Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska, in the High Plains region of the United States. Instead of being built with large standing stones, as is the case with the original Stonehenge, [1] Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice. In 2006, a visitor center was constructed to serve the site. In 2023, Carhenge was featured in Disney Plus' Cars on The Road Series.
Carhenge consists of 39 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 96 feet (29 m) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 5 feet (1.5 m) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The heelstone is a 1962 Cadillac. [2] Three cars were buried at Carhenge with a sign stating: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!" [3]
Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current dilapidated state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC.
In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other artworks created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.
Carhenge was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father. While living in England, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structure’s shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve. [2]
Reinders donated the 10-acre site to the Friends of Carhenge. In 2011 the Friends of Carhenge listed the attraction for sale for $300,000. [4] In 2013 the Friends of Carhenge donated the site to the Citizens of Alliance. [5]
Carhenge has appeared in film, popular music, television programs and commercials. [6] It is the subject of the 2005 documentary Carhenge: Genius or Junk? [7] and features in the 2007 travel book 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die .
The path of totality of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 included Carhenge. An estimated 4,000 people, including Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts, viewed the eclipse from the site. Reinders stated that at the time of Carhenge's creation, he had not known about the eclipse that would occur 30 years later. [8] [9] [10]
Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.
Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac, is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China. Cadillac models are distributed in 34 additional markets worldwide. Historically, Cadillac automobiles were at the top of the luxury field within the United States, but have been outsold by European luxury brands including BMW and Mercedes since the 2000s. In 2019, Cadillac sold 390,458 vehicles worldwide, a record for the brand.
Alliance is a city and the county seat of Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census.
The Henry Ford Company was an automobile manufacturer active from 1901 to 1902. Named after Henry Ford, it was his second company after the Detroit Automobile Company, which had been founded in 1899. The Henry Ford Company was founded November 1901 from the reorganization of the Detroit Automobile Company. The company, much like the Detroit Automobile Company, was plagued by disputes between Ford and his investors, and Ford left in 1902. Later that year, the company was reorganized as the Cadillac Automobile Company under the suggestion of Henry M. Leland. Cadillac, whose early vehicles were identical in design to those of Ford's later Ford Motor Company except for the engine, would develop a reputation for precision engineering and was acquired by the nascent General Motors (GM) in 1909, becoming GM's luxury marque. Ford would eventually find success with the Ford Motor Company, and is considered one of the primary pioneers of the automobile.
Stonehenge II is a concrete sculpture in the Texas Hill Country, US, built in homage to the original Stonehenge monument. Stonehenge II was conceived by Al Shepperd and built with the help of his friend and neighbor, Doug Hill. Originally located on FM 1340 west of Hunt, Texas, Stonehenge II now resides on the campus of the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram, Texas (78025).
Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm.
The Gilmore Car Museum is an automobile museum located in Hickory Corners, Michigan, United States. The museum exhibits over 400 vintage and collector vehicles and motorcycles from all eras in several vintage buildings located on a 90-acre campus. The museum claims to be the largest automobile museum in North America. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area.
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. At the Piquette Avenue Plant, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States. Prior to the Model T, several other car models were assembled at the factory. Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day. While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant.
Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan.
Fleetwood Metal Body was an automobile coachbuilder formed on April 1, 1909. The company name was derived from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, home of the company at the start, and lived on for decades in the form of the Cadillac Fleetwood and various Fleetwood trim lines on Cadillac cars. As of 2022, the remaining original buildings of Fleetwood Metal Body are undergoing restoration and renovation into loft-style apartments.
Lansing Car Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Lansing, Michigan. It contained two elements, a 1901 automobile plant in downtown Lansing, and the 1920 Durant Motors factory on Lansing's Far Westside.
Linden Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Linden, New Jersey, United States. The plant operated from 1937 to 2005 and made cars, trucks and SUVs for various GM automotive divisions.
Detroit Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Detroit, Michigan on Clark Street, south of Michigan Avenue. It began operations in 1921 and Cadillac bodies were supplied by Fleetwood Metal Body in 1921 after Fisher Body assumed operations. It was the second location that built Cadillacs, when Cadillac originally started out as the Henry Ford Company which was located at the intersection of Cass Avenue and Amsterdam Street. Engine block and cylinder heads were cast at Saginaw Metal Casting Operations then assembled at Tonawanda Engine before delivery to Detroit Assembly for installation.
This is a list of Stonehenge replicas and derivatives that seeks to collect all the non-ephemeral examples together. The fame of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge in England has led to many efforts to recreate it, using a variety of different materials, around the world. Some have been carefully built as astronomically aligned models whilst others have been examples of artistic expression or tourist attractions.
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, also referred to as Factory Zero and GM Poletown, is a General Motors (GM) automobile assembly plant straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (five km) from GM's corporate headquarters.
The Detroit Automobile Company (DAC) was an early American automobile manufacturer founded on August 5, 1899, in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first venture of its kind in Detroit. Automotive mechanic Henry Ford attracted the financial backing of twelve investors; Detroit Mayor William Maybury, William H. Murphy and others. As with many early car ventures, the company floundered, and it was dissolved in January 1901. Twenty vehicles were built and $86,000 of investment was lost.
The Harley J. Earl Trophy is the trophy presented to the winner of the premier – and season-opening – event of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the Daytona 500. It is named after influential automobile designer Harley Earl, who served as the second commissioner of NASCAR. Earl is arguably best known as the "inventor of the Corvette" and designer of the Firebird I prototype that adorns the trophy. The trophy is kept on display at the Daytona International Speedway, while a small replica is given to each Daytona 500 winner.
Milwaukee Junction is an area in Detroit, Michigan, east of New Center. Located near the railroad junction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's predecessors Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway and the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction, the area encompasses the streets of East Grand Boulevard to the north, St. Aubin St./Hamtramck Drive to the east, John R Street to the west, and the border following I-94 to the south. Due to the presence of numerous car companies within it at the turn of the 20th century, Milwaukee Junction is considered the "cradle of the Detroit auto industry".
U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that travels from Big Bend National Park in Texas to US 85 in Deadwood, South Dakota. Within the state of Nebraska, the highway is known as the Gold Rush Byway, one of nine scenic byways across the state. The highway follows along the old Sidney-Black Hills trail which played a crucial role during the Black Hills Gold Rush in the late 1870s. It served as the primary route to transport gold and mining gear between Sidney, Nebraska and the Black Hills to the north. Today, the highway enters Nebraska in the southeastern portion of the Nebraska Panhandle on the state line with Colorado northeast of Julesburg and continues in a northerly direction to the South Dakota state line north of Chadron.
Jonz, Brass Era automobiles and trucks were built by the Jonz Automobile Company from 1908 through 1914 in Beatrice, Nebraska.