Posted by gmharris [72.219.148.98] on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 21:37:03 :
In Reply to: Criminal's old abandoned Dodge posted by Arthur on Shelter Island [67.84.143.155] on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 20:49:24 :
Been to Ballarat and seen this truck, but I doubt that it belonged to Manson. It would have been long gone, either destroyed, impounded or in some movie museum.
I never heard of him using 4X4 Dodges, but maybe he did. I do know, from several accounts, that he and his followers drove a two wheel drive school bus up to his hide out. Maybe, it was a Dodge. They called it the "magical bus", or something like that. It must have been pretty magical because it made it up one pretty steep section of road.
I drove up to his hideaway (about 10 miles from Ballarat) in the mountains. Nice drive except for one section. The the cabin was in pretty good shape, including the cabinet where Manson was discovered hiding when he was arrested.
Subsequently, someone saw fit to burn the whole place down. There's idiots everywhere. What good did that do anybody? Prior to that, people use to go up to the cabin to maintain it and maybe stay for a little while.
If you ever wondered why there are so many rust-free trucks in California, this place is why. It's just one mountain range over from Death Valley.
If you are adventurous, you can take the road past Manson's cabin the back way into Death Valley. You don't want to break down.
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