TUCSON, Ariz. — If you look around Tucson, you might be lucky enough to spot a little magenta Bug, making its way around, spreading some joy at each stop. But what's remarkable about it, is that one woman has been driving this particular VW Bug for 50 years.
Shari Murphy is hard to miss. Wherever she goes, she wears colorful antennas -- her "headgear" as she calls them. Now, her car wears them too, fashioned out of some painted giant springs, with Koosh balls on top.
The 1966 Volkswagen bug is also hard to miss. She calls him 'Blue Whale,' although his name made a little more sense when she got him. "He was blue," Shari explained.
"But he was also white, and he was also gray, and he was also rust! That's why I say he looked like he had leprosy." Back in 1974, she bought the Bug used. She can't remember if it was listed in the paper, or in a car lot, but one way or another, she found a guy selling it.
"I said, 'if you go to the bank with me right now, I'll give you $575, in cash.' And so that was the deal," she recalled. From then on, it's been Shari and Blue Whale every single day.
"50 years," she remarked. "Yeah, he hasn't been sitting anywhere. No, no, he's been on the road the whole time.
" Together, they've been through a couple crashes, which led to new paint jobs. She went through an orange era, and then later the metallic magenta, which has faded over time. Shari says people seem to like it better this way.
"It never occurred to me to get another car," she said. "I lo.
