Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch

Before Pixar put eyeballs on car windshields, Hanna-Barbera made eyes out of headlights with WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH, one of the greatest cartoon shows of all time! My brother and I would never miss WHEELIE on Sunday mornings on Channel 20 WDCA. Much like CARS, Wheelie lived in a world inhabited only by vehicles and just like in CARS, they spent most of their time racing. Wheelie was just a little car looking for a race and some alone time with his gal pal Rhoda. But Chopper and the Chopper Bunch were always trying to ruin poor Wheelie's fun. The Chopper Bunch consisted of stuttering Chopper, G-rated stoner Hi-Riser, former Nazi Revs, and the little runt Scrambles. Each episode the Chopper Bunch would try to foil Wheelie's innocent plans, and in each episode their plan backfired (no pun intended!) At the end of every story (and there were three in each episode) Chopper usually found himself on the end of a tow truck while Scrambles would remind Chopper, "I told ya, I told ya!" And Chopper would reply, "I know, I know!". They would go back and forth several times with this before fading to commercial. Good Stuff!



As every cartoon in the 70's and 80's was cashing in on one craze or another, I guess Wheelie came to be because of the success of another VW Bug, Herbie. Herbie and the original THE LOVE BUG became the number one grossing movie of 1969, so I guess kids were ready to eat up another similar car when WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH hit the air a few years later. Wheelie had one power that Herbie didn't have! Even though Wheelie couldn't talk, he could display messages on his windshield! (It was usually a heart to show his love for Rhonda.) Wheelie also had a bugle under his hood that he could extend out to play his battle cry of "CHARGE!"

When I discovered WHEELIE, he was already in reruns but that didn't matter. We loved that show to death! We never had any Wheelie toys or merchandise...I think my brother had a book and that was about it! Nowadays, no only would there be a toy for every car that ever drove a half mile on the show, there would be 17 different playsets for you to play with them on. The kids today think they've got it so great, but they'll never know what it's like to love Wheelie and that mean ol' Chopper Bunch