My Cadillac Ranch Confession

It was September and we were on our way home to Tennessee after an unforgettable road trip to New Mexico. There were a few sites we wanted to see along Route 66 in Texas and Oklahoma that we missed the first time around. One of those sites was Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. Have you heard of it?

If you haven’t heard of it, I’ll give you the lowdown later. But for now, here’s all you need to know about Cadillac Ranch. It’s not much.

I was confounded by Cadillac Ranch. Really. I didn’t get it. A bunch of old Cadillacs buried tails-up in a barren field doesn’t have any obvious significance to me, but I know art is in the eye of the beholder. I’m just wondering what the creators of Cadillac Ranch were “beholding” when they came up with this idea.

I didn’t do any research on Cadillac Ranch before our trip, but when we got home, I decided to find out why this oddity exists and the meaning behind it. So, I started reading.

As it turns out, Cadillac Ranch has quite the quirky story, but its meaning surprised me the most. The artists intended Cadillac Ranch to be a representation of American progression during the Golden Age of the automobile. Duh. I felt so dumb. How did I not see that? 🙄 As America progressed, so did the design of Cadillac’s tailfins. That’s why the cars are buried tails-up. To show off the fins.

After learning why the cars are buried tails-up, I was driven to do a little digging into the history of tailfins. A quick search led me to When Tailfins Made Waves, a short online article from Smithsonian Institution. It was actually pretty darn interesting! Give it a read but be warned. You might find yourself careening down a tailfin rabbit hole, especially if you have an affinity for cars.

Do I have an affinity for cars? No. Then why was I interested in seeing Cadillac Ranch? Because Cadillac Ranch is one of those Route 66 rites of passage any tourist worth their salt must stop to experience. And I’m very salty.

When I planned our road trip, I knew nothing about the history of Cadillac Ranch, but I did know one thing. There was no way I was spending money to do it.

Note: Cadillac Ranch isn’t worth stopping just to “see”. You can see it in everyone else’s photos. Cadillac Ranch is something you must “do” to truly appreciate.

Anyway…

It wasn’t until we got to Cadillac Ranch that I realized I didn’t put enough thought into my choice of colors. That was my first mistake. Being a former painter, I had a spectrum of leftover paint to choose from- bright pink, red, baby blue, etc. But out of all the colors on the shelf, I chose white and terra cotta (more aptly named “baby poop”). I guess I’d been in too much of a hurry to get on the road.

My second mistake was stopping in Amarillo, Texas on a day with the kind of wind that could knock Dorothy past Oz. A real hair-whipper. (I wasn’t the only crazy one, though. You’ll see.)

We parked in the dust along Frontage Road (there’s no lot) and began our trek out to the Cadillacs. My first reaction was, “This better be worth it.”

A small trailer was set up with a couple of staff welcoming travelers into the big brown field and selling cans of overpriced paint. We didn’t need paint (because I was prepared), but we got in the trailer’s line nonetheless to see if there were any overpriced souvenirs worth wasting our money on. There weren’t.

What I did see was a woman with a little boy who was looking longingly at the paint. The woman was giving him one of those parental spiels no kid wants to hear. l suspected she was telling him that she wasn’t buying paint, because only fools would spend money to spray paint in the wind. I don’t know for certain that’s what she said since she wasn’t speaking English, but it was certainly logical. Whatever she said, the little boy walked away from the trailer empty-handed; disappointment painting his face.

Now normally, I’m pretty generous. Normally, I would have turned around and bought a can of paint for that kid, or I would have given him one of my cans of paint. But I didn’t, and that was mistake number three.

Ironically, when we got to the cars, my husband decided he didn’t want to paint. (“Dude, that’s why I brought TWO cans! How dare you mess up My Plan?”) Instead of painting, he wanted to hang back and take photos of the masterpiece I was about to create. I’m not sure he realized my experience with spray paint was limited to painting outdoor furniture and crafts- 2 coats, one color, no words or pictures involved.

My painting looked like I was on a censorship crusade with the wind as my adversary. The wind was winning the war, but I still had some fight left in me.

Note: The “REB” you see painted on the right of the car in the photo above is not my work. Someone with skills did that.

What happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion. I made my last stand, back against the wind, finger on the baby poop’s nozzle. (I might have been gritting my teeth, I’m not sure.) With all the force left in my trigger finger, I pushed that nozzle and suddenly there he was. The little boy with no paint came running around the corner- and I sprayed him in the face. The moment is forever burned into my brain.

