Cadillac Ranch History: Iconic Route 66 Road Trip Stop

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<p>Imagine driving across the flat, wide open expanse of the Texas</p>
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<p>Panhandle along Interstate 40.</p>
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<p>The sky stretches forever.</p>
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<p>The desert wind whips across the plains, and out in the middle of a</p>
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<p>cow pasture, you see a silhouette that stops you dead in your tracks.</p>
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<p>10 vintage Cadillacs spanning from 1949 to 1963, buried nose first into the</p>
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<p>dirt, angled upward towards the western sky, a modern take on Stonehenge.</p>
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<p>In June of 1974, a few San Francisco artists, funded by an eccentric</p>
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<p>millionaire, tracked down old clunkers, running cars, and junkyard wrecks to build</p>
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<p>a public monument to the golden age of American road travel and the legendary</p>
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<p>rise and fall of the Cadillac tailfin.</p>
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<p>What started as a counterculture art statement in a wheat field has evolved</p>
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<p>over 50 years into one of the most interactive public art sites in the world.</p>
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<p>Travelers from every corner of the globe pull off the frontage road, walk through</p>
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<p>an unlocked gate with spray cans in hand, and layer decades of color, messages,</p>
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<p>and dreams onto those iconic car bodies.</p>
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<p>Welcome to Talk With History.</p>
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<p>One filmmaker, one historian, leading history-inspired world</p>
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<p>travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.</p>
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<p>I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn.</p>
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<p>Hello.</p>
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<p>Today, our Route 66 road trip rolls into Amarillo, Texas to visit one of the most</p>
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<p>famous roadside attractions on Earth.</p>
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<p>We're taking you past the unlocked pasture gate to share what it's like standing</p>
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<p>amongst these massive paint-encrusted tail fins, how this 1974 installation</p>
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<p>became a pop culture touchstone, inspiring songs by Bruce Springsteen,</p>
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<p>Chris LeDoux, and Brooks &amp; Dunn, and serving as the direct inspiration for the</p>
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<p>Cadillac mountain range in Pixar's Cars.</p>
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<p>We'll break down why the cars were quietly relocated two miles west in 1997 to</p>
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<p>escape the city's growth, how the site celebrated its 50th anniversary with</p>
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<p>a full gray primer reset by co-founder Chip Lord, and what it felt like to shake</p>
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<p>our own cans and paint Walk With History right across these roadside legends.</p>
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<p>I'm Scott Bennie, so grab your spray paint and step into the pasture.</p>
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<p>We're making our mark at Cadillac Ranch.</p>
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<p>All right, Jenn, so this was a fun one because it was super</p>
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<p>interactive, as I said in my intro.</p>
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<p>And the… I'd say of all the places to stop on Route 66, this</p>
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<p>is probably the top three I'd say, like, most iconic spots on Route 66.</p>
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<p>I would say for our kids, they really love this.</p>
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<p>Yeah, this was super fun.</p>
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<p>And this is something you kind of have to pre-plan, and I'm</p>
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<p>gonna talk about that too.</p>
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<p>But remember, uh, I want to remind people, 'cause sometimes we forget, that we're</p>
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<p>going after the History Channel here.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>Right?</p>
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<p>Yes, that's right.</p>
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<p>We wanna have more subscribers than the History Channel.</p>
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<p>Right?</p>
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<p>We're at 66,000 right now and change.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>Let's get up to 75 by the end of the year.</p>
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<p>We can do it.</p>
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<p>We can do</p>
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<p>it.</p>
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<p>Right?</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>Uh, we wanna bring history back to the History Channel, right?</p>
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<p>We wanna catch 'em, and, uh, we want you to be a part of that.</p>
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<p>So yeah, so we're in- we're outside of Amarillo today.</p>
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<p>So again, we're on Route 66.</p>
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<p>We were in Oklahoma City, that's our last video, and then we're</p>
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<p>heading into the Panhandle.</p>
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<p>So Route 66 goes right across the Texas Panhandle, and right before we hit</p>
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<p>Amarillo, we went to the Big Texan.</p>
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<p>Yeah, the Big Texan where you can, if you can eat the 72-ounce steak,</p>
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<p>along with all the fixings, within an hour, you get it for free.</p>
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<p>And there's lots of people that do it, but I'm sure there's plenty more who don't.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>And it is a little bit of like a Wall Drug, not as big-</p>
