I was scrolling through some older posts the other night catching up. It's been quite a while since I've had time to visit.
The 2014 tour of Spahn had some great pics and Info. The pictures of Mary Brunner's VW got my attention and reminded me of some info that I would like to share.
I visited Spahn ranch a couple years ago with the same enthusiasm as most visitors.
I was walking down below along the base of the small cliff that exists behind the ranch area.
I came across a metal object that was lying flat against the ground that deserves a closer look.
WOW! Being a mechanic by trade I was pretty sure I was looking at a VW shell, Totally stripped and obviously rolled down into its resting place.
If I were to try to tell you where exactly where this Bug is, I would have to say it's pretty close to where Tex says they stripped and rolled one on page 131 of his book, behind what was the old ranch house (roughly estimated) and down the ridge or ravine.
If you look at the picture of the VW , the front of the vehicle has a circle pressed into the body below where the front hood (or trunk) would have been.
From what I have researched VW bugs did not have this circle embedded in the front apron until the 1968 model, all pre-68 Bugs would not have this circle amongst other small differences in the apron as well.
So the VW in this picture is a 68 or 69 which in the day would have been a brand new car.
Considering the location, condition, and year is it possible that maybe this is the Mary Brunner VW?
I wonder how long the salesman waited on Mary to return?
He's still waiting.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered how the girls looked whenever they went to stores to go shop on stolen credit cards. Did they look scuzzy, or presentable? Shoes or no shoes? Surely they'd bathe & dress up to go use stolen credit cards, right?
ReplyDeleteDirty feet likely landed Mary in jail just long enough to prevent her from being a TLB murderer. I guess being stupid and careless has its silver linings.
ReplyDelete@ AustinAnn74;
ReplyDeleteDid they look scuzzy, or presentable? Shoes or no shoes? Surely they'd bathe & dress up to go use stolen credit cards, right? eeeeuuhhhh....you get more $$$ out of the CreditCard then ?? LOL !!!
One time Gypsy and a couple of the girls got all prettied-up (make-up and all) and went out on the town AND also stopped over at my apartment. I wasn't home so they knocked on the door next door and the guys that lived there let them in. When I got home and the girls came over we all had a great laugh. I never had the heart to tell my neighbors they had the Manson Girls as guests.
ReplyDeleteBUT today I still ask myself: Why didn't I ever, at least, take a photo of them dressed like "establishment" types.
Holy Cow, Mr. H! They wore shoes & makeup??? Wow, would I ever like to see that!
ReplyDeletei found some make-up at the ranch while diggin ...??..i was digin were gorge spahn's house use to be..??..its only one bottle of lip-tone...you never know.??
ReplyDeletethat stolen car at the ranch is right next to the famous life magizine cave and the photo were the family is sittin on a hammock ....its all in the same area ...that frame of that VW is so grown into the tree theres no way its comeing out..lol..its there forever...
ReplyDeleteI would have thought with Sandy's lineage she would have been extremely convincing when shopping with stolen cards. You could kind of imagine, if challenged by a cashier as to the legitimacy of the card, that she could pull off that indigenous-to-socialites "don't you KNOW who you're dealing with" veneer that stops ordinary mortals dead in their tracks.
ReplyDeleteI think it was an absolute fluke that she managed to get caught at Sears when she did. One would have thought Sandy got away with credit card scamming a lot before finally getting caught there and then.
I doubt any member of the Good family ever set foot inside a Sears, so when Sandy tried her luck, she probably stuck out like a sore thumb. I bet if it were just Mary in Sears, she would have essentially blended into the woodwork.
Yes, Sandy does seem more like an I. Magnum's shopper.
ReplyDelete