The row of cars embedded in the Texas panhandle symbolize America’s love of Cadillacs.
by Rich Watson
In Amarillo, Texas, amidst a wide and barren patch of dirt along Route 66, a row of ten Cadillac cars are half buried in the earth.
The area isn’t a parking lot, nor is it a junkyard. The cars are painted haphazardly in all sorts of colors and they remind you of ostriches with their heads in the sand.
It’s art.
Artwork along Route 66
The Mother Road has inspired many forms of art, both on the trail itself and elsewhere.
Murals may be the most common, especially ones which show off the small towns along the Road. Elements include maps, cars and other forms of transportation, famous figures, vistas of the surrounding terrain, and signs.
Artist Bob Waldmire specialized in Route 66 artwork. He designed the Pontiac, IL mural before his death in 2009.
This article explores the iconography of highway signs.
As for architecture, the style most characteristic of Route 66 and its heyday is called Googie. Here’s more about it.
In Amarillo, much of the city’s enduring art, including the Cadillac Ranch, was funded by one man.
About the Cadillac Ranch
Local millionaire Stanley Marsh 3 (not a typo; he really did use the numeral instead of III) supported public art in Amarillo. What was he like? Well, once, when Japanese businessmen came to visit, he invited all Amarilloans over six-foot-four to come, so it would look like everyone in Texas was tall.
He considered himself an artist; in school he indulged in watercolor painting and wood carving. As an adult he funded public art displays all over Amarillo.
In 1972 SM3 was approached by the San Francisco art collective called Ant Farm. They knew his reputation and thought he might be interested in funding an art project they had in mind involving Cadillac cars.
CR was created two years later. SM3 called it “a monument to the American Dream,” which he interpreted in the context of teenage boys with cars: money, sex (first dates in the back seats of cars) and independence. It’s unknown if he considered the later graffiti covering the Cadillacs an aspect of the American Dream too.
Cars can symbolize money, sex and independence. But why Cadillacs in particular?
Cadillacs as part of Americana
I don’t drive. Never felt the need to, since I live somewhere where public transportation is (relatively) cheap and easy. It wasn’t until I spent time living in the midwest that I appreciated how prevalent and ingrained car culture is in America.
For good and bad.
But that’s another issue.
A division of General Motors, the Cadillac embraced luxury, but it was also innovative. Its precision parts were interchangeable. Its V8 engine, which provided greater horsepower, was mass-produced for the first time. Cadillacs were first to use an electrical system allowing for starting, ignition and lighting.
Rock and roll, and later, hip hop, embraced the Cadillac as a symbol of affluence. The first car Elvis bought after becoming a star was a Cadillac. Johnny Cash, however, got his “One Piece At a Time.” The Escalade pops up in rap lyrics constantly. Southern rap groups like OutKast and Three-Six Mafia made Cadillacs part of their identities.
Then there’s the movies. The Corleone family drove them in the Godfather films. Blaxploitation characters rode in Eldorados. Cadillacs figure in recent movies like The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, among others. On TV, Tony Soprano drove an Escalade.
All this is only the tip of the iceberg. As long as fictional characters and real-life celebrities have been connected with Cadillacs, their prominence as status symbols have been strong.
That’s likely to continue.
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News: Spillwords interviewed me as part of their monthly “Spotlight on Writers” feature. I guess I made an impression on them!
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Route 66 attractions in Texas:
- Leaning Tower of Britten (Groom): a water tower tilted at a ten-degree angle.
- The Big Texan Steak Ranch (Amarillo): a steakhouse restaurant and motel famous for its 72-ounce steak.
- McLean commercial district (McLean): the downtown area, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- The U-Drop Inn (Shamrock): a historic art deco inn from 1936.
- Glenrio (Deaf Smith County): a ghost town on the Texas-New Mexico border.
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Have you ever driven a Cadillac? Leave a comment and let me know!
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