I recently saw Ryan' post about "Signs". I use old signs for inspiration for some of my logo design work. So speaking of signs are you familiar with the Muffler Men? I found a site with some information on them. Check it out. Main Site: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/ Look for one near you: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/track.html I remember seeing these guys crowing up traveling from town to town. I even remember going to a muffler shop or two with these guys out in front. Apparently they came about in the early 60's from a company called International Fiberglass owned by a Steve Dashew. You can read all about him from the link I gave. I looked them up because I recently discovered we have one here in my hometown, Waxahachie, TX. He used to be the Chiefs Auto parts man and now resides in Lumpkins Stadium, our high school stadium. He is our "mascot" saluting the field. I am going to go try and get a better pic with my wife's SLR Canon. Anyway, I just thought he has some part of the history of the automotive world and maybe even the Hot Rod world. I think one day I would like to take what ever current Hot Rod I have and drive to as many as I could and get a photo of the car and the men. Just for my personal collection plus the drive would be awesome. Or even when I travel check my route to see if I will be close to one and stop by and shoot a photo or two.
Its a dream of mine when I retire to take a full summer to travel the backroads of this great land. There is so much kooky stuff to see. I'll plot a bunch of it on a map and head out eating hot dogs and DQ sandwiches.
Hah! I grew up in Canyon Texas. "Tex Randall" was about 100 Yards away from my Grandmothers back Yard. While not a muffler man, I remember him clearly. I also remember that his fingers are falling off! not cood considering they are the size of Basketballs and made of concrete!
I remember that one as well. I grew up In Amarillo and used to see that one on the way back in to town.
Warning - Roadside history geek post coming up The International Fiberglass figures are great. One of the first figures they made were the Texaco "Big Friend" statues. These are now extremely rare. We have one here in Portland but he's been modified to have a rabbit head instead of his normal head. After the Big Friend's came the Muffler Men in the 5 different variations along with the A&W Burger Family. One of the last sets of statues they made were the Yogi, Boo Boo, Ranger & Cindy statues for Yogi's Fried Chicken restaurants in the south. We've got the Burger Family statues but hope to someday have a Muffler Man or two and the set of Yogi Bear statues. They've all gotten pretty expensive now though. The last Muffler Man I saw for sale was $10,000.00. Here's a few photos.
Haha. Yeah I want one to. If I ever get some land I think it would be cool to build a shop behind a house and have one of these guys standing watch in front.
little kids?!? damn thing gives ME the Heebie Jeebies. Imagine having an apartment directly across the street... The Big Rabbit is watching You.....
In San Antonio we have the Superior Pontiac dealership along loop 410 that has the same "Muffler Man" American Indian with head dress! People used to drive by and shoot arrows at it all the time. I remember seeing that he had taken a couple shots to the chest, but he's still there.
Hey Vintage Roadside, any idea what this giant seal is supposed to be holding in his hand? I dont know much about the Harbor Oil Co but thought he was cool for my place. Also restoring an A&W giant baby.
Here's our local one, his Muffler has been replaced with a giant hockey stick as he is just down the street from The San Jose Arena where the Sharks play Ice Hockey
Nice find on Harbie! We've been trying to track one down for years. I've seen about 6 others and none of them are holding anything. I'm pretty sure they were positioned at the entrance to the Harbor stations to direct people in. Any photos of your Baby Burger? We have two Papa Burgers - one of which looks like a dirty hobo. We call him "crazy Uncle Burger". The latest one we got was the beaver that Hamms Beer used. He was the one who always cut down the trees in their old commercials. Ours has been painted like a skunk so needs a little work.
haha, there's one in my hometown of Escondido. every Christmas, they stick a Santa suit on him and on Halloween, they give him a pumpkin head. it's funny cause I always thought it was a kooky Escondido thing and didn't realize there was more in the US. thanks for the post!
Another car dealership in San Antonio, Jennings-Anderson Ford, has this same "Muffler Man", but of course he has a cowboy hat...with this being Texas and all.
I drive past this guy everyday on my way to work about a mile and a half from my house. He stands out front of the good old Cowtown Rodeo!
This isn't a muffler man, but it's bad ass and stands outside a Metal Recycler in my hometown of Corpus Christi, TX...
These are cool, the blow up things they use now suck. Used to see the different ones all over, I drove truck and got around alot LOL needed something to keep me awake. Was interesting to see the different "local" touches.
My ol friend Mr Bendo ..Sioux Falls, SD He was hit by a drunk driver !! Very sad But .. He is back up and healing well
Hey Gato You mean this Injun! now the kids have taken to shootin paint balls at him also, used to work down the road from him
Digging this thread back up as we just added to our collection of fiberglass giants! Made a 2200 mile road trip in 53 hours to bring this pair of twins back to Portland, Oregon from Beverly Hills, CA. this week.