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<p>It was cool</p>
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<p>… but</p>
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<p>it- Def- definitely worth a stop</p>
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<p>… worth a stop.</p>
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<p>But it's right in Amarillo, which is kinda like we stayed overnight there, we</p>
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<p>ate there, and that was how we were able to get up early in the morning and get</p>
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<p>over to Cadillac Ranch, for two reasons.</p>
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<p>One, it wasn't getting as hot yet in the Texas sun, so when we got out there about</p>
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<p>7:00, 7:30, it was still about 75 degrees.</p>
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<p>And two, it's very popular.</p>
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<p>Yeah, it got pretty… When we were leaving, there was like a, a whole crew</p>
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<p>of, like, 30 people that showed up.</p>
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<p>It looked like a Boy Scout troop.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>So if you wanna have some alone time there, not like people are</p>
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<p>gonna impede on you, it looks like you can still find your own spot.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>But it was, we were able to really have some alone time there.</p>
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<p>It was cool.</p>
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<p>But to remind you, you can spray paint and paint and put stickers and do whatever</p>
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<p>you want on all these Cadillacs, but there's no one there selling the stuff.</p>
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<p>At least not when we were there.</p>
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<p>I don't know if during busier hours someone sells it, and I</p>
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<p>can't imagine the markup on that.</p>
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<p>So I had bought spray paint before we left.</p>
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<p>I bought spray paint from Walmart.</p>
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<p>I bought five cans so we each had our own can.</p>
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<p>I bought masks.</p>
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<p>I didn't know what it was gonna be like.</p>
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<p>You didn't really need the masks, but I brought them just in case.</p>
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<p>I, I</p>
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<p>can imagine they'd be nice if it was windy.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>Right?</p>
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<p>But it was w- again, that's the nice thing about going in the morning, there</p>
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<p>was, like, no wind when we were there.</p>
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<p>Yeah, and it was, like, a little bit shaded.</p>
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<p>We, it was nice.</p>
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<p>I would recommend going in the morning or in the evening because</p>
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<p>of the hot weather of Texas.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>Unless you're not there in July like us.</p>
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<p>Uh, we got out there early, we started to spray paint, and it was super fun.</p>
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<p>You can climb all over these Cadillacs.</p>
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<p>Uh, it's more difficult to get up onto some and to get some flat paint area,</p>
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<p>but just know whatever you paint on them is going to be covered up within</p>
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<p>an hour because there were so many people who had left big, there were</p>
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<p>big garbage cans of spray paint and they were, they were almost filled.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>Now, we didn't use up all of our spray paint so when someone else came up-</p>
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<p>upon us we actually gave them our cans, but people were also looking through</p>
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<p>those garbage cans and found cans with spray paint that still worked.</p>
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<p>Yeah, and we had talked to, before we kind of get into how it was, how it was</p>
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<p>built and why it was started, but we had talked to someone else who came up as</p>
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<p>we were basically wrapping up, 'cause we were filming and stuff like that.</p>
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<p>And this guy came up and we just started to chitchatting with him and</p>
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<p>I think he drives a truck or something like that but he said he always</p>
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<p>stops if he's ever driving through, this is one spot he always stops and</p>
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<p>he comes out and sprays something.</p>
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<p>And he says, he commented, because you'll see in the video and again if</p>
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<p>you're watching this is what you're seeing right now, you see how thick</p>
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<p>the paint layers are on these cars.</p>
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<p>I mean it's thick.</p>
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<p>You can see and it's dried and it's dripping.</p>
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<p>It almost looks like, like if you went into a cave and there's like</p>
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<p>water dripping that creates like these stalactites and stuff like that.</p>
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<p>That's kind of what it was doing but with paint.</p>
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<p>And so it was, that was part of the neat part of it is they were, there</p>
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<p>was just layers and layers and layers inches thick of paint and he even said</p>
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<p>he's like, over the years and whenever he drives through he's like it's</p>
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<p>just changed and changed and changed.</p>
