December 12 was was a sad day in the muffler man world and I remember it well. One of 4 known Big Friends was taken down that morning after standing on top of a sign pole for about 20 years or so. He was known as the Valley Home Giant and stood at Valley Homes along highway 160 in Pahrump, NV. He had been repainted since his Texaco days but was still recognizable as one of the very rare Big Friends. Before coming to Pahrump in the early 90’s he stood on the Boulder Highway in Las Vegas at a mobil home business. Originally he most likely stood at a Texaco gas station on Las Vegas Blvd. The 2012 news story shares the details of why he was taken down, it is both sad and unfortunate. I have always hoped one of these guys would be restored back to Texaco colors and thankfully that is still a possibility for the Pahrump Big Friend. After he was taken down the locals including the TV station and newspaper became aware of his value and history from all the inquiries they received about him. This possibly prompted the Pahrump Valley Times to write an article on his disappearance and they were able to find out what happened to him after he was hauled off. Although some may not have realized his value thankfully the guys at the landfill figured there was more to this guy then a pile of junk. He was broken up a bit in the dismantling and shipping to the landfill so they took him in pieces. He was eventually donated to the local museum where he laid out back till 2016 when American Giants purchased him and hauled him to IL. It seven years to get around to restoring him but in 2023-2024 he was fully restored and set up at a museum as I always hoped for.