Restoration complete on Muffler Man lumberjack in Albuquerque

Restoration on a Muffler Man lumberjack on the premises of a Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque finished a few days ago, including the statue’s severed arms and his ax.

Repair work on the fiberglass statue at the May Cafe at Central Avenue (aka Route 66) and Louisiana Boulevard began a couple of weeks ago. Strong winds tore off the lumberjack’s arms about five years ago.

Liem Nguyen, the owner of the restaurant, told the Albuquerque Journal the lumberjack once stood at a lumber store — later identified as the Shofner Lumber Co. — at the site and was damaged during a fire there. The May Cafe kept the lumberjack when it was built 27 years ago.

“We kept it because it’s a landmark. When people ask where are you located, we say under the lumberjack,” which most people who know about Vietnamese cuisine understand to mean just south of Central Avenue on Louisiana SE. […]

So Nguyen, with the aid of another person, recently used a hydraulic crane to lift themselves about 50 feet into the air to repair the 27-foot-tall fiberglass statue perched atop his 20-foot high platform. Using steel reinforcements, they replaced the lumberjack’s arms and ax, and then gave the stern-looking fellow a fresh coat of paint, returning him to his former appetite-stimulating glory. […]

“You know, our customers like it, and it’s been a part of the city and part of the neighborhood for so long that it was important to me, so I didn’t mind spending my money and time on it,” he said.

The Roadside America site, which features a map of Muffler Men across America, states the figure is a “mutant” model of a Paul Bunyan. The editors state it was a chef figure transformed into a Paul Bunyan after the fire in 1974, although the Journal report casts doubt on that.

The Cuban population of Albuquerque calls the current statue “Fidel,” after the late Cuban dictator.

Muffler Men are sculptures from 18 to 25 feet tall created by International Fiberglass of Venice, California, primarily during the 1960s. Dozens survive across the U.S.

It’s been a good year for Muffler Men along Route 66. Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on 66 in Tulsa dedicated a newly fashioned Muffler Man a few weeks ago. A few weeks after that, the new owners of the Launching Pad Drive-In restored their unique and historic Gemini Giant.

(Image of the restored Muffler Man lumberjack at the May Cafe in Albuquerque by the Route 66 Association of New Mexico via Facebook)