Off the Wall: She Absolutely Loved That Car
Bizzare True Story of the Hollywood Socialite Buried in Texas in Her Blue Ferrari
My father, Walter “Corky” Dennis, was a homicide detective for the San Antonio Police Department in 1977 when he told me about the strangest burial he had ever seen. It occurred 48 years ago this week.
Sandra West’s burial was one of the most unusual and sensational events in San Antonio’s history. In her will, which she wrote in 1972, she had specified that she wanted to be buried in her lace nightgown, inside her powder blue 1964 Ferrari 330 America, with the seat slanted comfortably.
She also left instructions for the Funeral Director, Porter Loring, who had handled her husband’s funeral.
Loring was San Antonio’s most prominent Funeral Home Director in the 1960s and 1970s. To comply with her wishes, despite the legal and logistical challenges involved, he had to obtain a court order from a Los Angeles judge to allow the burial of a car with a human body inside.
● He also had to arrange for the transportation of the Ferrari by train from California to Texas, and hire armed guards to protect it from thieves and vandals.
● He had to design a special concrete box that could fit the car and the body, and dig a massive grave at…
