Anyone who has ever done a road trip will tell you that what makes a road trip so memorable isn’t just the destination you are heading to, but rather the quirky, off beat detours along the way. I'm talking about the eccentric pieces of art, the unusual oddities, and the kitschy distractions along the way that sway our attention from the destination and make the journey so much fun. So, if you're ever coasting along the interstate 40 through Texas, and looking for a fun, unusual to stop, stretch your legs, take photos to talk about for the rest of the trip, drop by the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
“Why?” “Why?!” “Why in the world would anyone want to bury perfectly fine Cadillac cars into the ground?” is inevitably the question that comes to mind when you first gaze out of your car window to see a line of ten cars buried nose deep into a stretch of farm land. Every roadside attraction has a story, and if it doesn’t, you just haven’t searched long and hard for it. The story behind the Cadillac Ranch is that of a rich Texas millionaire who was so obsessed in his love for Cadillac cars that every time he bought a new Cadillac car to replace the old, he buried the old car into the ground. Sounds eccentric already, doesn’t it? Well, it may make for a fun, eccentric story, but it isn’t exactly true. What few people know is that Cadillac Ranch was in fact a very well planned out artistic endeavor.
The cars that are lined up at perfect angles from the ground are the brain child of Stanley Marsh 3, the Texas millionaire who owns the wheat farm into which the cars have been planted. The idea was born in the 1970s when America was still in the throes of a love affair with automobiles and enamored by the freedom and mobility that they provided. Marsh recruited a San Francisco based artist collective, the Ant Farm to create a work of art to glorify the Golden Age of American Automobiles on his wheat farm, which is incidentally located along the historic Route 66. And thus arose this quirky piece of roadside art that features ten different models of Cadillac cars from 1949 to 1963 (to mark the Golden Age) buried into the ground at the exact angle to that of the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.Although located on private land, the attraction is open to the public without even an admission fee. Stanley Marsh 3 leaves the gate unlocked for visitors to walk up to the cars at any time, on any day. Walk up closer to the cars, and you will notice graffiti scrawled all over the cars. Names, dates, peace signs, love letters and rebellious clauses scribbled with equal passion all over the cars. Shocked? Well, don’t be. Grab a can of spray paint and join along. This is one of the few places where graffiti and spray painting is actually encouraged. Every so often, the cars are repainted to provide a fresh canvas for visitors to decorate. And Marsh has no objections to the graffiti. In fact, he encourages it, and says the cars look better with each passing year.
With their colorful graffiti and tail fins saluting the bright blue Texan sky, the cars sticking out of the farm land make for a strange and unusual sight. A symbol of American dreams or a quirky piece of art work, I cannot decide. But if strange and unusual is just the kind of attraction for you, then Cadillac Ranch might be just the place for you. Psst! And bring a can of spray paint along, will you?
~vagabond~ © 2008
