THEY’RE HARD TO MISS while driving through Tularosa: five pairs of enormous eyes peering from the windshields of vintage vehicles parked on an otherwise vacant lot. The rusty but still colorful fire truck, tractor, wrecker, and forklifts belong to Lance Giest, a self-described picker who collects what he proudly calls “rusty gold.” Giest and his wife, Robin, who own Lancon Inc. construction company, in Tularosa, had collected old vehicles for years but never displayed them. Inspiration struck during a family vacation in 2022. “My grandkids love the movie Cars,” says Giest, who is also an artist. “After we saw the ‘real’ Cars characters at Disneyland, I started looking at my vehicles. Each had a previous work life that makes it unique. I wanted to play on that and bring out their distinctive personalities.” Painting eyes on them, he figured, would do the trick. When Giest rolled out the collection in spring 2023, it became an instant hit. “I can’t believe how many people stop every day,” he says. Giest is readying more “personified” vintage vehicles to join their quirky peers, including a 1948 DeSoto owned by Tularosa municipal Judge Larry Berry. Further expansion plans include more land vehicles and perhaps a small airplane and boat. “It’s something cool to share,” he says.
The Cars look-alike vehicles can be seen at US 70, just east of the junction with US 54 in Tularosa.