American Giants - the story of the muffler men from history to today’s story

Have you seen the Muffler Man? You know, the huge man with his hands outstretched that was used by a lot of muffler shops to advertise their place of business. They’re all over the place if you really look for them and they have an odd tie-in to me, albeit a distant one. 

First of all, what prompts someone to create something like a 21’ tall fiberglass dude? In the case of the Muffler Man it was the days when fiberglass was all the rage and Venice, California was as much at the heart of it as anywhere. 

The history of the Muffler Man

Fiberglass was relatively new to the mainstream with boats, cars and many other things being made of this easily-shaped newer product. Rodeo enthusiast Bob Pruitt had an idea that the metal trailers of the day were too heavy so he constructed one of fiberglass and took it to rodeos to see if he could sell the concept. 

Funny thing, he wanted to show how well a horse fit into the trailer and, not wanting to take care of a horse, he made one of fiberglass. It turns out that he was successful but not in building trailers, in building fiberglass horses. Soon he had a whole fiberglass farm full of offerings including cows, calves, bears, rooster and even cowboys riding bucking broncos. 

Then the call came in from Sacramento where he got an order for a giant Paul Bunyan. Pruitt made the molds that made the man and, just as he was ready to deliver Paul to his new home, the restaurant canceled the order. Since Pruit was already good at selling fiberglass things he took Paul Bunyan onto Route 66 and didn’t have to go far before he found a customer in Arizona for the big Paul. 

You don’t make big people and not get noticed and Steve Dashew, who had a boat building business in Venice, California was looking to keep his crew busy in the winter months when boat building demand was low. Dashew offered to buy the mold and rights to Pruitt’s creations and thus went into the business of making fiberglass farm animals and fiberglass people. Big fiberglass people. 

Dashew's company, International Fiberglass at 4054 Glencoe Ave. Venice, California soon began selling more and more of the titanic Paul Bunyans. Back in the 1960s, these statues sold for $1,800 to $2,800 each (in 2019 dollars this is equivalent to $14,000 to $22,000).

In 1966 Dashew applied for a patent for a trailer to easily move and place the American giants. He also continued making the farm critters and even expanded into dinosaurs, tigers and Yogi Bears. 

In all hundreds of the enormous men were created and many of them survive to this day. Some are still relatively original in their paint and purpose, others have received costume changes in the ensuing years. 

The outstretched arm on one side of one of these and the raised upturned hand on the other were a great way to hold a large muffler in front of a muffler shop and, thus, the term Muffler Men stuck. One of the places you can still find a number of Muffler Men is along Route 66 where you can see them in space outfits, holding various food items, and more. 

Other than Paul Bunyan

Once the demand for these 21-foot-tall fiberglass dudes became apparent there were variations made. In addition to Paul Bunyan, there was Mr. Bendo to help muffler shops advertise that they could craft custom muffler pipes with a machine called the Bendo. There was a special version made for Texaco as part of the Texaco Big Friends advertising campaign. At one point all 300 of these giants were staged in a field behind International Fiberglass awaiting delivery. 

These are quite different in appearance as they were designed by a sculptor. Few remain today although there is an immaculately restored example at the American Giants Museum in Atlanta, Illinois.

In addition to the Paul Bunyan character, there was a Native American chief, a cowboy and even a woman who was made for the Uniroyal tire shop chain. Lastly there was a version called the Half Wit created in less politically correct times. 

Saving the giants

In many places these American giants became local heroes, icons and treasures. Joel Baker of American Giants has become fascinated with the giants and has become iconic in the restoration and sale of these unique. In fact he hosts a series on YouTube called American Giants which is pretty fascinating if you, like me, are enamored by these unusual icons. 

Interesting factoids

Some of the giants were actually meant to be transitory. International Fiberglass made the aforementioned platform so these could be easily moved and they were. For example, the Uniroyal girl was moved from shop to shop as part of that company’s promotional efforts at the time. 

The Texaco Big Friends giant was also meant to be transitory although, at 24’ tall, that was also its downfall as dealers were less than thrilled and the statues also got blown over and created other issues prompting Texaco to order them destroyed. Fortunately six remain to this day.

A new Muffler Man

But possibly the most recent upgrade to the Muffler Man comes in Tulsa, Oklahoma where the Muffler Man is adorned as Buck Atom, Space Cowboy. 

With his cowboy hat covering his space helmet and holding an oversized silver rocket Buck Atom is the 21 foot tall icon of the Route 66 memorabilia show that was the vision of Mary Beth Babcock. We got to visit with Mary Beth and she is a true delight - just the kind of person you’d expect to want to build a 21-foot-tall icon. 

Not an original giant from International Fiberglass, but a new copy of those the statue was created by fiberglass artist Mark Cline who is instrumental in re-creating and saving these icons along with Joel Baker who has now set-up a business saving and restoring these icons. 

Thanks to the crew at Enchanted Castle Studios and American Giants plus people like me who just dig these crazy huge roadside wonders many of them have been restored and moved to new homes, others have been carefully put back together in their original installations. 

Other resources

American Giants video series

Roadside Americana - Muffler Men along with a map of the various muffler men. 

Mark Cline - Enchanted Castle Studios