Are Muffler Men undergoing a big revival?

The short answer is yes.

The Chicago Tribune a few days ago took a look at what one Route 66 advocate, Bill Thomas, called “a bit of a Renaissance” for the fiberglass giants, colloquially known as Muffler Men.

The Muffler Men, made primarily by International Fiberglass in Venice, California, during the 1960s to the mid-1970s, appeared ready to go the way of the dinosaur a few decades ago and disappear.

However, Muffler Men are seeing a revival, including on Route 66. The Tribune cited the saving of the Gemini Giant from the closed Launching Pad Drive-In restaurant in Wilmington, Illinois.

The Tribune also mentioned the opening of the American Giants Museum in Atlanta, Illinois, which has drawn 3,500 visitors from April through June this year.

In the past month, a pie-holding female version of the Muffler Men was erected at the County Aire Restaurant, also in Atlanta, Illinois.

Yet the report leaves out many other examples, all along Route 66:

— Mary Beth Babcock, an entrepreneur in Tulsa, in recent years has commissioned or restored three Muffler Men at her businesses, Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios on Route 66 and Meadow Gold Mack’s Route 66 Outpost.

— This weekend, Aaron Perry of Gearhead Curos in Galena, Kansas, will erect his specially commissioned Big A the Texaco Giant at his former gas station.

— A 21-foot-tall statue called “Cry Baby Cry” has been commissioned for Cry Baby Hill near the historic 11th Street Bridge in Tulsa.

— A 30-foot-tall Big Ron fiberglass giant was added to Route 66 MotorHeads Bar & Grill in Springfield, Illinois.

— A Muffler Man erected during the Mobil 1’s “Keep Route 66 Kickin'” campaign became a permanent fixture at the Hi-Way Cafe in Vinita, Oklahoma.

— The Route 66 Food Truck Park in Springfield, Missouri, created a 25-foot-tall Muffler Man in 2020, but it was put up for sale after the food truck park closed.

— An art installation that served as a tribute to Muffler Men was erected in 2019 near Calumet, Oklahoma.

— The now-closed May Cafe in Albuquerque in 2019 restored its Muffler Man after a windstorm tore off its arms.

Joel Baker, a Muffler Man enthusiast for years and the prime driver for the American Giants Museum, deserves a lot of the credit for the giants’ revival.

Enchanted Castle Studios in Virginia also deserves credit. Not only does it built new Muffler Men, it has the expertise to repair old ones.

But one absolutely key element is the longstanding Muffler Men page on the Roadside America website. For almost 25 years, it has been cataloging the history, variation and locations of Muffler Men. Without that page, it’s doubtful the renaissance would have happened at all.

(Image of the Bunyan Muffler Man in downtown Atlanta, Illinois, by jcsullivan24 via Flickr)