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<p>So that's kind of the fun part of this.</p>
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<p>Mm-hmm</p>
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<p>and our kids loved it.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>So if you have kids on Route 66 to know that they can just spray</p>
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<p>paint at their will whatever they want, they had a great time.</p>
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<p>So tell us about who started this, why did it start, like</p>
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<p>what's the deal with these things?</p>
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<p>So it was created in 1974.</p>
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<p>Uh, so I think they just celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2024, so not</p>
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<p>as old as Route 66, about half the age.</p>
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<p>Uh, Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, they were part</p>
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<p>of an art group called Ant Farm.</p>
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<p>And like you said, they had a, a benefactor who, who helped</p>
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<p>them with the funding for this.</p>
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<p>But, uh, the cars are inclined at the same angle of the Pyramids of</p>
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<p>Giza so they kind of have that same kind of arch to them, and they're</p>
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<p>all buried nose first like you said.</p>
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<p>Yeah.</p>
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<p>And so, and as they've decayed through the years and of course there's no glass</p>
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<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>in the windows you can climb up onto the back of the hoods and onto the back of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:22</time>
<p>the cars and kind of get to where the fins are and paint where you want to paint.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:27</time>
<p>Cadillacs because this is the car of America, especially in the '70s but mostly</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:33</time>
<p>in the '50s and the '60s, think about- Elvis always buying Cadillacs, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:38</time>
<p>He would buy people Cadillacs.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:40</time>
<p>Mary Kay, you do well at Mary Kay, you earn yourself a Cadillac, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:44</time>
<p>It's supposed to be the car of the American dream.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:47</time>
<p>And so when you're traveling the Mother Road and this road of America,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:53</time>
<p>what better than the car of the American dream depicted there for you?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:57</time>
<p>So-</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:08:58</time>
<p>And it was interesting too, because there's that piece of it, but, you know,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:01</time>
<p>these, these guys are artists, and I think a couple of them were from San Francisco,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:05</time>
<p>and, uh, you know, the benefactor might have been from the Texas area.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
<p>But, um, you know, they specifically, one of the things they said, I found,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
<p>uh, an article on the internet when they were doing the 50th anniversary.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:15</time>
<p>So Chip Lord, I think, kind of participated in s- they did</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:18</time>
<p>some, like minor events there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:20</time>
<p>But he was talking about how part of what they were doing, again,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:24</time>
<p>this kind of counterculture idea.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:25</time>
<p>But there was like, part of this was an homage to literally the Cadillac</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:30</time>
<p>tail fins and how they had changed over the decades of the Cadillac.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:35</time>
<p>And so it was, part of it w- that was part of the intent, was like,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:38</time>
<p>"Oh, we're just gonna make this, this weird art or installation</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:41</time>
<p>in the middle of Texas." Right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:43</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:43</time>
<p>They, like I said, they had found a, uh, eccentric millionaires.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
<p>And one of them was Stanley Marsh III of Amarillo.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:51</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:52</time>
<p>So this was his town.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:09:54</time>
<p>And so they, you know, they- Depicted it to him, asked him, you know, for funding.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:00</time>
<p>His response, "It's gonna take me a while to get used to the idea of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:03</time>
<p>Cadillac Ranch, but I'll, it, I'll answer you by April Fools' Day"- Yeah</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:06</time>
<p>is what he said.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:07</time>
<p>Um, he said, "I wanna give it a lot of time before I make a casual judgment." But</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:12</time>
<p>between May 1st and May 17th, uh, Stanley Marsh III, using the name Leo Wyoming,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:18</time>
<p>began to, uh, accumulate these Cadillacs.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:22</time>
<p>And he wanted used Cadillacs from different years, and they</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:25</time>
<p>need not to be running condition, and they would pay for towing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:28</time>
<p>But he wanted, like you said, to show the change of the car, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:33</time>
<p>So this was about architecture, changes of how the cars looked, how</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:37</time>
<p>the cars changed through time, and also this American dream with the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:41</time>
<p>Cadillac- Yeah … and something fun in Amarillo, something to honor Route 66.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:45</time>
<p>It was kind of filling all of the voids.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:47</time>