But just as the spray was about to envelop his face, the wind blew in and saved me (and the boy). With one whoosh, the paint dissipated and vanished. It was almost like nothing happened. I swear, I’d never been more grateful for the wind in all my life.

Still, the little boy was stunned; I was stunned. But since there were no obvious injuries, I decided to make like a banana and split. I know, I know. I should have waited for his mother so I could explain and apologize in case he started to cry or something, but I didn’t blind the kid! And besides, my paint was acrylic, so it would only take a little soap and water to remove the light freckling of paint that may have been left behind.

Lesson: Make sure you use acrylic.

Before You Go to Judging

Of course, I didn’t split (immediately). I remembered my conscience, held my cans of paint out to the little boy and said, “You want my paint? I think I’m done with it.” He looked at the cans then looked at me. I could see he was confused. Then to my great relief, he smiled, grabbed the cans, and ran off to show his mother. He was getting to paint after all! A nice lady gave him some paint. Maybe he didn’t tell her what else the nice lady did. I’m assuming his mother was happy for him. I don’t know for certain, because I took off.

Say what you will, but I considered it a happy ending all around. Everyone painted. Nobody died.

Check the Muffler Before You Leave

I knew the Muffler Man at the Cadillac Ranch entrance must have witnessed my spray paint debacle if no one else did. After all, he is 22 feet tall. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to muffle a laugh or giving me that “I know what you did, and you best be leaving” look? Either way, I knew it was time for this little lady to get out of Dodge- um, I mean Amarillo.

Do you know about America’s Muffler Men? These vintage characters can be found all across America, and many are located along Route 66. Check out this CBS News article to learn more. You’ll be looking for Muffler Men on all your future road trips. It’s kind of a thing.

And If You’re Still Interested in the Lowdown

Click the arrow, please.

Cadillac Ranch was the collaborative effort of several artists and architects (from California, of course) in 1968. They started a “dissident” art movement called Ant Farm. I don’t know what it had to do with dissidence, ants, or farms, but whatever. For more information about the history of Ant Farm, go to this 2019 article from Something Curated.

Ant Farm wanted to create a public art piece that celebrated the evolution of Cadillac tailfins from 1949-1964. The idea to upend 10 old Cadillacs in a giant field was outlandish and would require deep pockets to fund. Enter Stanley Marsh 3. He used “3” instead of III, because that’s just the kind of off-beat millionaire he was. And Ant Farm needed an off-beat millionaire to support its very off-beat project.

Marsh was persuaded to be a patron and provided the money as well as the land for Ant Farm’s massive, funky installation. In 1974, ten Cadillacs were buried vertically in a field owned by Marsh just a few miles from the city proper. And the people came. A lot of people.

Cadillac Ranch was moved in 1997 to its current location, a pasture (also owned by Marsh), a little further from the city. Doesn’t look like much of a pasture to me, but what do I know?

Interestingly, the creators of Cadillac Ranch did not intend for the public to spray paint the cars, and no one did for a while. Instead, the first vandals used the cars for target practice- a regular Texas shoot-em-up. But it wasn’t long before painting graffiti became the more popular deviant act.

Though numerous efforts were made to repaint the cars solid colors to cover up the graffiti, they were to no avail. Painters gonna paint. Eventually, graffiti became encouraged, and Cadillac Ranch truly became “public” art and a Route 66 icon.

The Cadillacs are periodically repainted solid colors to give fresh canvases to traveling artists, but they rarely stay fresh more than 24 hours. Apparently, Cadillac Ranch has not lost its lure for Route 66 travelers. I doubt it ever will.

In addition to being restored as fresh canvases, the Cadillacs have been custom painted for several commercial advertisements (Hampton Inn, 2012) and for the promotion of a variety of social movements (Black Lives Matter, 2020). The Ranch has also made appearances in many movies, books, and music videos including country duo Brooks & Dunn’s “Honky Tonk Stomp” video in 2009. (B&D’s good old days.)

For even more about the history of Cadillac Ranch, check out this fantastic interview of Wyatt McSpadden, a photographer who worked for Stanley Marsh 3. McSpadden chronicled the history of the site from Day 1 and has taken thousands of photos of Cadillac Ranch over the years. You can check out some of his classics on Wyatt McSpadden.com.

But There’s More to the Route than the Ranch

So much history surrounds Route 66. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. Route 66 is a much bigger part of our nation’s history than most people realize. Its remnants tell the story of American progress. And whether you see that progress as depressing or genius, Route 66 is one heck of a ride.

From The Library