My name is Joel Baker and in early 2011 I picked up this hobby of finding and spotting what have become known as muffler men. Giant fiberglass advertising statues made in the 1960's. What started out as a bit of fun has turned into a real passion. I dig deep into their history and try to solve their mysteries. In 2015 we also started restoring them and these days I assest buisness owners with all things giants and also work with the American Giants Museum on Rt 66. We are your go to company if you are interested in selling, purchasing or restoring a giant.
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Joel, I absolutely love this video! I don’t know why, but one of your videos came up in my feed on KZread and I have always been a fan of muffler men. So I just had to watch it and I am now hooked, and subscribed to the channel!! I’m from Illinois. I’m just minutes away from Atlanta, so I can’t wait to take in everything that you’ve done. Would love to know where you’re actually located here in Illinois. I sent you a message on Instagram. Hope to chat with you soon
Glad you enjoy the channel and hope you enjoy your visit to the museum soon! I actually live out of state and the restoration shop is in Southern IL near Carbondale but is sadly not open to the public. Doing our best to get things restored and up the the museum so they can be enjoyed by the public. Thanks for watching!
It would be so cool to have a Harvey the Rabbit Big Friend!
My goodness, I've wanted a mini muffler man and a uniroyal girl for a while, you have no idea how happy this video just made me, haha. Thank you!
since i started watching your channel i have seen my first muffler man. he's the one who looks like alfred e newman. i saw him in oaks pa. standing in front of a building behind the oaks expo center
What would be amazing is a collaboration between Mold O Rama and the American Giants Museum. A Mold O Rama Muffler Man would be epic.
They would be nice to have
This is amazing. Sitting on our nightstand at home is the same one from Scott from Astroland. It is one of our prize possessions. It is funny how life takes you on paths. When I was in college majoring in photography, I spent many years documenting Coney Island. So when I fell in love with fiberglass, this Muffler Man combined all my passions. I remember searching for miniatures and how happy I was when it was this space man. It is cool you have him too.
This is really cool. What would really be cool, is if they made action figures, with articulation.
Scott made an EXCELLENT version of the Sam the Muffler Man (in Kittanning, PA) for me. It's the FAVORITE thing in my house :)
The Indian and the muffler man are standing at Crystal Lake Green House. Always a favorite to drive past.
I grew up not far from Hillsborough and remember this guy well! I was always fascinated by that figure and wondered why he didn't really look like Daniel Boone. Good to learn more of his history, and I hope he finds a good new home.
Haha, not a Daniel Boone at all!
On the price list you showed it said Confederate Soldier. Were any ordered? If so any still around?
Great video. Have loved this channel for years.
I grew up with one in my town, Sioux Falls SD. It was a “muffler man” as well to us. It was at an exhaust shop. It’s still here, red shirt blue pants. Looks just like the original Paul B. giants
Yes I think I showed a short clip of your local Muffler Man at 0:31
muffler men are part of american history. i hope people keep restoring them. is it me or does snerd look like alferd e newman from mad magazine?
Yes it looks just like the Alfred but for some reason they chose the name Snerd instead. Maybe copyright issues?
Thanks!!!!
I didn't realize that Flagstaff had a Paul Bunyan (many many years ago) so I did a little research. The picture you showed was a great help to figuring out where it was. Looking at where the resturaunt was at now shows new buildings. The giveaway were 3 street lights in the picture, those lights are still there amazingly. There is a giant figure that stands close to where the original PB was standing and it has been a lumberjack in standard garb and with a kilt.
It's actually the same building just has been added to and changed over the years. It became Granny's Closet and then eventually closed a few years ago. The current lumberjack was a replacement for the other two that once stood here. The original in the old picture was in the middle of the building along the road and the second one ordered stood where the kilt guy is now. Interesting history.
Thank you for this. I always new that they nicknamed them Muffler Men but i never knew they are the ones who came up with the Happy Half-wit term as well.
Yes it's some interesting history.
