Cadillac Ranch

Texas

In 1974 a man calling himself Leo Wyoming ran newspaper ads in Amarillo seeking used Cadillacs that need not run.

cultureroadsidepeople

In May of 1974, ads ran in the Amarillo Globe-Times. Used Cadillacs wanted. Specific years only. Need not be in running condition. We will pay towing. Call Leo Wyoming. There was no Leo Wyoming. The name belonged to Stanley Marsh the Third, a wealthy Amarillo patron of the arts, and the cars he was buying were about to be buried nose first in his wheat field. The idea came from three men in an art group called Ant Farm. One of them found a children's book left behind in a bar north of San Francisco. It was called The Look of Cars, and it had a section on the rise and fall of the tail fin. He drew the thing up because he didn't have much else to do. They had a list of eccentric millionaires who might pay for it. Marsh wrote back, "It's such an irrelevant and silly proposition that I want to give it all my time and attention so I can make a casual judgment of it."

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
Used Cadillacs Wanted--1948, 1949, 1954, 1957, 1958--Need not be in running condition. We will pay towing. For Cash...Call Leo Wyoming

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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