<p>And there's, there's old pictures of the cars before they started getting pra-</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:50</time>
<p>spray painted, because I don't think that really kicked off right away, um, with</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:54</time>
<p>the whole spray painting and everything.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:55</time>
<p>So you'll see pictures if you look them up online, and I'll show s- in</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:10:59</time>
<p>some in, that I put in the video, of the Cadillacs that are just kind</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:02</time>
<p>of in their original paint color.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
<p>Mm-hmm.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
<p>Um, and then I think over the years, somehow it just started.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:09</time>
<p>You know, it might have been some kids just kind of wanting</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:11</time>
<p>to graffiti something, and then it just became a thing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:13</time>
<p>Yeah, so they were periodically painted various colors.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:17</time>
<p>Uh, once white for filming a commercial, another time pink</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:21</time>
<p>for Stanley's wife's birthday.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:23</time>
<p>Um, w- sometimes they were painted, uh, flat, uh, flat black, uh, to mark a</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:28</time>
<p>passing of one of the Ant Farm artists.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
<p>And, uh, in 2012 they were, uh, the, the colors of the rainbow</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
<p>for LGBQ, um, Pride Week.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
<p>And then they were restored to their original colors right after that,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:43</time>
<p>but it, then it became a landmark.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:45</time>
<p>Uh, new paint jobs, even a plaque commemorating it, uh, lasted for,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:50</time>
<p>like, 24 hours without fresh graffiti.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:52</time>
<p>But now it's encouraged.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:54</time>
<p>It's encouraged to get out there and paint the cars.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
<p>They want people to do that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
<p>And so that's what we did, and that's what you should do.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:03</time>
<p>And we even put a bumper sticker up there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:04</time>
<p>And so But again, it's probably you have to have your own kinda respect of people.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
<p>My kids like to follow each other and cover up each other's stuff,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
<p>and that was getting people upset.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
<p>There were people out there who were making murals, right?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
<p>They were painting something and muraling it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:24</time>
<p>Probably wouldn't be best to jump up there as soon as they're done and cover it up.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:27</time>
<p>Like, wait till they go at least and be a little respectful.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:31</time>
<p>But there's so many of them there that you have enough space and</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:33</time>
<p>time to kinda make your own area.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
<p>Now, when we were talking before, you said they actually had to move</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:39</time>
<p>the Cadillacs at, at one point.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:41</time>
<p>So why did they have to move the Cadillacs?</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:43</time>
<p>So they moved them in 1997, and they located them about two miles west because</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:49</time>
<p>the town of Amarillo is getting bigger.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:52</time>
<p>So it's just growing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:53</time>
<p>Okay.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:53</time>
<p>It's growing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:54</time>
<p>Now, all of this land still belonged to Stanley III, um, Stanley Marsh III.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:58</time>
<p>Um, so he was able to move it onto his land.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:01</time>
<p>Uh, but it just went- Further west into a cow pasture where you can really</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:06</time>
<p>depict it as you drive on Interstate 40.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:09</time>
<p>Like, you can see these Cadillacs.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:10</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:10</time>
<p>They're right there.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:11</time>
<p>It's not</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:11</time>
<p>hard to spot.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:12</time>
<p>So it just was because the town was encroaching.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:15</time>
<p>You can imagine development, people coming out there, and he didn't want</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:18</time>
<p>them to be swallowed by buildings and things that block the view from the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:22</time>
<p>interstate, so they moved them over so you can see them a little easier from the-</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:26</time>
<p>Yeah, and I, I think I even read, too, that the land that they were on was</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:29</time>
<p>becoming more valuable because it's closer to the city as it's growing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:33</time>
<p>So fiscally, it was probably a smart move for him to move them further out and then</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:37</time>
<p>do something with his land that's getting closer to the city where people wanna</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:41</time>
<p>develop it or whatever, whatever that was.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:42</time>
<p>So I mean, that's just, that's just my guess.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:44</time>
<p>It was super cool.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
<p>It, it's a fun little stop.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:47</time>
<p>The video we made, it's a quick video because, right, I mean, the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:50</time>
<p>history of this is back to 1974.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:53</time>
