odd, moaning wheeze as opposed to the usual surly wheeze."

In Small Favor, Harry mentions that the number "53" had been spray-painted in a circle on the hood (a reference to Disney's Herbie the Love Bug) by an "anonymous joker".

In Changes, the Ik'k'uox smashed the Blue Beetle together with Thomas Raith's white Jag like thy went through a trash compactor. There was no way the Blue Beetle was going to resurrect from that. Harry felt tears forming. Plus his staff was in the car.

Quotes
"The old girl growled gamely as sensed what was at stake." ~ Harry Dresden

Description Quotes per book:
In Storm Front: "The Beetle isn't really blue anymore, since both doors have been replaced, one with a green clone, one eight a white one, and the hood of the storage trunk in front had to be replaced with a red duplicate, but the name stuck anyway. Mike is a super mechanic. He never asks questions about the burns that slagged a hole in the front hatch or the claw marks that ruined both the doors. You can't pay for service like that.

In Fool Moon: "The Beetle isn't really blue anymore. One of the doors had been replaced with a green duplicate, the other one with white when something with claws shredded the originals. The hood had been slagged by fire, and my mechanic, Mike, had replaced it with the hood from a red vehicle. The important thing is that the Beetle runs, even if it doesn't do it very fast, and I'm comfortable with the car. Mike has declared that the VW bug is the easiest car in the world to repair, and so that's what I drive. He keeps it running eight or nine days in ten. That's phenomenal.

In Grave Peril: "The Beetle isn't really blue anymore. Both doors have been replaced when they'd gotten clawed to shreds, and the hood had been slagged, with a big old hole melted in it. My mechanic, Mike, who can keep the Beetle running most days, hadn't asked any questions. He'd just replaced the parts with pieces of other Volkswagens, so that the Blue Beetle was technically blue, red, white, and green. But my appellation stuck."

In Summer Knight: not much description beyond action and character. (see above)

In Dead Beat: "The Blue Beetle, the beat-up old Volkswagen Bug that is my faithful steed. "Blue is kind of a metaphorical description. The car has had various doors and panels replaced with white, red and Green. My mechanic, mike, had managed to pound the hood more or less back into its original condition, which I'd bent out of shape while ramming a bad guy, but I hadn't had the money to repaint, so now the car had primer grey added to the ensemble."