Stanley Marsh III, creator of 'Cadillac Ranch,' dies

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Eccentric Texas businessman-turned-artist Stanley Marsh 3, whose partially buried row of Cadillacs became a road-side tourist attraction in the 1970s, died Tuesday. He was 76.


Marsh, long known in his hometown of Amarillo as a prankster and philanthropist but who faced indictment alleging he molested teenage boys late in life, died in Amarillo, criminal attorney Paul Nugent said.

An heir to his family's oil-and-gas fortune, Marsh was a quirky but successful banker and television executive. But he was best known for his art, most notably "Cadillac Ranch," a row of 10 graffiti-splattered cars seemingly standing on their noses along Interstate 40 west of Amarillo.

The display, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary Saturday, quickly became a tourist attraction after Marsh commissioned the Ant Farm, a radical art and design collective, to build it in 1974. The cars — acquired from junkyards, private owners and used car lots — were moved a mile west in 1997.

The kids were confused when I pulled out 2 can of paint and told them we get to paint on some Cadi's  



The owner wants you to paint on his art. He said it is like a piece of art that is always changing because of the spray paint. People could at least take their old paint cans and walk back to the road with them. There is even a dumpster sitting at the gate. We took in 2 can in and carried out all we could carry. 25 empty cans. Still hundred laying there though.
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I tagged one for the club.

When I first saw them on the way to the World Finals in the mid seventies there wasn't graffiti sprayed all over them. From the highway they appeared to be cars in fairly good shape buried nose first in the dirt.