American Giants is happy to announce that another original Muffler Man was up for sale and has recently sold. The giant for sale was located in Copeland, OK. This particular cowboy is unique in that he still has his original six shooter and holster and belt! The giant was used as part of a roving promotion program in the late 60s for Phillips 66 and ended up in Afton, OK when the program ended. He was purchased by Don and Daisy Davis ran an antique store in Grove called “Don’s Swap Shop” and set the giant up. In 2009 the giant was taken down for repairs and never was set back up. In 2016 the giant was sold to the Copeland Switch where it stood until 2024 when it was sold to a buyer in Texas. American Giants handled the sale and you can watch the sale and history video below.

American Giants collected offers on behalf of the owner for over a month in April and May 2024 and the giant sold on May 17. The new owners are from Dallas, TX and plan to turn the old cowboy into the mascot for their business. American Giants will continue to make updates on social media as the giant is restored and relocated. The giant is roughly 22ft tall with an estimated weight of 500 pounds and will most likely be removed from Grove in late May 2024.

If you have a Muffler Man and wold like to use American Giants to help find a buyer please reach out to us. We also help buyers find the right giant. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. info@usagiants.com

There are two fiberglass statues in Indiana that are the only remnants of a rare bread of giants that go by the name of Corey. The statues are believed to have once been used at Marathon Stations, have also advertised for a number of other businesses over the years. The manufacturer us unknown but the Corey statues were made from the same mold as a number of Uncle Sam statues that dot the country. The only differences appear to be a top hat and beard while the Corey statues more closely resemble a jockey or flag man. Recently one of these rare giants came up for sale.

Please watch the American Giants Episode below for full details on the giant and his history.

The statues stand between 20 and 24ft tall with an estimated weight of 1,200 pounds (could be less). One holds a broken ice cream cone North of Muncie while the other has stood in New Castle for years. Recently Royal Machining and Repair also from New Castle, purchased the property that the New Castle Corey stood on. Not particularly wanting the statue on the property they reached out to us to help them find a buyer. We ran a 3 week open offer on the giant and wrapped it up with a sale to a buyer in Ohio. The giant will get a full restoration and then be moved to a muscle car museum where he can pay tribute to his history in the gasoline industry.

If you are interested in purchasing a vintage fiberglass giant or would like to sell one, please contact us. info@usagiants.com

UPDATE- Back in Dec of 2022 we announced the sale of the Glenn Goode Collection in Gainesville, TX. The Goode family had decided to sell the well known and famous Big People, their Dad built and collected. The roadside giants were being sold as a group and include all 5 statues. We also released a documentary at the same time about Glenn Goode with the entire history and story of the man behind the giants.

We started taking offers for the entire collection and I must say we did very well and got some very nice offers. In the end, the city expressed interest in the giants and the family liked the idea of them staying local, so focus shifted to the city and the public sale basically came to an end. As you know, city decisions take awhile and so a few weeks ago it was finally decided by the city of Gainesville, TX that they would purchase only one of the statues. Once that was made clear to the Goode family they asked us to bring the giants back up for sale but this time individually.

Offers were collected and the giants were sold on Aug 4, 2023 to two separate buyers. The giants will be taken down and relocated in the very near future so now is a great time for that last visit. Most if not all of the giants will be leaving the state but can still be visited over the next few weeks.

We have been working for the last few months to finally complete the Glenn Goode Documentary that we shot back in 2015. The project got sidelined years ago due to the restorations and a busy schedule and time has flown by. Recently we were contacted by Glenn’s family who were aware that we had recorded him shortly before his passing and were interested in seeing the footage. So in October we dug everything out of the archives and started editing. It has been a long process but we are excited to release the full 30 min documentary on Glenn and the story behind his big people.

So enjoy the story of Glenn Goode, the Texas fiberglass man who found a headless and handless 22ft advertising statue in 1970 and built a roadside empire. Today these giants, known as Muffler Men, are sought after roadside attractions, but when Glenn found his first giant, the era of advertising giants was ending. Learn from Glenn himself, how he acquired each of his giants and the fascinating story behind his collection. Meet the man who helped Muffler Men, become the sought after roadside attractions, they are today.

We have been helping Magic Forest sell off their larger fiberglass statues and Muffler Men for a few years now. It’s been a great journey and we’ve learned a ton and met many of you collectors out there. It’s been great to see the passion everyone has for these giants and preserving them. So today is bitter sweet as we come to the end of our part in finding homes for all these pieces. Starting Sept 1, Collar City Auctions began auctioning off the remaining items. Much of what you will find on their website has never been listed before and a bunch of it is all the kinds of things many of you asked me about. Signs, pixies and all kinds of Danbury stuff that we never listed. There are hundreds of items to look through and chose from so I would encourage everyone to head over to the Collar City Auctions website and check out this massive selection. The auction will last till Oct 1 and much of this collection starts out at $25 per item. Click on the link and scroll down to the bottom and click on the link that says “Massive Theme Park Memorabilia Collection”https://www.collarcityauctionsonline.com/

After taking a long break from making Muffler Men episodes, American Giants has released a brand new episode detailing the story of Chicago’s Mr Bendo on the roof of Ced’s Muffler. In the early 60s a dozen or so, 21 foot unique Muffler Men were made by International Fiberglass in Venice, CA to advertise a muffler bending machine called the Bendo. The giants were called Mr Bendo, and ere purchased by auto garages who owned the machine and wanted to better advertise it. One of these giants was transported to Chicago by train and was in stalled on the roof of a Muffler Shop in Humboldt Park. In episode 7 produced in 2012 we visited the Muffler Man and searched for the missing head. Now in this follow up episode we reveal the entire story and where the giant is today and how he got there.

