The Cadillac Ranch is one of the most popular stops along Route 66, and on this very special episode, host Anthony Arno speaks with the only surviving who created the art installation. At 81 years old, Chip not only talks about establishing Ant Farm, the creative group behind the Cadillac Ranch, but two other "unimaginable" projects that honor the automobile.

Join Anthony as he talks with Chip about

• Pivoting away from a traditional career as an architect
• How Ant Farm was established and the origin behind the name
• Finding and burying 10 classic Cadillacs in Texas
• The intention was never to allow visitors defact the cars with grafitti
• Working with Amarillo businessman Stanly Marsh, who financed the project
• Bruch Springsteen sings about The Cadillac Ranch
• Quietly relocating the ranch down the road 23 years later
• Modifications to cars that were burried at the Cadillac Ranch
• Preserving the Cadillac Ranch
• Special anniversary celebrations
• The secret behind the Cadillac Ranch

MEDIA BURN

• Creating a "spectacle" was the goal
• Evil Knieval meets a lunar launch with a JFK impersonator
• Secretly renting the parking lot of the Cow Palace
• Setting 100 TV's on fire- you only get one chance

GM TRAINING VIDEO

• • 1950'S GM training video for sales force
  • Widely accepted for something so basic from decades earlier
  • Public performance at Whitney Museum
  • Chip played the rold of customer
• Age of Youtube culture
• What would be done differently?
• What happened to Ant Farm movement?
• Ant Farm fire
• Chip's public Persona and recognition today
• EALI & Columbia University Ant Farm Archives

It's our 66th episode, and that's a major milestone in the world of podcasting! In fact, less than 7% of all podcasts ever launched ever make it to thier 66th episode.

Join Route 66 host Anthony Arno as he is joined by his wife sharing his thoughts on the podcast along with some other things that listeners never knew about.

To celebrate the centennial of Route 66 in 2026, the very first episode of the year features the life of the Father of Route 66- Cyrus Stevens Avery.

Join Route 66 Podcast host Anthony Arno as he talks with Susan Croce Kelly, author of Father of Route 66: Cy Avery. More than establishing Route 66, Avery was a proponent of the Good Roads Movement and advocated for paved roads at the introduction of the automobile in America.

Highlights from the show include:

• Teaming up with Quinta Scott in 1990 to write Route 66: The Highway and Its People
• Searching for Route 66
• Avery's childhood
• Avery travels west in a covered wagon at age 13
• Awareness of road conditions as a young pioneer
• Populariity of bicycles in establishing paved roads

• Avery pulls America out of the mud
• What did Avery get right?
• Replacing named roads with numbered roads
• Road construction and technology
• Need for proper signage with road travel
• Rapid growth of automobiles with Model T introduction
• Railroad perspective regarding paved roads
• Avery reluctantly accepts the number "66" for his road
• Secretary of Agriculture in charge of road construction
• What did Route 66 get right that the other highways of the day missed out on?
• US Highway 66 Association established to promote the road
• Proposing a 3400 mile coast to coast footrace along Route 66
• The Bunion Derby puts Route 66 on the world map
• The Great Depression years
• Running for governor of Oklahoma
• Providing clean drinking water to Tulsa
• Avery's biggest achievement (not Route 66)
• Modernizing the Tulsa airport
• Reflection
  • Importance of trip west for Avery in a covered wagon
  • Replacing Route 66 with the Interstate Highway
  • 1969 Highway Beautification Act removes local billboards
  • Route 66 as a tourist attraction today

• Centennial Plaza in Tulsa honors Avery
• Newspaper Women of the Ozarks book