Sheriff's Investigating After Fire Burns Iconic Car At Texas' Cadillac Ranch
AMARILLO (CBSDFW.COM) - It's been a tourist attraction in the plains of West Texas for decades and now sheriff's are investigating a fire that broke out in the collection of cars at Cadillac Ranch.
Cadillac Ranch is an art installation consisting of 10 half-buried vintage Cadillacs, submerged nose first in the ground.
The ranch was created by Stanley Marsh and The Ant Farm in the 70s and consists of cars ranging in production date from 1949 to 1963. The backend of the cars is meant to show the evolution of the tail fin. The "art" part of the exhibit comes from spray paint... and anyone can grab a can and let their creative flag fly.
When deputies arrived one of the cars -- the oldest in the collection -- was ablaze. Fire officials say it took about 600 gallons of water to put the fire out. In the end there was little damage to the car, but fire crews said the blaze melted away more than 200 pounds of paint.
"It just melted off years of spray paint and that kind of goes to show why these [cars] are so iconic and strong," said Cadillac Ranch representative Bryan Brumley. "Just like West Texas... fire, drought, wind, they just still stand."
The roof of the car was already missing, but crews are expected at the ranch this week to weld any sharp pieces of metal and clean up the giant chunks of spray paint.
Despite the suspected vandalism workers at the ranch say visitors are still welcome to come out and spray paint the cars.
Potter County Sheriff's are asking the public to call Amarillo Crime Stoppers at 806-374-4400 if they have any information about the fire.
