The specially commissioned, nearly 20-foot-tall “Big A the Texaco Giant” will be installed at Gearhead Curios in Galena, Kansas, at 1 p.m. on Sept. 8.
ReGiant, specializing in working on Muffler Men, will install the former Texaco station at 520 S. Main St. (Route 66).
Enchanted Castle Studios made the figure itself. It has fabricated other Muffler Men around the country — most notably Buck Atom of Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on Route 66 in Tulsa.
Gearhead Curios owner Aaron Perry announced in December he was commissioning Big A, made to largely resemble him.
In May, Perry received a $12,500 tourism attraction development grant from the state of Kansas to help him with the project.
Perry in 2018 acquired a 1939 Texaco gas station along Route 66 in downtown Galena.
Since that time, he’s added a Doc Hudson replica from the “Cars” movie, installed neon lighting and a modified Big Boy statue, along with a lot of renovations.
Muffler Men have seen a revival in recent years, with several along Route 66 restored or created from scratch. A site dedicated to Muffler Man, the American Giants Museum, opened last year along Route 66 in Atlanta, Illinois.
(Rendering of “Big A the Texaco Man” for Gearhead Curios in Galena, Kansas, courtesy of Aaron Perry)