The Two RV Gypsies:
Full-Time RVers
at the Cadillac Ranch
along Route 66,
west of Amarillo, Texas
July 13, 2012
Full-Time RVers
at the Cadillac Ranch
along Route 66,
west of Amarillo, Texas
July 13, 2012
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The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers at the Cadillac Ranch along Route 66, west of Amarillo, Texas July 13, 2012 |
Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm. Cadillac Ranch consisted of what were either older, used, or junk Cadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the birth and death of the defining feature of mid twentieth century Cadillacs; the tail fin) from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. |
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Cadillac Ranch was originally located in a wheat field, but in 1997 the installation was quietly moved by a local contractor two miles to the west, to a cow pasture along Interstate 40, in order to place it further from the limits of the growing city. Both sites belong to the local millionaire Stanley Marsh 3, the patron of the project. Marsh is well known in the city for his longtime patronage of artistic endeavors including the Cadillac Ranch, Floating Mesa, and Amarillo Ramp a work of well known land artist Robert Smithson, and a series of fake traffic signs throughout the city known collectively as the Dynamite Museum. |
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The sign below was located OUTSIDE the weird gate. Once inside the gate and fence, writing graffiti on or spray-painting the Cadillacs IS encouraged. Bring your own can of spray paint. |
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Cadillac Ranch is visible from the highway, and although it is located on private land, visiting it (by driving along a frontage road and entering the pasture by walking through an unlocked gate) is encouraged. Writing graffiti on or spray-painting the vehicles is also encouraged, and the vehicles, which have long since lost their original colors, are wildly decorated. The cars are periodically repainted various colors (once white for the filming of a television commercial, another time pink in honor of Stanley's wife Wendy's birthday, and yet another time all 10 cars were painted flat black to mark the passing of Ant Farm artist Doug Michels. Sometimes the cars are painted simply to provide a fresh canvas for future visitors. In 2012 they were painted rainbow colors to commemorate gay pride day. The cars were briefly "restored" to their original colors by the motel chain Hampton Inn in a public relations-sponsored series of Route 66 landmark restoration projects. The new paint jobs and even the plaque commemorating the project lasted less than 24 hours before getting fresh graffiti on them. |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies helped spray paint the underside of the Cadillacs. |
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Below: Brightly-painted Cadillacs, all in a row |
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Menu for the two RV
Gypsies Adventures in Texas | |
| Gray County Rest Area | The Big Texan Steak Ranch |
Cadillac Ranch (this page) |
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| Palo Duro Canyon State Park | Jeep Tour of Palo Duro |
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