<p>It is one of the places that you have to stop- Well, it's- … on Route 66.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:57</time>
<p>And it's earned its spot in American h- history.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:01</time>
<p>Yeah … in American folklore.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:02</time>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:02</time>
<p>Like you said, Cadillac Ranch, Bruce Springsteen wrote a song in 1980.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:05</time>
<p>Uh, Living in America, that song by James Brown, the music</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:08</time>
<p>video shows the Cadillac Ranch.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:11</time>
<p>Uh, you're gonna s- get a song by Chris LeDoux, Cadillac Ranch.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:14</time>
<p>You're gonna get Brooks &amp; Dunn, you know, '90s country s-</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:17</time>
<p>singing about Cadillac Ranch.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:18</time>
<p>But then when the Pixar, uh, movie Cars comes out in 2006, and they have the</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:24</time>
<p>mountain formation is you can see the fins of the Cadillacs buried nose first.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:29</time>
<p>So and you'll see pictures online of Disneyland in California in, in, was</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:34</time>
<p>it Cars Land or Advent- Cars Land.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:35</time>
<p>Mm-hmm … Cars Land.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:36</time>
<p>That's what they have in the background.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:37</time>
<p>It's the, it's the Cadillacs, so that's why they do that.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:39</time>
<p>It's not just because of the movie.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:41</time>
<p>It was an homage to Cadillac Ranch.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:43</time>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:44</time>
<p>So it's really neat that it is, it's found its way into American folklore.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:50</time>
<p>It's found its way into our cinema, into our, uh, music videos, and now it's just</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:55</time>
<p>a, a really popular landmark on Route 66.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:58</time>
<p>And if you're doing this with a family like we were, and you wanna get your</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:02</time>
<p>kids out of the car, something fun to do-</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:05</time>
<p>Yeah</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:05</time>
<p>… make graffiti, put your tag on something, kids.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:08</time>
<p>Have a great time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:09</time>
<p>Our kids loved it.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
<p>Yeah, they kinda gave us a look of like, "Are we s- are you sure?" And</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
<p>then once they, once we cut them loose, then they finally, they just went for</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:16</time>
<p>it, and they were spraying everything.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:17</time>
<p>A- and that's what you see.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:19</time>
<p>You see out there, people are even spraying the trash cans</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:21</time>
<p>that you're putting s- the empty c- empty paint cans in.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:23</time>
<p>So it's, uh, it's definitely a fun thing.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:27</time>
<p>In 2000 and, uh, 24, uh, when they did the 50th anniversary, they did</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:31</time>
<p>a reset and painted them all gray.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:33</time>
<p>And then, and I think they'll do that from time to time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:36</time>
<p>So like I said, know that whatever you paint on there is gonna be</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:39</time>
<p>covered up in an hour, and different movements, different things that</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:43</time>
<p>they want to depict, they'll probably paint them for different reasons.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:45</time>
<p>But you're always welcome to go there and leave your mark.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:56</time>
<p>As you walk back out through the pasture gate, leaving the scent of</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:59</time>
<p>aerosol behind in the desert breeze, you realize Cadillac Ranch is far more</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:04</time>
<p>than a quirky roadside attraction.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
<p>It's a nod to the passage of time and the freedom of the Mother Road.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
<p>The names and designs we sprayed on those tail fins today might be covered</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:15</time>
<p>by tomorrow, but that's the entire point.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:19</time>
<p>For over 50 years, Ant Farm's creation has invited everyday travelers to stop,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:24</time>
<p>step out i- into the Texas dirt, and become a part of the art themselves.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:29</time>
<p>It stands as a monument to American car culture, counterculture creativity,</p>
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<p>and the enduring pull of Route 66.</p>
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<p>If you're planning your own Route 66 road trip, make Amarillo a must-stop.</p>
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<p>Pack a couple of spray cans and leave your own mark on history.</p>
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<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>Our centennial journey across the Mother Road is far from over.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>Make sure to subscribe to Talk With History on your favorite podcast</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>platform so you don't miss our upcoming stops as we continue heading west.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>We'll talk to you next time.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:57</time>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>This has been a Walk With History production.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
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<p>Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
<p>Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,</p>
<p></p>
<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:13</time>
<p>and we'll talk to you next time.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>