Interesting. Thank you! 🙂
I was recently in Dallas and I saw those you feature here ☺️
👍
Thanks for setting the record straight on why these giants are called Muffler Men. Great video!! 😊
Great history lesson!! I could watch this all day :)
In the early to mid 60’s at the Golf Mill Shopping Center in the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, I can remember some of the stores having giant figures of Snowmen on their roofs facing the parking lots during the holidays. Does anyone have any evidence that these things existed and are not just misremembered stuff from my childhood? ⛄️
Thanks for the info
Very cool to see a Muffler Man come back to the vicinity where the hot dog guy was! Thanks for the video.
We'll check it out on our spring 2025 trip and again for the big one in 2026!
That's so awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Great clip! I live just over an hour away. Gotta make time to check this out.
Next visit to Chicago, I am there.
happy to see he was recovered
I'm guessing that he was originally a Phillips 66 cowboy. It looks like there was once a Phillips 66 logo on his left breast
Yes, he has a belt and you can kind of see the logo so he is no doubt a cowboy as well.
Does anyone buy/collect the giant fiberglass spheres? I have one that is 7' tall. Its actually 2 halves that bolt together and it has a trap door.
shoot me an email with a picture [email protected]
@AmericanGiants As soon as it stops raining I will get some pics and email you Thanks.
great story, i'm going back and watching your older videos.
The mystery continues...
I lived in Joliet and worked in Wilmington back in the 1980s and ate lunch at the Launching Pad often. I thought the Gemini Giant was really cool but didn’t understand the significance of it at the time. I last visited in 2016 on a Route 66 drive from Tulsa to Chicago. I now live in Tulsa just blocks from Buck Atoms and soon-to-arrive Stella Atoms. Oh, there are a couple other Giants I’m familiar with - the Bunyan Muffler Man in Springfield, Illinois. I lived there during high school and passed by it often. My high school was Springfield Southeast whose mascot is a Spartan. There’s a huge statue on the front of the school of a carpet Viking turned Spartan.
Awesome, Aaron. I always wondered about the Viking origins.👍❣️
Hello my friend,,, I wonder do you have any kind of "Tutorial" type of vids to show how to repair these fiber glass beauties? Or can point me to some (crazy rare on youtube) because i wanna expand my knowledge ~ There is a one outside of a restaurant,,, an "Italian Chef" that i am about to commission a fix on,,, cracked, faded to complete white... I feel like i know enough to fix this guy, but this is turning into quite a passion of art and history !~
Excellent! Thank you for this. Very entertaining and well put together.
Great work! Love these histories of forgotten giants.
Excellent history, Joel.
Very cool, I enjoyed watching this video. Well done !
This is amazing history and culture
So this video was great but what put the cherry on top was you bringing to close a mystery from my youth by mentioning and showing a picture of the giant Paul Bunyan which was an iconic piece of our local community of Bristol, CT back in the 70's. The pic you showed at 14:58 of him standing in front of Kemptons Discount Tire and Bristol Auto Parts, opened those old memories of seeing Paul Bunyan as a kid, and trading "what if" stories with local kids friends and family alike, about imagining him coming to life and walking around the streets of town at night scaring everyone. For some reason, no-one has any memories of what ever happened to the statue, as he seemed to disappear overnight all those years ago. As kids, we made up a story, that Paul got tired of holding up that huge tire day in and day out, and one night just walked off the job, and was out there somewhere in the woods of New England, looking for his axe and Babe the Blue Ox. Thank you for opening fond memories from our youth 50 plus years ago and bringing the mystery to an end!!!
So glad I snuck that picture in there. It is a slide that was recently found on ebay by my friend on facebook at Vintage Roadside. Today that giant is at 540 W. Johnson Ave., Cheshire, CT
I'm 2 hours away. I gotta go see this museum!
Passing on history from one keeper to another....you met him when the time was right and his was nearing the end...he passed on his knowledge and enthusiasm for the Giants to you and now you are doing the same but with these videos....He'd be proud of you 😉
What a great story,ill be lookin for these now!!!!!😊😊😊😊😊
Awesome find
Thank you for your passion in saving these pieces of Americana.
I have big plans for the Route 66 anniversary/USA anniversary in 2026, I'll send y'all emails soon, but feel free to get in touch before that happens, too!