Texas, Amarillo - Sunday, October 19, 2014 - Cadillac Ranch and Shops on Historic Route 66

The Cadillac Ranch is one of the most celebrated roadside landmarks in the country.  I am amazed at the number of people who stop along the roadside and walk through the pasture field to add their own special brand of graffiti to these cars.

 

 

 

In 1973 eccentric Texas millionaire, Stanley Marsh, 3 invited a San Francisco artists’ collective called the Ant Farm to help him in the creation of a unique work of art on his ranch.  Stanley Marsh, 3 died in June 2014 at the age of 76.

They acquired 10 Cadillacs from the years 1949 to 1963, representing the “Golden Age” of the American automobile.  Most of the cars were purchased from junkyards for about $200 each.  They were buried nose-down facing west along Old Route 66.  In 1974, 40 years ago, the project was finished.

 

 

At first the cars displayed their original paint jobs, but it didn’t take long before people were painting or scratching their names on them.  Over the years vandals have taken chrome, radios, doors, etc.

In 1997 the Cadillac Ranch was exhumed and replanted about 2 miles to the west to make room for the expanding city of Amarillo.  Under Marsh’s order, even the old site’s trash and clutter was gathered up and moved to the new location.

Throughout the years Cadillac Ranch has been repainted several times.  In 2002 the cars were repainted to their original colors.  In June 2003 the cars were painted flat black to honor the passing of the founding member of the Ant Farm.

 

The monument was built as a public sculpture and visitors are encouraged to bring their spray paint and participate in it.  We didn’t have any spray paint so we took our white paint pen and left our mark.

 

 

Our “graffiti” is on the underside of the second Cadillac.

 

 

 

From the Cadillac Ranch we headed downtown to Historic 6^th Street which is Old Route 66 in Amarillo.

 

 

There are a few block comprised of mostly antique shops and small restaurants.  Several of the buildings have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

We found a nice display of candlewick glassware and some pyrex bowls at the 6^th Street Antique Mall.  I had some bowls similar to these, there was a price tag of $110 on these.  We didn’t find anything we couldn’t do without.

 

 

 

We decided on Cowboy Gelato for lunch since we saw several people going in.  The outside of the building looked a lot better than the inside. 

 

 

We opted for the slider burgers and fries – lots of grease here L.  The food is definitely made to order, it took well over half an hour to get our food.

All in all, it was kind of neat to say we had ridden Old Route 66 in Amarillo.  It was a beautiful day to ride so we enjoyed it.  But, if you are short on time and have to pick between the shops on Historic Route 66 and something else, I’d pick the something else.