After hearing Episode 2 Blue Rock Springs, I have a couple of comments on state of vehicle ignition and gear.

Yes I don’t believe many autos did not have an accessory position for radio back then. My 1978 Firebird did.

Since the car was in gear does not mean the engine had been started. If it was a manual transmission (even with a steering column shifter) people put their cars in first instead of setting the parking brake to prevent it from rolling. I personally never put it in reverse for this purpose cause it is harder to do.

With key in ignition and radio on making sound or light on radio visible from the ignition being on, it should have indicated to Zodiac it was possible to start quickly. It would have been prudent to take out the driver.

If I understand the orientation at the turnout where they were facing the edge of parking area, she still would have to step on the clutch then put in "R". She did not have time.

The car did not have to be running.

Does this seem accurate?

That sounds right to me.

Sequence to start:

R Foot on brake
L Foot on clutch
R Hand turning on ignition to Start
R Hand putting transmission in R
Hands on steering wheel for no power steering

or more oddly:

R Foot on brake
L Foot on clutch
R Hand putting transmission in R
R Hand turning on ignition to Start
Hands on steering wheel for no power steering

I don’t think she got past first two steps if she did anything at all…

Most all people freeze when in fear… if even just uncertainty.

I would not have believed if I did not have to perform Heimlich on someone in a restaurant… because no one else did anything but stare.

replaceablehead wrote:
I still don’t think you can infer much from it, as there is nothing odd about sitting parked in first gear with the ignition set to "ON" listening to the radio. But it is also true that it is also the state in which you would likely find the vehicle if someone was about to drive off. What can be said of it?

I just started listening to these.  So Richard Grinell’s site says “Richard Grinell, Coventry.” As I am from the UK I thought Richard would sound all black country (yam!) but he sounds like he is from Manchester (is Hilda Ogden your mum lol!) That caught me off guard, I can tell you.  I am only on the first episode, which was all about the later cards but was interesting. I did wonder how he managed to keep killing up to the 80s if the older age range given in the late 60s is correct.  Maybe he was a lot younger than people think, perhaps the kids messed up his age (I can see this as to young people, anyone over 30 is “old”!) And the coincidences they brought up were strange, but I did wonder if someone could obtain the information from either an obsessed relative who told them all about the Zodiac crimes and letters, or someone who worked at the papers in the Zodiac era. It was mentioned that one of the papers printed the envelope from one of the letters, so that information about the envelope (stamps) would have been known.

I am not sure where people are getting this “leave it in 1st when you park” idea from.  We (in the UK) are taught to take the car out of gear when you park as then you won’t accidentally move the car forward when you turn the ignition to fully on and the engine turns over (and the car stalls out.) Maybe it was different in the 1960s, I’ll have to ask the old man about it, he would know.

@marienbad I always like seeing ‘@marienbad‘ under your name.  Completes the film reference for me. ? 

Posted by: @serya

@marienbad I always like seeing ‘@marienbad‘ under your name.  Completes the film reference for me. ? 

I am always pleased when people know where my username comes from. Best. Film. Ever!

I had a book on it in high school and became obsessed with the imagery.  I have four versions on Blu Ray. ?