Muffler man

Muffler men are large molded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions, or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States.

The first of the figures, a Paul Bunyan holding an oversized axe to promote a restaurant, was created by Bob Prewitt in 1962[8] for the Lumberjack Café on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

[6][3] Bill Swan who worked for Prewitt helped to design the face of the first Paul Bunyan Muffler man[9][10] As the fiberglass molds for this initial figure existed when Dashew acquired the company, similar characters could be readily created by keeping the same basic characteristics (such as the right palm up, left palm down position in which the original Bunyan lumberjack figure held his axe)[11] with minor variation.

[3] The statues have become natives, Vikings, football players and sports mascots, country bumpkins, cooks and chefs, cowboys, soldiers, sea pirates, and astronauts.

[7] Many of the characters, such as a Texaco Big Friend, initially created for a cancelled service station chain promotion, would become rare after International Fiberglass ceased operations.