For all the people saying "It's sad to see the graffiti" or "Says more about us Americans being blah blah blah" or getting your chones in a bunch,the OWNER/ARTIST ENCOURAGES THE GRAFFITI WORK AND ACTUALLY LEAVES MARKERS/SPRAYCANS OUT SO PEOPLE WHO VISIT CAN DO IT.He doesn't go after the people that takes parts,he goes after the people that steal his advertising sign(The sign that says Cadillac Ranch) because apparently the sign is more of a hot commodity than the car parts.I think it's cool that someone may have found a part they needed and the Cadillac's used for the artpiece also live on somewhere on the road through another Cadillac.Now,the Graffiti is cool because it's not like the graffiti you see on a wall in your neighborhood,so stop trying to compare the two.This graffiti is allowed and encouraged and it's a way for people who visit this landmark to say"I've been here and I'm leaving a piece of me here with this place",it's not tagging some gang name up or some neighborhood or some tagger doing it to get his name known around the city.It's people who drove way out to go see this ever evolving art piece that want to stay with it forever in a way.It's not like some tyhug tagging up the wall on the side of your house in the middle of the night,so stop making it seem that way.If you tried to restore the artpiece back to the way it was,it would fall apart.The people leaving their mark is like people who throw coins in a fountain and make a wish,it's all part of the hope and the knowing that your little bit of you might still be there next time
Totally agree - when I was there in 2003, the Hotrod Hillbillies had apparently just been there, and did a little more extensive 'graffiti' than most... Would be a cool roadtrip project... complete custom paint jobs for all the Caddies!
My name is on a couple of them at carhenge. Its both sad and cool to see any of these. Just have to remember, one man's junk is another man's treasure and take it with a grain of salt
Not for you to approve or disapprove ,,it is 1 of each year out of many cars..I have seen plenty sit and rot in junkyards cause folks said they were to much work or someone wanted to much..If someone is going to USE something ,,no matter what that use is then thats that,,it was also to in a way preserve the culture and to show people how things changed.. to say "car buffs" is total Horse ****,,they stole the parts and ruined the mans art...would be the same as me taking the door off your Caddy if I did'nt like that you slammed it or painted it pokadot ,,,its theft period,,and yes all teh graffiti really sux too. He had to have a thing for cars and this is how he expressed it,,isn't that the point ?? Just like car shows everyone does there thing some ya like some not so much but regardless you have to RESPECT the mans work
I wonder if the cars were Pacers' Suvs' or Aztecs' if any one would even notice or bother to paint graffitti on them.
I worked for Stanley Marsh as an artist for years. The cars are there to be painted, climbed on, whatever. Stanley bankrolled it, but the idea was from a San Francisco group called the Ant Farm. Only one or two of the cars were in good enough condition to be driven into the hole. We did lots worse than that. We found a mint 61 caddy he****, painted it yellow with interior latex and rollers and drove the wheels off of it, after one of the guys caved the hood in jumping on it. He has a pink 59 cadillac that I used to drive that he refuses to do any work to. The steering is scary and the rockers are slowly disappearing.
This was located in Berwyn, Il next to Cicero. I lived 3 blocks from there. Same parking lot was used for the movie Waynes World and the recent The Wanted with Angelina Jolie. They tore it down for a few reasons. 1. It was home to hundreds of pigeons. 2. Those pigeons then S*!t on everything. "Im a car guy and I hate birds!" 3. They're putting a new Walgreens in its place.
say what you want,but all i can think is how cool of a striper's panel jam this could be. somebody should put that together
That's me in the hat. Visiting that spot made me very sad that year. A good friend, Doug Michaels, had just p***ed away a few weeks before that trip. He was a member of Ant Farm and had told me many stories about procuring the Cadillacs. We had recently found the "Media Burn" Cadillac and had started gathering materials for an Ant Farm traveling retrospective. Funny story about the Ranch. Hampton Inn sponsored a restoration and Doug was on hand to oversee it. Hampton planned on making a commercial featuring the newly repainted cars. Everything was completed around dusk and the shoot was planned for the morning. When the crew arrived at the Ranch, all the cars had been tagged overnight and had to be touched up for the shoot. Doug thought it was hilarious. And laughed at people that treated the place with reverence. RIP Doug.
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