It’s always been a challenge to keep track of the history of Muffler Men because over the last 50 years some of them have been sold and moved multiple times! Once such Muffler Man is the St George Utah Paul Bunyan.

The earliest history on this guy comes from inside his left boot where the workers at International Fiberglass clearly wrote the date he was made. January 27 1964 is this guys birthday, which makes him one of the early models made. From there he was shipped to Boulder City Utah where he either advertised for a business or Casino, we are not exactly sure. In the early 70s he was purchased by the owners of a sporting good store in St George Utah. He stood at 968 E St George Blvd where Fox’s Friendly Automotive is today right behind a Sinclair gas station. He was owned by McKnights Sporting Goods and each Christmas they put a home made Santa suit on him to celebrate the holidays. By 1997 the business had changed to a motorcycle shop with the logo and name on his chest. Around 1998 the place again changed, this time to a car stereo outlet and the giant again was modified to reflect correct advertising. In 2000 the business was put up for sale and by 2001 the giant was reported missing. He was purchased my Billings MT collector Owen Johnson who has collected and sold a number of giants over the years. Owen hung on to the giant for a number of years before selling him in the fall of 2008 to the House of Doors in Cheshire, CT. They already had one Bunyan and wanted to put this new one up at a second store location in Salem. However zoning laws kept him from being put up and he was stored in the woods behind the Cheshire location.

Many of you have visited the Cheshire Bunyan and I know a few of you have ventured around back into the woods to take pictures of the second long lost Bunyan. Sadly the years have taken their toll on the paint job but the giant itself is actually in really good condition.

In October 2019, this Bunyan was purchased once more and has now been moved to his new home in McAlester, OK. We have very few details at this point if he will be be displayed publicly or how exactly purchased him.

Eight months ago I was contacted by Mary Beth Babcock who runs Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on 66. She had a vision to have a giant Muffler Man standing outside her revamped gas station, and I seemed like the logical guy to talked to I guess. Many emails later we decided her best option was to have Mark Cline from Enchanted Castle Studios in VA, make her a custom one of a kind space cowboy!

Today that dream is fast becoming a reality with a scheduled set up day in May and the giant nearly completed. Hundreds have helped make this dream come true by volunteering and donations. Mary Beth is beyond excited to help bring a Muffler Man to Tulsa and this guy will stand just across the street from the Meadow Gold sign.

Last week American Giants visited Mark and got a behind the scenes tour, showing us just how Buck Atoms the space cowboy Muffler Man is being made. Mark is also currently working on a few Muffler Men from the now closed, Magic Forest park in Lake George, NY and gives us an update on those restorations. We have put together a short video for you all to enjoy.

Starting in 2011, I began collecting pictures and information on all Muffler Men locations past and present. Over the last 8 years that has grown into a large detailed map I have built. Every year I try to tackle a few of the mysteries, statues I have pictures of from the 60s and 70s but have long since disappeared. The best way to get information is to go to the local area and talk to people that remember the giant and may have information on who owned it. Sometimes these mysteries take years to solve and other times, they are never solved at all.

One mystery on my list, was the lost girl of Corova, NC. She was a Uniroyal Gal that somehow ended up in the outer banks of North Carolina in the dunes. The challenging part was every shred of evidence I had on her, was from the 70s with nothing recent. For years all I had was one old news paper article from the early 70s talking about the decline of the Currituck Banks. The only picture in the article showed a Uniroyal Gal in a bikini standing in the sand somewhere near Currituck. Recently another Muffler Man enthusiast named Tristan Sadones from Belgium, discovered a second picture of her that showed more of the surrounding area.

Armed with these shots I headed out last week for the outer banks and started showing locals the old pictures hoping for information. It wasn’t until I got within 5 miles of where she once stood that people started remembering her. I learned that she had stood in a place called Carova Beach and it is a community of beach houses north of Carolla where the road ends. Sadly I was not able to find her but I do think I got within a mile or less of where she once stood and possibly as close as a few hundred feet. If you have any old pictures of her or any information, we would love to hear from you! Enjoy the video of my adventure below.

Since 2015 American Giants as been restoring Muffler Men, and our list of completed projects is growing. Our passion has always been the giants, but what started out in 2011 as mostly visiting and research, has now grown into offering many services to Muffler Man owners. We help interested buyers find and purchase originals, we often take down, and set up the giants as well as transport them. We also specialize in building internal structures for them, as well as full restorations. Although it is difficult to find and purchase originals, a few undiscovered ones turn up every few years, and we are always on the lookout to find these long lost relics of 1960s Americana.

In 2017 we were contact by a salvage and surplus company in Maine called Marden’s. They had purchased a Muffler Man back in the mid 70s and named him Howard Huge. He was used in front a few of their stores over the years before being retired to their warehouse in the late 90s. While cleaning out that warehouse and making more room, he was rediscovered and they contacted us to help them find a buyer. We were able to connect them with the Wine Garage, down in Fredericksburg Texas and the purchase was made. The wine Garage then asked us to assist in his transport, restoration and setup.

We had to squeeze Howard into our already busy summer schedule but in December 2018, we were able to deliver him to Texas and assist in getting him up on a huge sign that was made just for him. Instead of explaining all the details here, we thought we would make a short documentary about him so you can get a front row seat, and see for yourself just what it is we are all about. Enjoy!