Cadillac Ranch
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 9:00AM 
First a little history. This roadside work of art was conceived by an eccentric millionaire who commissioned an art collective to display a collection of Cadillacs as an expression of the “golden age of American automobiles. Ten old and used Cadillacs dating between 1948 and 1963 were buried in a field nose down in succession. The project was completed in 1974.
Although they used the cars original colors, people soon began marking and spray painting the cars, as well as stealing any pieces that could be removed. In 1997, the project was moved about 2 miles down the road. The tradition of spray painting the autos continues to this day.
We arrived about 7:15pm The cars are located a good distance from the road and it’s about a 5 minute walk to reach them. Although the weather was clear, it was around 100 degrees and extremely windy. The field where Cadillac Ranch is located was extremely dry, and with the strong winds there was a LOT of dust blowing. My camera lens soon became covered in the dust as well as our clothes and skin. Not terribly great conditions to get some photos of this piece of roadside Americana.
We chose not to do any spray painting, but based on the spray paint cans that littered the area, several others did. I’m assuming that there is some maintenance done to the attraction...the cars get a solid color paint job every so often...and I suppose they’re the ones who end up cleaning up the paint cans. I guess the tradition of leaving your art on the cars also includes leaving your empty can. With the wind blowing the way it was, the cans were everywhere.
And YES, I highly recommend visiting Cadillac Ranch, especially if you enjoy odd roadside attractions. Leave your art, but DON’T leave your empty spray paint cans.
