Slug Bug Ranch (Closed)
Conway, Texas
Slug Bug Ranch -- also called VW Ranch, Bug Ranch, Bug Farm, and Buggy Farm -- was created in 2002. The five wrecked Volkswagen Beetles, buried hood-down in the ground, were the idea of the Crutchfield family, who owned the Longhorn Trading Post and Rattlesnake Ranch on what had formerly been Route 66.
The buried Bugs arrived as a defiant gesture to a huge corporate travel plaza that had been built on the opposite side of the highway. The Crutchfields figured that they could stay in business if they could siphon traffic from the interlopers with something eye-catching and interactive. Slug Bug Ranch was a natural choice: a parody of the popular Cadillac Ranch, 35 miles west. The Beetle wrecks were originally painted a pristine bright yellow, and a sign next to them encouraged, "Sign a Bug." The thinking was that if you stopped at one Ranch, you had to stop at both.
The Crutchfields were right: Slug Bug Ranch proved popular as an attraction. Unfortunately, it didn't prove successful as an income-producer, and the Trading Post and Rattlesnake Ranch closed only a year after the Beetles arrived.
For the next two decades, the Slug Bug Ranch site continued to draw seekers of quirky attractions.