While browsing around on Wikipedia for something totally unrelated, I found a picture of the "Gemini Giant" fiberglass statue that stands in front of "The Launching Pad" in Wilmington, IL, one of my hot-rod haunts from days gone by. We always just called him "The Spaceman", but it turns out he's a member of the tribe referred to as "Muffler Men".
The first of the Muffler Men was a giant Paul Bunyan figure made for the PB Cafe in Flagstaff, AZ in about 1962, by Bob Prewitt of Prewitt Fiberglass. Most of the figures produced later by International Fiberglass came from that one mold, often modified to suit what the customer wanted.
The whole story is here on the Roadside America website, and is an interesting look into the people behind these giant glass figures.
For more info on the guys, just Google "Muffler Men", and you'll find more than I thought was possible!
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Bill Griffith has Zippy the Pinhead interacting with a wide variety of the large promotional figures out there. I see quite a few modified Muffler Men around.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
ReplyDeleteGood one drjim, and Merry Christmas to you and your YF :-)
ReplyDeleteIn a Gamma World game I ran back in the day featured a cult which worshiped a Muffler Man as the secret bad guys. Their secret handshake was the left palm down, right palm up pose of the statue.
ReplyDeleteThat Paul Bunyan statue is still around, it's currently in front of a place called "Granny's Closet".
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole website devoted to people molesting muffler men and other statues.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.statuemolesters.com/gallery/0-200/047.php